Spoilers might be present from this point on

After finishing Why Nations Fail, I needed something lighter and faster to get through.

When Among Crows definitely fits the bill. Around 160 pages of fantasy.

The book draws on elements of Slavic folklore, Polish in particular. I think that’s actually the most interesting part, this world rooted in Slavic folklore, because I found myself going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole looking up what a leszy, zmora, strzyga, or llorona actually are.

Dymitr is the main character, who ended up in Chicago after coming from Poland. We learn of the existence of a Holy Order whose purpose is to hunt and kill the monsters mentioned above.

Though it seems they’re only hunted if someone complains about them? That part isn’t entirely clear, apparently if they pay their taxes, they’re left alone.

Anyway, there are two pretty cool things in the book:

• The Holy Order members’ sword. A sword they always carry with them, beneath their skin, embedded in the flesh of their back, which they draw by saying in Polish the equivalent of “We bear the sword, and we bear the pain of the sword.” The sword holds half of their soul. It’s a kind of covenant between them and the blade, granting them the power to defeat monsters.
• The leszy (leshy), who appears at the beginning and end of the book. A very cool and badass character, a giant protector of the forest and nature as a whole.

I won’t walk through the entire plot, because quite a lot happens in those 160 pages and it moves at a brisk pace. It definitely expects you to fill in some of the gaps yourself if you want the story to feel more believable.

And to accept certain things, you need to leave your logical thinking at the door before you even open the book.

It’s fairly obvious the book draws inspiration from The Witcher 3, something the author herself acknowledges at the end. And that’s not a criticism, The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece that incorporates elements of Polish folklore and built an entire fantasy world that many people have loved.

But I was left a little unsatisfied by the ending. It felt like a “and they lived happily ever after, worked through all their differences, accepted each other, and found a better way” kind of conclusion.

I noticed there’s a sequel, To Clutch a Razor, which is a bit longer. Maybe it ties the story together better and expands the world a little.