When Among Crows is swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear.

We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.

On Kupala Night, Dymitr arrives in Chicago’s monstrous, magical underworld with a perilous mission: pick the mythical fern flower and offer it to a cursed creature in exchange for help finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga.

Ala is a fear-eating zmora afflicted with a bloodline curse that’s slowly killing her. She’s just desperate enough to say yes to Dymitr, even if she doesn’t know his motives.

Over the course of one night, Ala and Dymitr risk life and limb in search of Baba Jaga, and begin to build a tentative friendship. . . but when Ala finds out what Dymitr is hiding, it could destroy them both.

I had no idea what to expect from such a short fantasy book that I’d only heard a few things about, so I went into When Among Crows with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by how much atmosphere and world building could be established in just around 150 pages, however I think the character development was ultimately the main thing that suffered from Crows’ short length.

You’re kind of thrown into this seedy Chicagoan fantasy world through the fast-moving plot rather than wasting time on exposition, which I definitely prefer. There are several kinds of monsters to learn about and their motivations aren’t always clear, but you get a vivid description of each of them and their differences with Roth’s lush writing style. It really was impressive how much was managed to be packed into such a small amount of pages.

I did like our characters, but I felt like we only spent a brief flash of time with them, and it left me unable to really feel attached to them. We see them interact with each other only briefly, and each of our three main characters gets at least one semi-tragic flashback, but I didn’t feel like I was able to emotionally connect with any of them. This book never really lets up on the gas pedal for more than a breath, so between the action and the environment and the mysteries it felt like the characters weren’t coming across as real people but more so catalysts for the story itself. Also there was the beginnings of a romance subplot that came kind of out of nowhere from what I could tell, but I am curious to see how that plays out. I know this is a series and book 2 will be out this fall, so I’m interested to see if we get to know everyone better in the second installment and this first book was more of a set up. I can definitely see myself picking up the second installment, To Clutch a Razor, at some point.

Overall I enjoyed When Among Crows, it was refreshing to read something so quick and fast-paced. The world and setting really pulled me in and were a fascinating, dark backdrop for our character’s mission. If you’re looking for something to read quickly without sacrificing good writing then I’d definitely suggest this book, but if you need to feel strongly connected to a novel’s characters to care, this might not be exactly what you need.

*Thank you to the publisher, Tor Publishing Group, for providing me with a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.*