Review: The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night 
Publisher: Stories Untold Press
Release Date: July 21, 2017
Book Format: Paperback
# of Pages: 320
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. 

My Review:

I received this book from the publisher/author and this is my honest review.

Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night takes place in a mystical land in which magic is real and those who are born with it must attend Halls of Ivy to learn and master their individual skills. The main character goes by the name of Ivy of course and she is introduced to readers while working as a scaldrony maid in a huge castle completely unaware of any powers she may have.

The biggest issue I had while reading was how quickly scenes changed. There were so many points within this book that I found myself confused because of the lack of transitions. I feel as though normally transitions are marked by the start of a new chapter but this book had so many different scenes in each chapter that ran into each other. Ivy’s thoughts and actions were all so crazy and hectic that it was sometimes hard to follow. Thinking back to the book now I still am not so sure I really understood all of the crazy things that happened in the book. I was also hoping that the narration style would be more storyteller style I almost felt as if the narrator wasn’t invested and excited about the story which turned me off to it at some points.

Something I really enjoyed was the many different settings included in the story. My favorite scene in the book took place while Ivy was tucked away in a library room and a book kept flying off the shelf. The book ended up revealing a whole secret place to Ivy and it was so fun to see her find the place, describe it as she went and also meet someone new.

I did enjoy the story and would definitely read other books written by Night. It’s hard for me not to fall in love with stories about young girls discovering what there life was meant to hold. Even though I found it hard to follow at some points but there were also more times when I was smiling and excited to watch all the magic unfold.