**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**

The Awakening of Ren Crown is the first book in the young adult fantasy & magic series, Ren Crown, by Anne Zoelle. It was very fun and very magical. I really enjoyed this book. And instead of doing a traditional review, I am going to give you reasons you should read this book, and this series.

I love a magical boarding school setting. The Awakening of Ren Crown takes place at Excelsince University, and it is every bit as magical as you would hope. Full of secrets, eccentric teachers and secrets. I loved how unique their take on magic was too. I knew right away when Ren was developing artistically when she made paints, that this was going to be an interesting take.

The Rise of Ren Crown2

2. The length. I love a long book, and this one clocked in at just under 400 pages, which is great for a young adult fantasy.

3. The characters! I loved how tenacious Ren was. She was dropped into this very new world, after a very traumatic experience and she never lost her footing. She just kept trucking along to help her brother. I admired the heck out of her.

4. The details, the writing and the world building. You can tell that author really put some thought into this series. Each detail seemed thoughtfully placed, and as a reader, I just eat all of that up! This book was really well done in that regard.

5. You can binge read the Ren Crown series! It looks like it is going to be a five book series and the first three books are currently out. Read them back to back to back for your instant gratification satisfaction! Book four looks like it will be releasing sometime this year.

And now for the things I didn't love. This book was a bit slow on the romance. There was a lot going on, so I didn't miss it all that much, but when I was done with the book, I had an oh yea moment, when I realized that things didn't really move along on that front. But I have hope for the next book. Now that the building blocks have been laid, there will be much more room for romance. And the other issue was just how much was going on in The Awakening of Ren Crown. We were thrust into action right from the very first page and it never really completely slowed down. It is a full immersion technique and you just have to get your bearings and learn the lay of the land on the fly as you read. It was well done, but led to confusion a couple of times. Nothing too big though.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs