The Crowns of Croswald by D.E Night is a middle-grade fantasy series that revolves around magic, magical school, friendship, battling against the evil force, and loads of mystery and adventures.
It has almost all the elements of the harry potter series and yet it stands out in its own unique way. It gives you 'The Vibe', but it is still very different and distinctive.
The story follows a 16-year old girl Ivy, who works at Castle Plum as a scaldrony maid, and has no idea about her lineage or her parents(who died when Ivy was a baby). She is invited to the most prestigious school of magic. Here she not only discovers the magical world but also about her past and the evil that is The Queen.
I loved the character of Rebecca, Fyn, and our main protagonist Ivy. The scaldron i.e. Humboldt is so cute, that I would absolutely love to get its plushie if I could.! One of the interesting facts about another main character in the book a.k.a Derwin Edgar Night is, that it has the same initials as the author's pen name (D.E. Night). Although I loved the characters, there's a small issue I felt: The characters didn't sound 16. Ivy and all her gang sounded somewhere around 12-13 years old to me. And although the genre on Goodreads says it's a YA, I wouldn't agree with that. It's a proper middle-grade. You think about these characters as 16 YO, and you won't be able to connect them with the storyline. But once you visualize them as 12 or 13-year-old kids, the story and the writing make more sense and you would absolutely enjoy it.
Unlike harry potter, the magic system here is based on quills rather than a wand. You would think it still sounds familiar, but trust me... It's not.! The story isn't entirely based on characters using quills to fight the war or do magic. Instead, they aren't even allowed to own a quill until they pass. You have potions, Scaldrons, Glanagerie, and what not.!
Crowns of Crowsawld has that mischievous edge where the students are doing exactly what you aren't supposed to do. This makes the story interesting throughout. The plotline is intriguing and would make you want to pick up the next book in the series as well.
Overall, this is a nice lightweight, magic-infused, middle-grade read and a fantastic read for harry potter fans. I am in love with the series so far (Currently 3 books have been released, with the final book in the series dropping probably within a year). I would totally recommend reading this book and it's a 5-star read for me.