WERBUNG
Book: The Crowns of Croswald
Author: D.E. Night
Pages: 318 (Paperback)
Publisher: Stories Untold
Published: 21st July, 2017
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.
Source: Goodreads
My opinion:
*First of all, I received the book early in exchange for an honest review.*
This was such a lovely and magical experience. There are dragons and unicorns, evil queens and wizarding schools, talking books and teenage quabbles. This book reminded me of Harry Potter in some ways, but in all the best. And if you liked Harry Potter, you will definitely like this book as well.
The reader first meets Ivy being terrorized by the staff of the house she lives and works in. She has one friend only who is a dwarf. But when her magical powers are discovered, she leaves her old life behind and uncovers secret after secret.
Ivy is very smart and thanks to her photographic memory remembers a lot of things. Something about her is special though she does not know what it is yet. Around her, more strange things happen than around other people. She is also brave and loyal towards her friends, though she manages to get herself and them into danger more than once. Ivy is a dreamer though and through.
Before she even starts school, Ivy meets Fyn who soon becomes a friend. But he seemed a bit strange and I was wondering all the time if his motives are true or if he is playing a game with Ivy. This was because he works together with people about whose motives I was not sure about.
The person Ivy comes to trust the most is her room mate Rebecca. Rebecca is a very fun character to read about. The friendship of the two girls is described in a fun way as well and I enjoyed Rebecca as well as the friendship immensely.
The evil that looms over everything though, is the Dark Queen. Nobody really knows anything about her and so the reader is left in the dark as well which makes the reading experience even more fascinating. You just wish to know more. Not only about the quuen but about all the characters and the world as well. And here and there, the authors gives bits of information and you feel with Ivy and discover the magic that is Croswald together with her.
The story was also really good. You never really knew who was good or bad, the magical elements were matching very well with everything that happened.
The writing style was easy and fast to read, the words not complicated. Even though the book is supposed to be YA, it reads more like a middle grade. But that does not lessen the quality of both the story and the writing style in any way. What I also enjoyed was that the author named a character after herself. Well, after her initials at least. There were just so many small details that made me enjoy the book so much. All in all, this is a fast and fun read I would recommend to everyone but especially younger readers.
Rating:
★★★★/5
