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A review by meisbooknook
The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night
3.0
I recieved a free copy of this book from the publisher (Stories Untold) in exchange for a honest review.
This review will be spoiler-free. As such, I will try to do the best that I can getting my points across.
From the beginning I was entranced by the world building in this novel. You are thrust into the magical world of Croswald and all of the intricacies of it. It is a whimscial, charming tale. Though reminiscient of another popular book that takes place in a magical setting, D.E. Night takes this concept and truly makes it her own - especially during the second half of the book.
I really loved the creativity behind this book. The glanageries, cabbies (and cabbie storms), and scaldrons! It is pure fantasy, and I absolutely adored it.
However, with being as descriptive as this book is - I feel like certain ascpets of the tale should have been expanded on for clarity. I understand that certain things were meant to be hidden by the author for effect - which is not what I am referring to. I am referring to aspects of the world that the author believes can be inferred by the reader (things that Ivy knows already and we do not), and things that Ivy does not know, and could have been used as an opportunity for world building.
Moreover, although this takes place mainly in a school, the school aspect is not overly emphasized. The story jumps from one of Ivy's adventures to another, with nothing in between. I understand the need to avoid filler, but it feels like a missed opportunity to showcase Ivy's relationships with those around her. I did feel like she was isolated from her peers, and did not seem to care much about what was happening around her.
To further elucidate on both of the points I made above, I believe that both of these issues would have easily been solved with the use of dialogue.
Although the plot was fairly predictiable, I felt like the events leading up to the ending were convoluted enough that I had to go back and re-read certain passages a couple of times. That being said, I am not sure if I would categorize this as juvenile fiction, especially since the characters ages fall more into the young adult range in the first place. Some of the interactions definitely seem more juvenile (i.e. Fyn and Ivy's avoidance to talk about certain things), whereas the world building seems more YA. This leads to somewhat of an awkward imbalance that I would percieve younger readers having difficulty with.
That being said, I do believe that this is a good start to a series. The ending holds promise for the future books, and I hope that more to Ivy's story is revealed in time.
Thank you so much to Stories Untold for sending me a free copy of this book!
This review will be spoiler-free. As such, I will try to do the best that I can getting my points across.
From the beginning I was entranced by the world building in this novel. You are thrust into the magical world of Croswald and all of the intricacies of it. It is a whimscial, charming tale. Though reminiscient of another popular book that takes place in a magical setting, D.E. Night takes this concept and truly makes it her own - especially during the second half of the book.
I really loved the creativity behind this book. The glanageries, cabbies (and cabbie storms), and scaldrons! It is pure fantasy, and I absolutely adored it.
However, with being as descriptive as this book is - I feel like certain ascpets of the tale should have been expanded on for clarity. I understand that certain things were meant to be hidden by the author for effect - which is not what I am referring to. I am referring to aspects of the world that the author believes can be inferred by the reader (things that Ivy knows already and we do not), and things that Ivy does not know, and could have been used as an opportunity for world building.
Moreover, although this takes place mainly in a school, the school aspect is not overly emphasized. The story jumps from one of Ivy's adventures to another, with nothing in between. I understand the need to avoid filler, but it feels like a missed opportunity to showcase Ivy's relationships with those around her. I did feel like she was isolated from her peers, and did not seem to care much about what was happening around her.
To further elucidate on both of the points I made above, I believe that both of these issues would have easily been solved with the use of dialogue.
Although the plot was fairly predictiable, I felt like the events leading up to the ending were convoluted enough that I had to go back and re-read certain passages a couple of times. That being said, I am not sure if I would categorize this as juvenile fiction, especially since the characters ages fall more into the young adult range in the first place. Some of the interactions definitely seem more juvenile (i.e. Fyn and Ivy's avoidance to talk about certain things), whereas the world building seems more YA. This leads to somewhat of an awkward imbalance that I would percieve younger readers having difficulty with.
That being said, I do believe that this is a good start to a series. The ending holds promise for the future books, and I hope that more to Ivy's story is revealed in time.
Thank you so much to Stories Untold for sending me a free copy of this book!