A review by thosebookbesties_nips
The Crowns of Croswald, by D. E. Night
4.0
Pairs Well With: Bedtime Story snack
Thank you to @netgalley and @storiesuntold for the ARC digital copy. My thoughts are my own.
The Crowns of Croswald is an enthralling, fantasy novel best suited for middle-school age readers. While the heroine (Ivy) is a young woman, the story is full of mystical creatures, magical spells and enchantments, evil queens, Dwarves, dragons and more.
Ivy is a kitchenmaid at Castle Plum, alone except for her friend Rimbrick- a dwarf with knowledge of her past that he keeps hidden. While out of the castle one day, Ivy is picked up by a strange carriage and whisked away to The Halls Of Ivy- a school for magical youth (scrivenists) and the royalty they serve. With no idea why she is there, and a sneaking suspicion there is more to her past and identity than she is aware of, Ivy begins making friends and learning everything she can about the new world around her.
I found the beginning of the story a bit hard to understand- there were a lot of new terms being introduced, new characters, and I believe a fairly large time-jump. As the story progressed, there were moments I went “Oh! THAT’s why this happened” and I was able to piece it together, but I did feel a bit lost in the initial few chapters. Additionally, the timeline of the story seems to be represented by moon phases, and not knowing what that meant, I didn’t know if a day or week or months had passed from one chapter to the next.
I felt the story was strong in the sense of character development- Ivy was a character I was pulled towards, rooted for, and felt I understood. She was brave, inspiring, a good friend and had a good sense of self, despite not truly knowing who or what she was. Her friend Rebecca was unique and a great compliment to Ivy; I also found myself wondering if Fyn would play a larger role in the next few books (I look forward to reading them!).
As a Mom, I enjoyed reading this story and would definitely read it to my kids as they get a bit older. I think it has a beautiful message about being brave and loving yourself, and doing the right thing even when it’s hard.
If you enjoyed Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia or Lemony Snickett’s work over the years, I think you’ll enjoy this series as well!
Thank you to @netgalley and @storiesuntold for the ARC digital copy. My thoughts are my own.
The Crowns of Croswald is an enthralling, fantasy novel best suited for middle-school age readers. While the heroine (Ivy) is a young woman, the story is full of mystical creatures, magical spells and enchantments, evil queens, Dwarves, dragons and more.
Ivy is a kitchenmaid at Castle Plum, alone except for her friend Rimbrick- a dwarf with knowledge of her past that he keeps hidden. While out of the castle one day, Ivy is picked up by a strange carriage and whisked away to The Halls Of Ivy- a school for magical youth (scrivenists) and the royalty they serve. With no idea why she is there, and a sneaking suspicion there is more to her past and identity than she is aware of, Ivy begins making friends and learning everything she can about the new world around her.
I found the beginning of the story a bit hard to understand- there were a lot of new terms being introduced, new characters, and I believe a fairly large time-jump. As the story progressed, there were moments I went “Oh! THAT’s why this happened” and I was able to piece it together, but I did feel a bit lost in the initial few chapters. Additionally, the timeline of the story seems to be represented by moon phases, and not knowing what that meant, I didn’t know if a day or week or months had passed from one chapter to the next.
I felt the story was strong in the sense of character development- Ivy was a character I was pulled towards, rooted for, and felt I understood. She was brave, inspiring, a good friend and had a good sense of self, despite not truly knowing who or what she was. Her friend Rebecca was unique and a great compliment to Ivy; I also found myself wondering if Fyn would play a larger role in the next few books (I look forward to reading them!).
As a Mom, I enjoyed reading this story and would definitely read it to my kids as they get a bit older. I think it has a beautiful message about being brave and loving yourself, and doing the right thing even when it’s hard.
If you enjoyed Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia or Lemony Snickett’s work over the years, I think you’ll enjoy this series as well!