A review by pewterwolf
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

In modern day Chicago, Polish folklore is alive. Monsters feast on human emotion, knights split their souls to make their weapons and witches always take more than what they give. 
 
Pain brings Dymitr and Ala together. Dymitr’s pain is the monsters he and the other Knights of the Holy Order slay and split his soul into two to create his sword from his own spine, while Ala’s is the family curse she has inherited to see visions Of the horrors that the Holy Order committed. 
 
One fateful night, the two meet and agree a bargain: if Ala can help find the legendary witch Baba Jaga. In exchange, Dymitr will give her an enchanted flower that might cure her. 
 
But Ala doesn’t know who Dymitr is and what he truly wants and with less than 24 hours before the flower dies, killing her hopes of the curse being broken, the two need to move fast. But others want the flower and Baba Jaga’s location and they aren’t afraid to hurt and kill to get them… 
 
It’s been a long time since I read Veronica Roth, but there was something about this that got me excited. 
 
I will admit that this does have a slower start as this does throw you at the deep end. There is a lot of world-building at the start of the novella to explain the folklore, the urban fantasiness. Because of this, I did struggle to find my feet and to keep all the creatures straight in my head (if you know Polish folklore, it will help you get you on a even heel). 
 
However, once this story gets over the world-building and the story/characters find their feet, the story runs and it fits an urban fantasy (though the cover doesn’t scream urban fantasy, but something a little more gothic). 
 
It grows into a gripping read though I do feel that it could be a tad longer (not a full blown novel, but an extra few pages to flesh out ideas as I do think some readers will find that some aspects of the premise needed to be more fleshed out). Plus, I would have loved more pages to read the gentle and sweet M/M romance. 
 
Might not be every urban fantasy readers cup of tea, I really liked this and feel that we could have more novellas in this world, very similar to Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series (if this does happen, I will be all over it!)

***eProof gifted by UK publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction***
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