This urban fantasy novella is set in modern-day Chicago, but is infused with Polish folklore and paranormal elements.

There are three types of creatures haunting the streets of Chicago - the zmora (night creatures, connected to sleep disturbances), the strzyga (a vampire-like creature), and the llorona (or banshee) - that feed off of fear and provoke sorrow in people. (You can read more about the role these creatures play in Polish mythology on this website.) The Holy Order is an organization that hunts them down in order to kill them. Membership in the Holy Order requires tremendous courage and sacrifice.

Dymitr belongs to the Holy Order, but yearns to escape from the horrifying requirements of the organization. In addition to members facing the monsters, serving in the Order involves life-threatening ordeals and a great deal of pain; for example, the Holy Order splits their souls to make their swords; they have to wrench them from a sheath of vertebrae every time they fight. Dymitr believes he can free himself of the Order by finding the witch Baba Jaga.

Ala, a young zmora who is also unhappy with her destiny, agrees to lead Dymitr to the witch if he in turn helps her break her own curse. To do so she needs him to obtain for her the magical fern flower, which blooms only once a year for 36 hours.

Their struggles to overcome the burdens of their lots in life form the core of the story and personalize the eternal war being waged by the forces of good and evil in the book. Misperceptions characterize both sides. Just as politicians throughout history have sought to dehumanize an enemy to foment hatred of them and encourage acts of violence against them, the leadership of both the "monsters" and those who fight them promulgate negative beliefs about the other. The nonhumans are powerful, yet are brought up to believe the Holy Order to be “the bogeyman of the bogeymen.” Analogously, members of the Holy Order are taught to fear and loathe Baba Jaga and the other creatures, without allowing for any nuance or understanding.

The story serves as a commentary on the concept of "monstrosity" and how prejudices can obscure the value beneath the facade of every being. Contemporary references and paranormal elements are interwoven to add an interesting appeal to the story. And of course, there is romance.

Evaluation: Roth is an excellent writer and knows how to engage young adult audiences, or indeed any reader who appreciates complicated romance. The book will also appeal to fan ( )

The novella, When Among Crows by Veronica Roth, combines Slavic folk tales with a modern day Chicago hiding a war between monsters and monster hunters and in a fairly small space, Roth has created a well realized world, one that grabbed my attention from the beginning and kept it until the end. The characters are mostly likeable and with enough backstory and diverse personalities to make the reader care about them. If I have any criticism of this tale, it would be that I wished there was more so that I could spend more time in this world with these characters but, overall, I can say I enjoyed this novella very much. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Helen Lazur, James Fouhey, and James Campbell who all did an excellent job of bringing the world and its occupants to life.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review ( )

WHEN AMONG CROWS by Veronica Roth had me from the very first sentence. After all, when the author herself describes this novella as The Wizard of Ox meets The Witcher, it is difficult to resist. Me? I’m a sucker for any story about Polish mythology, and WHEN AMONG CROWS has that and more. In the true Polish spirit, so many of the characters are resigned in their self-sacrifices and tortured by their past deeds, but they all obtain the peace they seek. WHEN AMONG CROWS is a rarity among short stories in that Ms. Roth is able to not only create a fully visualized world and tell an entire story arc, but she also includes the necessary backstory and character development to engender empathy for the characters. While I am not normally a fan of novellas because they tend to lack the story depth I enjoy, this is the second of Ms. Roth’s novellas I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I can’t wait to see what she does next! ( )

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a fun little read! I was really interested to see something new from this author, especially in adult fantasy, and it didn't disappoint. The only thing I wished for was for it to be longer! Who knows, maybe it's a taste of things to come, but I'd be interested in following the characters in a full novel. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an ebook for this from NetGalley to review..

Thoughts: This was a quick read that I somewhat enjoyed. Now that I am sitting down to write this review though I find myself struggling a bit to remember it. It's fairly forgettable. I did enjoy the inclusion of Russian folklore/mythology throughout. Previous to this I had read Roth's Divergent series and somewhat enjoyed that as well (I loved the first book but was struggling by the last book in the series).

Dymitr gets an enchanted flower and hopes to cut a bargain with Ala. He will help figure out to use the flower to cure Ala's curse if she will help him find Baba Jaga.

This is a shorter book and you can tell. I never engaged well with the characters and the world was hard to picture. The world was modern Chicago but with other races and a Holy Order that hunts down and kills those other races. It reminded me a lot of the world in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series.

I just now read the synopsis as I was putting together this review and it reveals what is a huge plot twist in the book. I am so happy I didn't read the synopsis before reading the book. That huge plot twist is one of the things I really liked about this story.

There are some good action scenes in here and I did really enjoy how the races are based off Russian folklore and mythology. I just felt like the whole book was a quick and unfinished glimpse into this world. Novellas can be written that really pull the reader in and this was not one of those for me. I finished it, I vaguely enjoyed it, and it is completely forgettable.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was decent. I liked the Russian mythology and it is a quick and easy read. I enjoyed the idea of the Holy Order and their painful swords and I always enjoy it when different races of cryptids are hidden in the modern world. The whole thing felt unfinished to me though. The world-building was incredibly thin and the characters were hard to engage with, they felt very stiff. I did enjoy some of the twists and turns which are completely spoiled by the synopsis (so happy I didn't read the synopsis until after I read the book). I think for now I will skip Roth's books. As much as I liked the first book in the Divergent trilogy, I just have found the other books I have read by her to be so-so. ( )