As a HUGE Veronica Roth fan I was very excited to see this beauty on my dashboard! Can we just gaga on that cover for a moment???!! This was full of excitement from start to finish and full of lore and I am here for it! Then, you add a grandma JoAnna???! Yes please!!! I can’t wait to slide this pretty on my shelf next to every other masterpiece from VR!

The narrators did great! There was no technical issues, and the narration was very smooth and comprehendible.

A novella inspired by Slavic folklore with a modern twist. You can expect magic, blood, sacrifice, curses, and a search for penance

Veronica Roth has done it again! This novella is very captivating. I loved the story of Dymitr and Ala. I want to know more about Ala’s family and past. I am not super familiar with Slavic folklore, but this book is so captivating and inspiring that I want to read more of the folklore!

Thanks Netgally and Macmillan Audio for the review copy.

I was not sure what to expect going into this but boy was it an amazing short story. I love tales of quasi realistic quasi mythical existence. Chicago, check. Baba Yaga, check check. The depth Roth went to describe each of the characters truly has you feeling like you are walking through the story as a character yourself. Definitely check this out!

#netgalley #arc #VeronicaRoth #whenamongcrows

When Among Crows is the best novella I have ever read. I am typically left unsatisfied after a short amount of pages, but I was amazed at the depth of the story packed into this novella. Following an unlikely trio, you are led through Chicago and introduced to many different creatures steeped in Slavic lore. This story is fast-paced and violent at times, yet filled with emotion and intrigue, and the glimpse at a romance was so well done. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrators were outstanding.

I would absolutely love to revisit this world either to see what happens next with Dymitr or to be introduced to new characters. I think Veronica Roth has created a world of potential with When Among Crows.

I received an audiobook ARC from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I saw was from Veronica Roth and wanted to love it but it was meh.
When Among Crows is a Slavic Urban Fantasy based in Slavic Folklore.
That sounded great except you are immediately put in the action without any building of how the world got here or anything.
I didn’t realize was a novella and that explains the instant get to action but I had to listen to the first half a couple of times cause I got lost a bit.

I think this would have been awesome if was a full length novel to really learn about this world and develop a relationship with these characters.
The ending was great and glad now I have a new list of fantasy characters I learned about.

Thank you you Net Galley, MacMillan Audio and Veronica Roth for the audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received this audiobook via net galley in exchange for a review.
I thought I would like this more than I did. I like Veronica Roth, I love the cover and description of the book. I just had a hard time understanding everything and felt like maybe I needed more. Like being dropped in the middle of something. I didn't realize it was a novella at first so maybe that could have tipped me off? Overall, liked the characters, found them interesting, maybe just needed more story. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I think I fell somewhere in the middle.
The voice actors for the audiobook did a great job - I would never have known how to pronounce some of these words. I felt like the accents were well done.

I haven’t read anything from Veronica Roth since the Divergence series so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I think this is a great novella, it’s a Slavic-inspired fantasy, and I really enjoyed the audiobook! Even though this is short I think it’s so packed with lore and great character depth. I love stories where mythical creature are living among human and they have no idea. The narrators were fantastic and I really enjoyed the multiple POVs. I really hope to see more from this world.
Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Veronica Roth for this ALC

Great narrator, just wasn't my taste. From the first words I knew the style wouldn't be to my liking. Too literary for me, and I wasn't able to picture the characters or what was happening. I think literary fiction or mythology lovers will like this one, but it was over my head.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor books for the audiobook ARC of this Novella.

When Among Crows is a slavic-inspired urban fantasy novella. I have never read anything written buy Veronica Roth before, and her writing style is very interesting. Since this is a novella, there isn’t a lot of time to create atmosphere and tell a comprehensive story. It’s a tricky balance.

This book focuses a lot on how people smell and things feel, versus what they actually look like. It forces you to fill in the characters all while keeping up the with the pace of the story. All in all, I liked this, but you are quite literally dropped into the story and left to figure out what’s going on.

This novella was incredible! I am always a sucker for a mythology/folklore inspired book, and this one we also got an urban fantasy in the mix too. The characters and their relationships to each other was so well fleshed out. Like seriously amazing how much character development we got in such a short book. And I love that we also got some found family in it. Also incredible that we got such intense themes such connection to culture, duty to self and others, and religion in such a concise format. The pacing was perfect throughout. The only thing I wish we got more of, but I understand being a novella we can’t have it all, was a bit of the m/m love interest. I was excited when that happened but we didn’t get enough of that played out in my opinion.
I’m always here for any Baba Yaga story.
Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I came for the author, I stayed for the story. As a fan of the Divergent series, I had some preconceived expectations for this reading experience. It was nothing like that series, but I was pleasantly surprised and drawn in to the story. It read like a modern day fairytale rooted in folklore. This novella was the perfect length to explore the characters just enough to invest in their resolutions.

Thank you Veronica Roth, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook! The sound quality was excellent, and the narrators, Helen Laser, James Fouhey, and Tim Campbell, brought the characters to life.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the eARC and the ALC.

I wasnt expecting this to be A) a novella very fleshed out with Slavic creatures and B) gay.

Listening to this book was phenomenal. I enjoyed the cast of narrators that made it quite lovely to listen to. It made the POV switches much more entertaining and in depth.

For this story overall, it was really fleshed out and well rounded with magic/culture of it for such a short book. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this, but if that’s the level of world she brings for a novella - I want more of the is adult work she brings.

It was nice being able to finish this book in a day.

This little novella has a lot of the elements I really like: Baba Yaga, urban fantasy, a little bit of horror. It's based more on relationships than action, even though the premise is pretty painful sounding. Is it too short? Maybe, it definitely felt like there could be more here. But it was interesting and dark and suspenseful. And the narrators were fantastic. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook.

Thank you to Veronica Roth, Tor Books, and Macmillan Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I devoured this! This was the first thing I have read from this author, and I really enjoyed it. This little novella packs a big punch, it's wonderfully written, the narrators were great (I'm very picky when it comes to audiobooks), and it left me wanting more of this world- in the best way! The best way that I can describe this is Slavic Folklore meets Chicago and marries the vibes/gore of the anime show Castlevania. I'm crossing every finger and toe I have, in the hopes that Veronica Roth eventually writes more in this world. I can't recommend this enough.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Audio ARC!

4.75/5 stars

This was really, really great. It was exactly what I want in a novella - a complete story with interesting characters and interesting plot. I was left feeling like I would love more in this world, but I also felt satisfied with what was accomplished in less than 200 pages - exactly as it should be.

And Veronica Roth's writing is fantastic. It was clear, easy to understand, but it wasn't childish. The characters all had distinct and clear voices and the plot was well designed and timed. Pacing was spot on and I really loved the ties to known stories (like Baba Yaga) and how Roth put her own spin on it.

I haven't read anything by Roth since the Divergent series way back in the day but man am I glad I listened to this one - the production quality was excellent, the narrators were amazing, and Roth accomplished a fantastic story and beautiful characters in very few pages. Highly recommend!

4.5 stars.

I ATE THIS UP and I wish it was longer! This was sooooo good. I didn't know what to expect, but it surprised me with how it instantly hooked me. It's an urban fantasy with elements of folklore that explores themes like grief and religious guilt, and it's just beautifully written. I loved the characters and the setting, it was so atmospheric.

The first thing I thought when the audiobook ended was: "Delicious, scrumptious!" That's what this novella was. Again, I wish it was longer. I wanted to spend more time in this world with these characters, so I'll definitely be getting a copy at some point and rereading this.

The narrators were all so good and they did a great job at bringing the story to life. On a personal note: the male narrators sounded hot as hell, I love a good deep voice!

For a novella (the audiobook is around 4.5 hours), Roth manages to pack an entire full-sized novel into the pages. Sometimes novellas feel like they sacrifice detail and depth to keep the page length short, but WHEN AMONG CROWS does not suffer from this at all. Readers are given a full story, with world building, and completely fleshed out characters. I loved that while this novella centers around Slavic folklore, it acknowledges other cultures as well (there's a whole passage about Irish banshees vs. Slavic ones). Dymitr is a flawed protagonist but how his story relates to Ala's was really interesting and I liked how that connected all the dots.

This is a dark tale where no one really wins in the end (or maybe they do?) that is best told in a dim corner of an ancient pub over a couple of pints.

Helen Laser, James Fouhey, and Tim Campbell do a great job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

I tend to like longer, more descriptive stories, so novellas are a hit or miss for me. When Among Crows gives you lore in modern Chicago. It's a tale about self-loathing, guilt, and redemption. Though I enjoyed the storyline, the narration in audio book format fell flat, in my opinion. I wish I had read this in book form instead.

I was really hoping to connect to this, but fell a bit flat even though it is a short novel. I listened to in a day as it is only a few hours long. The narrators did an impeccable job and would love to listen to them again. I just did not get a connection with folklore and characters.
3/5

I received this audiobook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not know going into this that it’s a shorter novel. I was excited when I found out because I could listen to it over the course of a day, which I did. The downside to audiobooks is that I have not a single idea of how to pronounce much of anything.

Let me say, I’ve never read anything Slavik, so when I saw it was based in their myths and culture, I knew I would enjoy this. With the length of this book, it became a very fast paced novel with a lot of action. I enjoyed the characters and how she developed the main characters throughout the book. LGBT+ friendly as well.

As always with shorter books, my main complaint is the length doesn’t allow for a full exposition and resolution. I wanted more info!

All in all, I enjoyed this and would give it a 3,75⭐️ I’m in the era where not everything needs spice, but it needed more of the romance element. That’s probably my only complaint (other than the length of the book).