When Among Crows entered my personal library when I attended a Halloween season reading event featuring a few authors of horror. I chose the book that looked less scary as my “with ticket” book. Or maybe I chose it because it was by the most famous author there, one that I recognized. But then I didn’t know if I’d ever read it, because it is horror. When Halloween actually came around, however, I had just enough time to read through a couple of the horror novellas that were accumulating on my shelves. And my experience with this book was mixed. It’s not the best thing Veronica Roth has written. But there is some heart there, something interesting going on. I liked it okay. I found some aspects disappointing.

When the Slavic people came from Europe to America, they brought some of their magic—and magical creatures—with them. Which means cities like Chicago are actually crawling with dangerous, powerful beings who hide in plain sight. Dymitr is looking for Baba Yaga. He has procured a magical object that lasts only 24 hours, and he thinks he knows of someone who wants it really bad and can lead him to Baba Yaga. But with only one day and the city churning with subversive danger, does Dymitr have what it takes to survive, let alone get whatever it is he came for?

When Among Crows is part of a fad of horror novellas. When someone on the author panel at another author event mentioned this trend, it was like canisters clunking into place to unlock a reality in my brain. I had already seen this trend happening, but I hadn’t truly seen it. In fact, even though I don’t really read horror, I already had a few horror novellas sitting at home, including this one. You interested in reading short horror? (It’s not super scary, a little bloody.) When Among Crows clocks in at 163 roomy pages. You could read it in one sitting if you had that kind of time.

What did I like? I liked the characters. I liked the setting. The premise showed a lot of promise and I was drawn in right away. In the end, I was disappointed because I wanted a book with these characters, these ideas, and this plot to be better than what I ended up reading. Because I enjoyed all of those things, many of the details of this gritty, Polish dark fairy tale underbelly of Midwestern America. (I’m not super into grit, but this was a cool and interesting place to explore, even so.) The magic system worked. The writing was fine. (We’re building a world and telling a story, not playing with words or format.)

So why was I disappointed, specifically? Let me list the ways. Present tense doesn’t work for it, especially since the POV shifts too often and randomly into different people’s heads. There is some tension, but it doesn’t build as intended because of some of the other reasons I’m about to share. There is actually too much mystery, like in a way that you occasionally feel lost or like there is more information needed to keep up. The romance (in the background) comes completely out of the blue. Sometimes the plot moved forward based on things I wasn’t buying (like why did Nico jump in and help?). And where did one of the characters go, in the end? That was weird. She was used to flesh out the plot and one of the characters, but you can’t just leave us dangling, Roth.

Ultimately, it felt like a book that Roth wanted to write out of a deep interest and with a cast and setting that are lush and exciting. But it also felt like a book that was not yet out of the development stage when it went home with me, like it was rushed. Honestly, I’m not sure a novella was the right length for this story at all, but even with the restrictions of the current fad, it could have been executed much better.

Then again, if you are interested in this specific Polish-Midwest fairytale underground thing (complete with monster-hunting holy warriors whose spine houses their swords) and themes of pain and breaking from your nurture to do what is right, then this won’t set you back much. And, according to the 3.72 rating on Goodreads, you might even like it. I did, I was just also disappointed.

Veronica Roth is best known as the writer of the YA sci-fi Divergent trilogy (Divergent, Allegiant, Insurgent) and, I suppose, the movies based on it. She lives in Chicago, which makes sense, and it’s fairly apparent she has Polish roots based on the inscription she signed into my book, which is “Na zdrowie” and means cheers or to health or even bless you. (There’s also a Polish saying as an epigram, which translates as “When among crows, you must caw as one.)

Her books are

Divergent (Divergent #1)Insurgent (Divergent #2)Allegiant (Divergent #3)Four (stories from the Divergent world)Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1)The Fates Divide (Carve the Mark #2)The End and Other Beginnings (stories)Chosen OnesPoster GirlArch-ConspiratorWhen Among Crows

There are also a bunch of Divergent-world stories, but they might all be in Four. Her ratings tend to hover between 3.5 and 4, except for Divergent, which was her first book and really put her on the map.

Her website can be found HERE.

“There’s nothing magic likes better than the great hollow of a debt” (p1).

“’Keep your hopes up, Aleksja,’ he says. ‘Disappointed hopes won’t be any worse than what awaits you now.’ / He has a point” (p40).

“’Don’t pretend,’ she said. ‘We cannot rid you of your doubt if you hide it. You must bring it to the light’” (p107).

“Do not trust your eyes more than you trust your duty…” (p108).

There is no indication that this is being made into a movie or a TV show, at least not yet. DESPITE what you may read on AI. AI is getting confused between When Among Crows and a Kickstarter project for a movie called Amongst Crows which has NOTHING to do with Roth’s novella.