When Among Crows by Veronica Roth

Book Review

Sarah Deeming

The supernatural world runs alongside the mortal world, unseen by the ordinary people who are also food for these spirits and demons. These supernatural beings live and thrive among us, feeding off negative human emotions and living in constant fear of the Holy Order, men and women whose souls have been split in two, with one half manifesting as a sword made from their spines.

Ala is one of these monsters, a Zmora who feeds off fear, and her life revolves around a family curse passed onto her when her mother died. Her curse is to ‘see’ the atrocities the Holy Order has committed on her people, and it will claim her life unless she can find a cure. One night, a man called Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain and a magic flower. If he can get the magic flower to Baba Jaga,  the witch can use the flower to cure Ala, but Ala has to help him get there. Ala isn’t sure she can trust Dymitr; she knows nothing about him, but she is desperate, and there is only one more day before the flower wilts and its magic fades, along with Ala’s hopes of breaking the curse.

When Among Crows is a clever novella about breaking toxic family cycles within the setting of Polish folklore and mythology. Set in America, the supernatural beings are depicted as ordinary migrants who fled their homes in Poland due to the Holy Order, a group of monster hunters with swords made of their own souls and spines who exist only to kill supernatural beings, whether they have done anything wrong or not. It’s not difficult to see who the bad guys are in this story.

There isn’t much explanation about the different types of supernatural beings; there are zmoras, and strzygi, who feed on anger, and banshees, who feed on sadness. Instead of info dumps, we see them in their feeding grounds, so Ala works in a bar attached to a cinema that only shows horror movies. Her friend, Niko, is a strzygi, and he works at an underground boxing ring, and the banshees are in a hospice. I appreciated this approach to showing us about these creatures rather than massive info dumps. It allowed the action to move along quickly without getting caught up in descriptions. One scene that particularly stood out is when Ala takes Dymitr to the underground boxing ring. Although he is a member of the Holy Order, he hasn’t seen that many of these creatures in one place, and it reminded me of the film Constantine with Keanu Reeves when he goes to Papa Midnight’s club and sees all the demons freely mingling together. The imagery was amazing.

There are plenty of twists and turns, self-discoveries, and confessions leading to a very satisfying ending. I was thoroughly hooked from the start and devoured it in a day. When Among Crows is the first thing I’ve read by Veronica Roth but it won’t be the last. Highly recommended.