When Among Crows by Veronica Roth is an eerie, enchanting novella set in modern day Chicago, following the lives of three very different individuals: Dymitr, Ala, and Niko. One of them is haunted, one thrives on pain, and one feeds on anger. This slim novella is thick with Slavic folklore and feels a little like the Witcher if it were set in modern day and we sympathised with the monsters, not the monster hunters.

The premise of the novel is a hunt for Baba Yaga and our heroes encounter leszy, zmora, strzyga and more on their short quest, neatly camouflaged into Chicago nightlife. Religion and faith play a strong role in this story with a core theme of internal conflict burrowing all the way through. 

For those concerned that this will read as young as Roth’s Divergent series – fear not. The writing is simple but evocative and Roth depicts Chicago’s supernatural underbelly with ease. The colourful cast of side characters are easy to distinguish and will leave you with more questions than answers once their role in the story is done. The twist at the end is a little predictable if you pay attention to the details but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

This is a fun, short read but I couldn’t help but wonder why this story wasn’t longer. The worldbuilding and the characters were rich enough to support a full-length novel and they would have been more effective if they had a larger stage to perform on. 

Fans of Six of Crows or Thistlefoot would certainly enjoy this story and I would be very curious to read anything else that Veronica Roth decides to publish in this world.

When Among Crows is available now from Titan Books. You can order your copy HERE