Book Review – The Crowns of Croswald

Title: The Crowns of Croswald (The Crowns of Croswald #1)

Author: D. E. Night

Publisher: Stories Untold Press

Publication date: July 21, 2017

314 pages

4/5

Goodreads Synopsis

In Croswald, the only thing more powerful than dark magic is one secret… 

For sixteen years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind an enchanted boundary that separates the mundane from the magical. When Ivy crosses the border, her powers awaken. Curiosity leads her crashing through a series of adventures at the Halls of Ivy, a school where students learn to master their magical blood and the power of Croswald’s mysterious gems. When Ivy’s magic—and her life—is threatened by the Dark Queen, she scrambles to unearth her history and save Croswald before the truth is swept away forever.

Review

**Thank you to Stories Untold Press for providing me a copy of The Crowns of Croswald in exchange for an honest review**

Hello again, all! I read The Crowns of Croswald while on a road trip to/from Louisville, KY with my boyfriend. I had some difficulties getting into this book in the beginning, and actually needed to take a break from it before I could finish it.

Ivy is an orphan who has grown up as a scaldrony maid (scaldrons are lizards that power the ovens) before she is sent away by her boss. As she is dismissed, she is picked up by a strange man who tells her she is meant to be attending the magical school at the Halls of Ivy – where students with magical blood go to be scriveners or Royals (depending on their birth). She is revealed to have magical blood, so she goes to attend school. While there, she deals with bullies and a secret that no one can remember, but everyone is protecting. The Crowns of Croswald follows Ivy as she discovers who she is, her destiny, and also save the world from the Dark Queen.

So basically, this book is a gender bent Harry Potter. This is why I had to take a break from it in the beginning, because it really felt too close to Harry Potter for me to get into. I love Harry Potter, but this was a bit too much. I gave it a day and read something else before I came back to it. I’m very glad I did because I really ended up enjoying it as the story progressed.

One critique I will say is that the magic system didn’t seem very well fleshed out, and there were some confusing scenes that I had a hard time following. Other than that, it was a good story.

Happy reading, book friends! 🙂