When Among Crows ( the first in the Curse Bearer duology) brings old world folklore to modern-day Chicago in a compact urban fantasy package that tackles ideas of redemption, retribution and belonging alongside themes of emigration/immigration, culture and the ills of Christian colonialism and its associated, persistent violence. There is a lot to think about packed into this novella from Veronica Roth, some of which brought to mind the film Sinners (2025) and its exploration of shared-oppression, of being crushed under the heel of the same boot despite the differences among us.

Fans of Slavic folklore in fantasy should feel at home with When Among Crows’ displaced Polish community of ‘creatures’ that protagonist Dymitr immerses himself in as he searches for Baba Jaga, the most powerful witch there is. He encounters Ala, a zmora suffering under a blood-curse that forces daily visions of death and murder on her, and Niko, a strzygoń who can use magic as a defender of his community but is likely to die younger because of it. These three must work together, fight together and learn to trust each other enough to achieve their goals.

It’s a little difficult to delve too deeply into plot points here, given the overall length of the novella, needless to say I’m sure if you imagined a slighter Witcher with the ability to feel guilt – and a lot of it – and transplant him into Chicago that would get you partway to the feel of When Among Crows. There’s an added M/M attraction mixed in, and some rich history and magic lying beneath the surface, and my only criticism is that there’s perhaps too much vying for attention in only 165 pages that some aspects feel rushed.

The timeline of When Among Crows is spread over little more than a day, which contributes to the feeling of being a bit of a whirlwind. While it works for some parts of the plot – adding tension and stakes – other parts do feel a little starved of attention. The novella feels like a hasty introduction, a whistle-stop origin story for a trio of characters I expect we’ll see much more of in the future, and in much more depth, maybe in a Murderbot-esque format with novels interspersed among novellas. Despite feeling a tad brief, there’s enough intrigue teased out and enough character building that makes me root for these three misfits to bring me back for To Clutch a Razor, the second novella that releases in September 2025.

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