If a book has "crow" in the title, I read it. It's that simple.

Synopsis: Dymitr—a knight that split his soul and used his spine to make his sword—joins together with Ala—a witch with a curse that will soon take her life—on a quest to track down the legendary witch Baba Jaga. Dymitr, hiding who he really is, wants a chance to meet this epic witch and bribes Ala to help him with a flower, that in the hands of Baba, might heal her.

But they only have one day to do it.

Plot: To start this off, I think I read this at the wrong time. I just finished an INCREDIBLE novella, so going into this was a little bit of a letdown. Especially because I didn't realize it was a novella, until I was almost done. For a book that is this short, it was a surprisingly slow moving plot, and did't have a lot going for it plot-wise either. I think this tried to do way too much background—building the world, the magic, the creatures, etc.—and didn't spend enough time fully fleshing out the actual plot of the book. It was very one dimensional and lacked the intrigue to keep me wanting to pick this up. The synopsis makes this book sound so good, but the interesting pieces of that summary, are not focused on enough in the book for me. I just wanted more, and think this could have done better as a longer novel.

Characters: The shortness of the book really showed when it came to the characters too. There simply was not enough time to get to know them. A book like this needs to play somewhat into mystery and learning the characters slowly, but when you have less than 200 pages to do it, it can be difficult. Because of that, I only felt like I even started to know or care about them a little bit in the last 30 pages, and by that point it was too late.

Maybe listening to this on audio just didn't do it justice...the accents weren't great so.

2/5 stars.

Not sure if I will be picking up Veronica Roth anymore.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I'm not that big of a fan of urban fantasy, but I really enjoyed this one. The writing, lore, and characters were great. All three of the narrators were wonderful. My only complaint is that I wish this were flushed out a bit more to be a full length story! Some of the literary devices used to move the story along were cliche, and had this been a full-length book, maybe could have been avoided.

This was stunning. It had very lush world-building, lovable characters, and, for a novella, a substantial amount of depth to the plot. I absolutely loved the Slavic lore in an urban setting. I had such a great time listening to this. I honestly wish it had been longer. I loved the narrators. I thought they worked well together and did a fantastic job. Their cadence and accents were excellent. I really like how each character has a different narrator, giving each character a very distinct sound.

4.25/5 rounded down. If you want to dip your toes into urban fantasy, maybe something a little darker but you're not sure you can handle too much gore and darkness, please pick this book up! Release date is 5/14/24.

This was such a gripping story full of polish folklore, found family, a lowkey achillean romance, and themes of redemption, forgiveness, and sacrifice. I just wish this was longer! Don't get me wrong, Veronica Roth does an excellent job telling a complete and satisfying story in such a small page count, but I really enjoyed my time in this world and am bummed that there wasn't more backstory to Dymitr, Ala, and Niko or that the Polish creatures weren't talked about more. I had to stop listening to look up the different creatures so that I could picture them or differentiate them from each other. Here are few for your reference prior to diving in:

Baba Jaga - a witch/hag/ogress known for trapping and killing people (or children)
Strzyga – a (usually female) demon like a vampire with owl features
Zmora – shape-shifting nightmare demons that suffocate you when you're sleeping
Leshy – forest spirit

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listeners copy in exchange for my honest review

This book moved a little slow and had a lot of back story for how short it was, but the story was interesting and I will definitely read the best one. I really enjoyed the mix of witchy/monster vibes with the modern setting.

This was a great little novella/audiobook covering a range of Slavic/Russian-folktale-inspired storylines, which I always love. It was also like a re-imagining of the old vampire vs. vampire hunters, but with all manner of beings, and I always love Baba Yaga being thrown into the mix. The storyline was powerful, moving, unnerving, and uplifting. I got tired of Veronica Roth's post-apocalyptic and world-ending scenarios in her books a long time ago, and haven't read much from her in quite some time. I hope she keeps adding to these little Slavic/Russian-folktale storylines!

As for the audiobook, specifically, the narrators (Helen Laser; James Fouhey; Tim Campbell) all did a great job making the audio flow and distinguishing between characters without overdoing the theatrics, which I always appreciate. The switches between all the Polish, American, and other, accents was also pretty impressive.

In a world where monsters live off of human emotions, Dymitr is on a quest. His goal is to find the infamous baba jaga but he’s on a short timeline. With a holy flower in tow, Dymitr has 36 hours to accomplish his goal. Along the way he meets Ala. She’s desperate to cure the curse bestowed upon her family so she joins forces with Dymitr. As they make their way through the city, they come across some unsavory creatures but that won’t slow them down.

This book was a lot of fun! It’s definitely high fantasy and pushes the reader to know the ins and outs of fantasy lore to grasp what’s going on in the story. The cast of characters are a delight and I enjoyed each of the interactions the MCs had with all of them. I liked this side of Roth! I’ve only read her dystopian works so to have a different world from her imagination was so good. Her writing is truly a delight. The multi-narration of this book made it difficult to delineate which character was speaking. Both of the male authors sound VERY similar and the male character voices were not consistent. I had to skip back on a few occasions to understand who was speaking when the men were narrating. I wish there was more of a difference between the men so I knew which POV we were in. Overall, I give this a 4/5 stars!

“You have spent too much time with mortals if you expect magic to move in a straight line.”

I don’t know how to explain this book. Just picture Polish folk creatures in modern day Chicago and a mysterious mortal shows up on an unspecified quest. Chaos ensues. Enjoy!

This was a quick read for me. I liked the modern take on folklore and the way various creatures have adapted to contemporary life. In some ways, it felt a little experimental. The narrative bounces around between both characters and timelines. This felt confusing, but ultimately gave the reader a better sense of the entire story. As Baba Yaga says, magic is crooked.

The audiobook is narrated by Helen Laser, James Fouhey, and Tim Campbell. I absolutely love when audiobooks have different narrators for the main POV characters! This was a very quick, enjoyable listen. I liked the intro and outro music.

Let's be honest, I'm new to the world of audiobooks. I've listened/read to maybe a total of 8 books, mostly non-fiction. So when When Among Crows got past the first chapter/introduction, I wanted to burst out laughing. Sure, it probably didn't help that I listened to it at 1.75x the speed. However, hearing the narrators "mimic" the other characters, especially the male POVs speaking the female words, had me crying with laughter. Okay. I got that out of the way.

For a novella, this really did a great job telling Veronica Roth's story of a MMC trying to redeem himself from a familial legacy of "monster" killers. In doing so, he goes through a trial, faces his own family and past, and needs to earn the trust of those who he would ordinarily unalive to help him. It's a three POV story of slavic mythology in modern Chicago. Throw in some flashbacks for the three main characters, and it basically sums it all up. You could also say that it's similar to an episode of Supernatural, minus the idiocy of Dean and Sam Winchester.

This novella easily could have been a full fledged novel, even duology/series. If Veronica Roth ever writes another book about this world/characters, count me in. Definitely worth the hype for me and will recommend to all. Thank you Netgalley, Macmillian Audio/Tor Books for allowing me to preview this great story for a review.

Will be posting to Goodreads, Instagram, and Storygraph

*4 stars*

This was an incredibly rich, atmospheric story. I really enjoyed all the folklore elements juxtaposed with modern day. While I think the novella concluded perfectly, I wish we had gotten more time with these characters and stories.

After reading Divergent and Arch-conspirator I thought maybe Roth’s writing just wasn’t for me but this has me wanting to go back and read some of her other more recent things.

The narration was excellent, each character was so distinct and even with three different narrators it felt very cohesive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

So think Grishaverse (Shadow & Bone) vibes but give it a contemporary urban vibe for adults and you have this little novella. The city of Chicago, as always, is painted so vividly in this book that it almost stands as another character and I always appreciate that in Veronica Roth's books. While set in the US, the story line weaves in Slavic folklore including a stryzgon, a zmora, and the infamous Baba Jaga. I would not have minded if this book was fleshed out into another hundred pages or so. Considering that we are following three different point of views on a 24-hour mission and sorting through some pretty heavy emotions and evils, I just wanted more. However, I did enjoy what we got. For a novella, the pacing was excellent and the journey we took with Ala, Nico, and Dymitir was dark and worthwhile.

This is one of the most mediocre books I've read. I have nothing good or bad to say about it. Maybe I would have liked it more if it was longer and I had a chance to care more about the characters.

Let me preface by saying I swore after Allegiant (Divergent series) to never read anything by this author again lol. I’ve kept to that until this book. Does this book change my mind? Not really.

The premise is interesting, and I enjoyed the story. The characters are compelling, and the story is woven together well. I think it’s worth a read.

I didn’t love the male narrator. I found his voice to be distracting at times. This is a personal thing so others may enjoy him. I wished it had been done by the female narrator as I preferred her voice.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable tale.

4.5 rounded up

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was really interesting and I was surprised by how well paced the plot was considering how short the book is. My only complaint and the only reason that it lost half a star for me was that I would have liked to have had more time with the characters. They were so interesting and I was really interested in their development, we just didn't get to spend enough time with them

I was drawn to this novella because of the gothic vibes of the cover, the description, and the mention of monsters. Funny enough, a the story played out, I don't feel the description did a great job of preparing me for the story which unfolded. In fact, it probably spoiled some things which were revealed along the way and as someone else's review recommended, "Maybe don't read the synopsis until after you've read it."
We are presented with a man, Dymitr, who seems more than a man, but also broken in some mysterious way. He seeks a flower for an unknown purpose but must pass a mysterious test before his quest can truly begin. There are currents of myth and legend weaving this story together and the atmosphere feels dark and perfect. Monsters are real. Witches are real. And evil may not come from the places you think it will.
I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced audiobook of this novella. Though I am not certain the narration was incredibly well done, I really liked the story and am giving it 5* based on that.

4.5/5

When Among Crows is such an exciting sprint. I liked this story as a novella and think Roth did a great job of having the reader invest in each the main POVs in a short timeframe.

The pacing of this book was fantastic, the magic system and Slavic folklore was really fresh, and I think the whole adventure set in a place like Chicago grounded the whole plot.

If you want to truly enjoy this book, go into it without reading any synopsis of the story because I think the main reason I like it was because it had some really unexpected twists.

the perfect novella for folklore & fantasy lovers!

“when among crows” gives us a fresh take on modern folklore by pulling from Polish folktales. i absolutely loved learning about the creatures & monsters, especially the dynamics between the characters who come from various backgrounds and are forced to band together. fans of the grishaverse and the shadowhunters books will be absolutely captivated!

for such a short story (under 200 pages) i was pleasantly surprised at how detailed and well organized the overall plot was. this truly feels like a dark, gritty, fairytale come to life.

bonus- the audiobook is phenomenal! the cast did a wonderful job of portraying the characters, and their accents and performances made the story even more enjoyable for me.

thank you to Tor and Netgalley for the advance copy & audiobook!

It was hard to get into this book at first because the world building happened so fast that I was lost for a minute. I think that would have been easier to read in physical form than audio. However, once I oriented myself in the story I same enjoyed the characters and action!

After reading the first couple chapters, I felt like I couldn’t get into it and so I feel like it would be better for me to choose not to review this as it doesn’t seem to be my type of book.

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂 𝑹𝒐𝒕𝒉
𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘤 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 • 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 • 𝘜𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺
𝚎𝙰𝚁𝙲/𝙰𝙻𝙲 • 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜 𝟷𝟺 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺

It was half a lifetime ago that I read Divergent and I will always have a soft spot for that series, as it was read at just the right time and place for me (YA dystopian urban fantasy, when I was a fantasy-obsessed young adult myself). I have been tickled to see a new piece coming out from Veronica Roth, and am grateful to both @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for granting me early access to review this novella digitally and on audio.

When Among Crows is so different from the YA dystopian setting of Divergent that I think it will appeal to a different class of readers. It’s slavic folklore, a tale of an epic quest undertaken by three unlikely protagonists (and 3 narrators - so cool to have a full cast audio!) who go on a search for Baba Yaga to end a curse.

Ala (short for Alexia), Dymitr and Nico will have to band together, face the old Strzyga vamp clans, mob families of Chicago’s underworld, Zmora demons, as well as the knights of the holy order sworn to battle against the forces of darkness.

I loved the Polish folklore woven throughout and the accents of the narrators were perfect in the audiobook. A quick read that ends almost as soon as it gets underway, although not without significant world building up front. Perhaps that is the way of novellas, although I thought it could have been longer; I wanted more, it felt like a tiny vignette of a larger story that was not told.

Give this one a read. It comes out in about a week on May 14th!