When Among Crows is my first Veronica Roth book and I went in completely blind. I wasn’t expecting it to toe the line of horror and whimsy in an urban fantasy setting, and that was probably the best part, in my opinion. I find it hard for a novella to be successful if it’s a standalone and not an addition to another story, but When Among Crows did a fantastic job building a world, developing characters, and keeping my attention. Following Ala, Niko, and Dymitr’s journey to have an audience with Baba Jaga, the most powerful witch in the world, was so much fun and I enjoyed the plot. I would love to see an entire series brought out of this world and would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed One Dark Window or The Tainted Cup.

Thank you to NetGalley, Veronica Roth, and Tor Books for the early copy!

When Among Crows feels like a fresh modern-day fairytale, with elements of lore and witchery woven in. This book was stunning, and a very fast read through. I highly recommend giving it a go.

This was very well-written and the audio was exceptional with several actors voicing characters. It was also short enough to hold my attention as I'm not so into dystopian fiction.
However, the story is interesting. Dymityr is a holy knight who has split his soul to make his weapon. His orders are to hunt and kill "monsters" that roam the streets of Chicago.
Ala is under a family curse. Pain is her inheritance. Dymityr offers her a cure with the magical fern flower in his possession, if she will help him find the legendary witch, Baba Jaga. Ala agrees, unaware of what Dymityr actually is.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for this e-arc.*

From the synopsis only, I was excited to read this new urban fantasy.
It is short (it’s a novella so, dah!) and since it’s quite immersive, you go through the pages pretty quickly.
What I really loved about this book is the characters and their development, who doesn’t like a bunch of outcasts found family trope?
When you think you know what’s happening, you don’t truly, not until the end where the plot unfolds anyway. While you can guess where it’s headed, there is a more complex depth to it.
That being said, I wish some part of the story would have been explored a bit more. I wanted to know more about some of the creatures or the Polish Folklore that inspired the narrative and also, about how The Holy Order works. But again, under 200 pages, it’s still impressive to be able to fit everything there is to know to understand a minimum.
Overall, I did really enjoy my reading but it wasn’t an hit to the guts for me and maybe there is a simple explanation for that. This was my first read after finishing The Poppy War trilogy and well, in terms of gut-wrenching, there isn’t worse (I still feel numb to anyone wondering).
Now, if you like fast paced novellas, multiple pov Urban Fantasy, Polish mythology, Demons vs Knights and a twist of M/M romance, then go ahead! It’s a fun little read and the characters are really compelling.

📕: When Among Crows
✍️:Veronica Roth
📅: May 14, 2024

Ah, I loved this so much. This is the modern fantasy with a darkly gothic atmosphere that I always crave but rarely find! Anything can happen when so much is hidden where us normal folk can’t look or see!

Even though this is relatively short at just 176 pages or 4.5 hours audio, I still felt like I got a full lush experience. That’s not to say I wouldn’t like more, because, yes, please! I loved the characters and the world they lived in!

Built loosely on the Baba Yaga folklore, this focuses on one man’s epic quest to find Baba Jaga for his own, very personal, reasons and the exceptional characters he meets on the way.

What I really loved about this is that it’s not just a warrior’s story but it’s about found family, the struggle against love, loyalty and family, and about following one’s heart against everything they’ve known to be true in their lives. Cryptic, I know, but this is a definite must read and I’ve been recommending to everyone.

Thank you so much @TorBooks for this gifted DRC!

Thank you to Tor for the review copy, my opinions are my own.

This novella is a fantastic story about a monster hunter and a cursed “monster” on a quest to break a curse and find Baba Jaga in the streets of Chicago.

Read it if you enjoy:
Old world magic
Enemies working together
Secrets
Curses
Mythological beings from all over the world
Queer characters

I loved this novella and was entranced by the story telling, reminded me of the Russian and Polish fairytales I read and heard growing up, a lot darker than the Disney tales that were so sanitized as to not even remotely resemble their origins. This story involves guilt, fear, sorrow, and regret.

Highly recommend!!!

In When Among Crows, Chicago is home to monsters that feed on human emotions: fear, rage and sorrow. These monsters are hunted by the Knights of the Holy Order- humans that have made their very bodies into weapons to hunt down their enemies. So when human man Dymitr approaches monster Ala claiming her can help lift her family curse, she is wary of the human. The two are soon joined by Niko in their search for Baba Yaga whose aid can help lift the curse once and for all. But, are Dymitr’s motives to heal Ala as altruistic as he claims? And who is the mysterious figure trailing them on their quest?
Roth has successfully woven together Slavic folklore in a modern setting to tell a story about more than just humans and monsters, but of the immigrant experience, religion and escaping generational violence.

I received a complimentary ARC of WHEN AMONG CROWS by Veronica Roth thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley.

WHEN AMONG CROWS is a fantasy novella based in Slavic folklore, but set in Chicago. Dymitr is from a family of hunters, called upon to sacrifice their souls to take monsters down. His current mission is a dangerous one, tasked with finding and killing the witch Baba Jaga. Ala is a fire-eating zmora, a young woman living under a curse. Dymitr tempts her with a cure in order to gain her help on his quest and she can only say yes.

I had a good time with this quick novella read. I thought that the mythology and the blending in with a world we'd somewhat recognize was really well done. I liked the dynamic that built between Dymitr and Ala as they worked together while still not having an ability to trust each other. I thought the enemies to potentially something different worked well in this setup also.

The atmosphere in this book was great and I definitely felt the darkness of this underworld version of Chicago that Roth is putting forward. While many novellas leave me wanting a bit more, I think this was a good length to fully deliver this story.

Genre: urban fantasy + Slavic mythology
Chicago, present day

Set in contemporary Chicago, the short arc of this story follows Ala, a zmora, Dymitr, a leszy, and Nikodem, a strzygi, Slavic creatures of dreams and nightmares living off of pain and other emotions. They carry their own curses, though Ala’s is the most traditional. Dymitr is in search of Baba Jaga, and for Ala’s help, he may be able to offer her a cure.

This is a very Meg-coded book. Polish mythology blended with gritty contemporary aesthetics wrapped up in a tight novella arc was the perfect change of pace for me after some of the longer books I’ve been reading. It’s a skillful novella, with just enough character development and plot movement and mythological exploration to keep the book moving but not overwhelm the reader. I always love a good Baba Jaga story, and loved Roth’s interpretation of her house (obviously), but also of her myth generally. There is also a queer romantic story line, with just enough to keep any romance reader engaged.

I listened to parts of the audiobook but found myself more drawn to the written prose. While it’s lovely to hear the Polish spoken to me with really wonderful narration, it was easier for me to get my bearings as a reader seeing some of the words on the page. I found that Roth made some really great choices with how much to explain versus reference in the mythologies to keep the novella shorter. A reader unfamiliar with Slavic lore (this includes me!) will want to have a search engine on hand to look up images and stories of the demons and witches that stalk pages.

I have loved Veronica Roth’s transition from YA Fantasy (Divergent) to sharp, smart novellas and short stories. When Among Crows and Arch-Conspirator have a more mature approach to storytelling and craft than her early works, and I am here for it.

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for inviting me to read this title early!

I'm honestly pretty impressed by this little guy! I didn't realize it was a novella until I started it and at first, the plot sounded like it was going to be too dense for 142 pages. It ended up working really well though, with a quick-moving plot and interesting characters.

The settings were a little fuzzy for me and I felt that some of the more action-oriented parts could have used a little more description, but I really enjoyed the lore and mythos that were worked into it. I think they would have also benefited from a little more exposition, but I didn't find that it took me out of it at all. The casual mentions of it being in Chicago in the middle of all these fantastical happenings were a little funny to me, but not in a bad way. Urban fantasy is fun!

I feel like I would love to see this expanded, but not as a full-length novel or series, but rather as a series of novellas like this one. The bite sized fantasy story worked really well! The Knights and their weapons were especially interesting to me. I could picture it so well and it was gnarly and cool!

When among crows indeed!

A delightful urban fantasy novella. Dymitr is in Chicago from Poland and he's on a Quest to find Baba Jaga. This quest follows a tried-and-true fantasy structure: he picks up some reluctant allies as he works his way through several set pieces in the supernatural underground of the city, fighting magical creatures and revealing truths about themselves they'd rather keep hidden along the way. This feels like a fantasy novel in miniature with a hint of gore and a tiny little touch of romance.

If you like the idea of supernatural creatures living among us, and especially the idea of translating "old world"/folk tale creatures like rusalka, banshees, vampires, etc. into today's world, you'll be into this one. I really liked it!

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novella.

Thank you to Veronica Roth, NetGalley, and Tor Books for an arc!! As someone who loved Divergent but felt snubbed by Insurgent and Allegiant, I had hopes this book would be better. It was okay. I didn't seem to come to care about the characters much, and the plot was a bit too slow for me, which is disappointing for a novella. I LOVED the political intrigue and intricacies in here, though. I wish it were longer and more fast-paced because the world is such a cool world. I would love to explore the magic system more and the intricacies of it!

This is a tiny novella story, I actually have a physical arc of this and it’s like a pamphlet, written by Veronica Roth, that is set in a magical contemporary world, specifically Chicago and it’s steeped in Slavic lore and magic. It’s about Chicago being divided by both humans and creatures that feed off of fear and provoke sorrow in people and we follow characters from The Holy Order which is an organization that hunts them down in order to kill them. It was pretty cool, I wish it was a full length novel because I have trouble getting into novella’s these days but nonetheless, a good one.

3.5 🌟 a book that I wished was longer?? Who would have thought! The world building, characters, and mission of this novella were crafted so well. The pacing was fast (but not too fast) and a bit dark at times but really intriguing. Honestly, the summary spoiled a major part of this book so I’d recommend going in blind and enjoying your time with it! My only complaint would be that I would have loved to see the world expanded more, more time with the characters to watch them develop and interact, and more time on their side quests because it was all so interesting!! This was such a good introduction to Veronica’s Roth’s writing and I will definitely be coming back for more.

I think I'm an outlier, but this just wasn't for me. The premise of this novella is so interesting - a dark urban fantasy set in Chicago with themes and creatures from Polish mythology. I expected to get swept away in the story, but it dragged and I had very little motivation to even finish it. The characters were a little bland, which is wild given the source material. We are introduced to so many monsters in the first half with not enough description I kept being drawn away from the story to look up their origins. Maybe someone more aware of Polish mythology would connect more readily to the world that Roth was creating. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Side note: everyone has a "creaky voice" in this novella for reasons unknown >.<

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for an advanced copy for review. All opinions are my own.

<i>First, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

Second, oh my GOD what a gorgeous cover!

What can I say, I love me an Eastern European folktale-inspired book.

I could see complaints about the pacing, or even about the characters in this one, but to me the story was so ethereal and felt like a “classic” fairytale which made the aforementioned things non-issues for me; I think this was a stylistic choice that worked really well.

This story was a delight, aloof in a way that made me feel outside of time and reality in a way a really good folktale/fairytale can.

I was initially on the fence because my only reference for Roth is the <i>Divergent</i> series; I haven’t read those in quite a while but I feel like the writing in this was more mature and stylistically better. From my recollection that series felt more like a series about the action and the plot and less about the actual <i>art</i> of writing. This story felt like it was as much about the story as it was about the actual prose itself.

Overall a fantastic short story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I've always been a Veronica Roth fan, and this book did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. All of the characters were interesting. I cannot stop thinking about this book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a digital ARC.

A good fit for readers who enjoy contemporary urban fantasy stories about characters navigating their duties and facing supernatural challenges to protect humanity and seek forgiveness.

When Among Crows is the first Veronica Roth book I’ve read since throwing Allegiant across my living room over a decade ago. I really enjoy her writing style but felt desperately betrayed by that book, and so I haven’t picked up anything by her since then. However, the premise of When Among Crows fascinated me, and a standalone novella sounded like a relatively safe way to dip my toes back into the pool of her work. This proved to be a great decision. While I didn’t quite love When Among Crows, I did have a lot of fun with it. Is it a perfect novella? No. Is it worth picking up? Absolutely.

Remember that premise I said I found fascinating? By the time I actually got my hands on this book, I had forgotten most of that premise. Which served me really well. If you can go into this novella without reading the synopsis, I would highly recommend doing so. It added a layer of depth to the story for me. The synopsis is actually laden with spoilers, reveals that aren’t made until over halfway into the book itself. Stay away from it if you can.

Here we have our world, but with a monstrous underbelly. Most of the narrative takes place in modern Chicago, where Dymitr, one of our main characters, is on a quest to break a curse. Here he meets Ala, a zmora who feeds on fear, and Niko, an incredibly powerful (and rare) male strzyga who feeds on anger. The three are tied together by Dymitr’s mission, and visit some truly freaky locales on their quest, having to make occasional pitstops to fight darker, fouler monsters. Or, the bogeyman of all monsters, a knight of the Holy Order, monster hunters who split their own souls in half to forge a blade they keep sheathed in their spine until the time comes to slay their prey.

I appreciated the Slavic inspiration behind this story and its monsters. I know less about Slavic folklore and mythology than I do Greco-Roman or Egyptian, and it’s always fun to get an urban fantasy book populated with such new (to me) and unusual faces. I also thought that the story had a very strong sense of place. The characters were compelling and sympathetic, and I was invested in their tale. However, I felt that the plot could have been sharpened, and that a bit more time could have been given to the world building. The chemistry and tension between the characters also felt slightly unbelievable to me. But all three of those complaints are due to the brevity of the story. I tend to have such complaints when it comes to novellas.

Roth’s writing style is captivating, in a similar way to Sanderson’s writing style. Like Sanderson, Roth has the kind of prose that paints a vivid picture and then melts away, leaving you with a movie playing in your mind. I could see every small detail of every scene of this book. I love writing that disappears like that, leaving you alone with the story being told. But that’s not to say that Roth (and Sanderson, for that matter) doesn’t have a lovely way with words, and doesn’t offer up poetic tidbits when the mood strikes. She just doesn’t get in the way of her own story.

For the most part, I really enjoyed this novella. When Among Crows is a dark, adventurous, interesting story well told, but it would have benefited from deeper world building, a sharper plot, and room for the characters to develop and breathe. Even considering that, it was well worth reading. I had access to both the ebook and the audio, and the tandem reading experience bumped my rating up from 3.5 to 4 stars. The audiobook had multiple narrators and was very well done. It was incredibly helpful to hear so many of these new-to-me terms pronounced, instead of trying to figure out that pronunciation myself. So, if you’re an audiobook fan and are considering picked up When Among Crows, I would definitely suggest the audiobook!

3.5 Stars Rounded Up.

"When among crows, you must caw as one."

As with most novellas I've read, the plot is pretty straightforward but DANG what an introduction to creatures of Slavic folklore in under 200 pages. Most of all I appreciate that this novella begs the question do differences make us monsters and how do we break those thought cycles?

I enjoyed the writing, the modern Chicago setting for a true dose of urban fantasy, and Dymitr’s quest for redemption.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the eARC!