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4.5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
This story is about a orphan girl named Ivy Lovely, a slurry girl, a nobody for all anyone cares, who finally leaves her wretched home and enters a world of magic. Upon leaving the slurry fields, she is swept into the life of a sqwinch. By invitation she is brought to the Halls of Ivy where she is to learn how to use the magic she never knew she had, but her curiosity keeps getting her into incredibly dangerous situations. As Ivy seeks answers to her past, her life is threatened by the Dark Queen, but Ivy plans to uncover the truth before it is lost forever.
Check out this gorgeous version of the official synopsis, Crowns of Croswald (keep your sound on!) or check out the book trailer!
Initial thoughts:
This book as sent to me in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own and I’m so so so excited to finally share this book with you all! The Crowns of Croswald is full of magic, adventure, action, innocent romance, and amazing imagery! D. E. Night focuses her writing on enveloping you into her story, making you feel the magic and scenery as if you’re truly there. I loved the writing the most about this book. On top of that we have an action-packed and mysterious plot. The world is intriguing. The magic system and classes to teach magic are refreshing and unique. The action is heart racing. Never was there a moment I felt like I wanted to put this book down once I read up to chapter four. You will be enraptured from chapter four at least, I promise. If you love Harry Potter, magical boarding schools, Dark Queens, and the mystery of a lost princess, Crowns of Croswald is FOR YOU!
Plot:
First of all, after the first two chapters all I could think was who is this Derwin we meet right in the beginning, what's his purpose? When does he come into play? What is this Town we hear of, where does that come in? You won't have answers to those questions for a while mind you. So think of those two chapters are mere foreshadowing. The real story of Ivy begins on chapter 3.
MAGIC - I loved the Harry Potter vibes that this book gave me. Any story that has HP feels is a plus in my book. Girl who didn’t know she had any magic in her blood is sent to a school to learn how to practice the magic she learned she was hidden away with. Not to mention the actual school and classroom session are refreshing. The first class is about how the royals and sqwinches will use their items to harness their magic. There’s a class about glanagerie bottles that transport you to any location the creator can think of. They’re like imaginary battle grounds for the students to use their magic freely. AND the teachers are actually helpful to the underdog! I mean, I like school, but it’s something when I find myself actually interested in learning what the character has to learn in class such as the different gem stones and the history of how the scriveners use their abilities to help the royals.
ACTION - D. E. Night does an amazing job of keeping you on the edge of your seat with some amazing high speed chasing, jump or you’ll die, and magical storm scenes. I shouldn’t say more or you’ll be spoiled!
PACING - This is on the shorter story side with only 300ish pages, but it is the perfect length in my opinion for Ivy’s story. These 300 pages are packed with meeting interesting characters, making long lasting friendships, and going on crazy adventures. I felt that the action was interspersed with the uncovering secrets perfectly, I never felt like the story was too slow or too fast. My only downside would be that the ending is quite predictable. Given all the hints that Ivy was “too slow” to accept (her inability to accept the truth is quite understandable), I could figure out the ending quite easily. EVEN SO, the ending still had some crazy twists.
ENDING - though I guessed the overall “big mystery” that Ivy was trying to uncover, everything else just blew me away. The innocent romance was so freaking cute. The major ending battle was some different kind of craziness, so many things all happening at once, so much magic being used, and you don’t even understand it all quite yet because there’s more things we have yet to learn. The Dark Queen, Ivy, the last night of the year gone wrong. GOSH. It was intense. And the final wrap up that would bring us into the next book has me WANTING MORE.
Characters:
IVY won’t let anything get in the way of her learning and I love that about her because I feel the same way about my personal education, so we vibed on that level. Not to mention she doesn’t take sh*t from Damaris who is despicable. Ivy is also one curious kitty. She gets herself into some unimaginable situations, but also with the support of a friend, which is pretty convenient. I can’t wait to read how she continues on her destiny.
REBECCA is my favorite side character. She is so adorable with her mind that is always thinking of a million things. Her ability matches her personality so well. And I love the support she gives to Ivy. She’s one great reminder along with some other royals, that not all royals are snobs. Some actually care about the scriveners.
FYN is someone I need some fan art of because I have a hard time imaging him as anything else but a “Dorian from Throne of Glass, but with bright green eyes instead.” I knew from day one he’d be sweet on our Ivy, but their romance is just so innocent and cute and everything that I couldn’t object. He’s different and may have a past we don’t know about yet, but I’d like to get to know him more. I’m glad their relationship didn’t seem at all instalovey. They even get in each others faces a bit, which I live for.
DAMARIS is a b*tch to say the least. Obviously from the moment we meet her we know she’s basically a Pansy Parkinson and needs to be slapped.
Overall:
Wouldn’t mind the second book in my hands right now. There is a second book coming right?
Want to know more? Check out D. E. Night's page!
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