For 16 years Ivy Lovely has been hidden behind a barrier that suppresses magic. When she’s kicked out of her maid role, she goes off through the barrier and is found by the headmaster of The Halls of Ivy. She goes to school and meets a mix of wonderful and not so wonderful people along the way. She starts to remember a man and has to concoct a plan to get through the door of forgetting and try to get others to remember him.
My first thought is that Crowns of Croswald was definitely set up to be a series. There’s a lot of time spent on the everyday slower aspects to build the character relationships, the world building and even the way magic works. This slowed down the pace a lot at times although it picked up nearing the end.
Crowns of Croswald suffered from using inspiration maybe too much from other sources. Ivy left behind being a maid to go to a magic school. She’s a sort of chosen one and the hero of the story. She has two friends, Fyn and Rebecca who help her in her adventures. It really reminded me of Harry Potter. The Scrivenists reminded me of the ‘Author’ plot in Once Upon a Time. The best friend, Rebecca, also reminded me of Charlotte from Princess and the Frog? I’m unsure if this was intentional, but it really threw me out of this story.
It’s most definitely meant for a younger audience than me. I would probably gift this to my younger cousin who would appreciate the new magical world a lot more. I was intrigued with how the world expands from the school. Once we get there we’re suddenly only on school grounds (again similar to Harry Potter). I think Night could for sure expand this world and make the series a whole lot more unique and intriguing with this.
Overall I did enjoy reading The Crowns of Croswald. But I didn’t think it had that spark of uniqueness that would make me want to read the next installment. I received The Crowns of Croswald* by D.E.. Night from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.