by Veronica Roth ★★★★☆
Every now and then, you'll come across a novel that feels like it should have been a novella, but the author stretched it to 300-ish pages so that it could be published as a novel. Veronica Roth's When Among Crows is the opposite: a richly layered novella that seemed unnecessarily short.
Set in Chicago, like most of Roth's stories, the novella opens with our main character, Dymitr, tracking down the location of the fern flower, whose magical properties he desires for a cause not yet revealed. To obtain the flower, he must first best a "leszy" -- a guardian of the forest -- in a test of skill. Following this, he'll be tested by a "noonwraith" in a trial that will reveal his true intentions and determine if he is worthy of the fern flower. From the opening scene, it's clear that Dymitr is deeply compelled to achieve his mission, and also that he's consumed by guilt and willing to selflessly suffer to do so.
A "leszy" and a "noonwraith" -- what's going on here? Roth, who is of Polish ancestry, uses Polish folklore as the foundation of her story. At the head of the pyramid of magical creatures is Baba Jaga, the most powerful of all witches. Among the creatures Baba Jaga has bewitched are zmory, who feast on fear; strzygi, who feed on anger; and llorona -- or banshees -- who devour sorrow. Standing opposite these are the Knights of the Holy Order, whose purpose is to vanquish that trifecta of creatures.
But this instead of these groups playing their traditional roles -- good (Knights) vs. evil (creatures who feed on negative emotions) -- Roth turns convention on its head and casts the Knights as devotees of a warped world view who unnecessarily and relentlessly murder the zmory and strzygi. Dymitr's goal is to save a specific zmora named Ala, who suffers from a blood curse that will eventually lead to her death. They embark on a journey through the nighttime streets of Chicago and its magical underbelly to try to reverse this curse.
Perhaps I have an affinity for Eastern European folklore -- Thistlefoot (my favorite book of 2022) dealt with Baba Jaga as well (Baba "Yaga" in that book), and Roth even mentions the witch's house on chicken legs once in When Among Crows. The creatures and magic are less familiar than classical mythology or even the modern Tolkienized standards so many have adopted, but they are no less compelling, and perhaps even more captivating given their novelty. The journey through the magical underbelly of Chicago reminded me slightly of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere -- an American answer to his "London Below" -- and Roth's treatment of Polish folklore is done in a way that both honors and elevates it. The novella is a bit gritty at times, and there are some uncomfortably bloody and visceral moments, but it's not gratuitously gory or violent. Dymitr is a memorable hero, and my only disappointment is that we didn't get to spend more time together.
Roth's modern adaptation of Polish folklore and compelling characters results in a rich tapestry for this novella, to the point that I had a hard time understanding why she chose not to build even more on that foundation. While the story is complete, there was plenty that could have been more deeply explored, and at times parts of the story feel a bit unnecessarily rushed. I would have loved to see this stretched into a novel; enriching and expanding parts of it would have made a strong story even better, but instead we have 166 very good and interesting pages. This is a quick and compelling tale that is worth the few hours it will take you to finish it.
Comments