When Among Crows

I don't find it painful to be ordinary.

When Among Crows

Written by Veronica Roth

I’m on a novella kick. I’m avoiding stories that meander for 800 pages and book series that take a decade to conclude. Instead I want a story that gets down to it. When Among Crows fits the bill. Well, almost. When looking up the book to see its details, I found that there is a sequel. Close enough. At least there isn't a cliffhanger.

When Among Crows opens with Dymitr securing a fern flower from a Lych. He plans to use this flower to find the infamous Baba Yaga. There are many reasons for someone to seek out a magical favor from Baba Yaga, and though we don’t know Dymitr’s, he seems good-hearted enough to deserve some magic.

Dymitr soon links up with Ala, a type of humanoid creature called a zmora. He offers to end her curse in exchange for help on his quest to find Baba Yaga. Through their quest together we learn more about the semi-magical world they reside in and the prejudices magical creatures face living alongside humans.

This book is an enrapturing read that may have succeeded at convincing me to read its sequel. There are mysteries in Ala, Dymitr, and Niko, a strzygi who becomes an ally, and due to the shortness of the book, the mysteries unfold quickly and dramatically. The touch of Slavic folklore with creatures I had not heard about before, drew me in further. The best comparison I can make to this book, is that it shared similarities with the show Arcane (which I love). There’s found family, characters led by their morals, fantastical yet grounded world-building, chemistry (ooh la la), and Baba Yaga. Who’s not curious about Baba Yaga?