Palaces of the Crow

by Ray Nayler

June 1941, Eastern Europe

As the German blitzkrieg tears across a divided continent, four young lives are thrown into Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a scientist; Czesław, an underage Polish deserter fleeing the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivization; and a nameless,, abandoned boy who cannot speak.

Driven deep into the Lithuanian woods, they form an unbreakable bond with one another and with a flock of crows whose uncanny intelligence hints at a secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined.

From the Locus and Hugo Award-winning author Ray Nayler, this haunting novel blends history and speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction

Kindle Edition

Expected publication May 21, 2026

About the author

Hugo and Locus Award winning author Ray Nayler was born in Quebec and raised in California. He lived and worked abroad for two decades in Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and in Vietnam.

​Ray's Locus Award winning first novel was The Mountain in the Sea, which was also a finalist for the Nebula, the Arthur C. Clarke, and the Los Angeles Times' Ray Bradbury Awards.

Ray's novella The Tusks of Extinction won the 2025 Hugo Award, and was also a Nebula and Locus Award finalist.

His third book, the cybernetic political thriller Where the Axe is Buried, was published in April of 2025.

​Ray most recently served as international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as visiting scholar at the George Washington University's Institute for International Science and Technology Policy.

Ray lives in Washington, DC with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats.

Reviews

[Kellie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🐦‍⬛ Bleak but very original WWII novel with an eco twist. The main story follows 4 children from different backgrounds who are trapped surviving in the Lithuanian forest together as they wait out the last 3 years of the war happening on all sides. They rely on help from a massive colony of crows that has adopted them into their mysterious, intelligent world. Lots of beautiful prose and philosophical points about humanity and nature. Excited for this to come out!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memories of survival and the life before war shape this story of found family.

[Venneh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting Nayler's next novel to move into historical fiction but still keep the speculative intelligence angle, but he's done an amazing job here. We get a novel that shuttles between the early 70s in Russia, decades removed from a small group of children's experiences as they attempt to survive the German blitzkrieg of Lithuania in the wood. This time, Nayler gets to talk about the intelligence of crows, and brings them into the lives of these four children in a truly amazing and unexpected way as they try to survive World War II and also deal with their unique backgrounds as they learn to survive. Also interesting is that Nayler chooses to take the dive into a period of time that was fucking bleak as hell, but focuses on how to get through when it looks like maybe the future isn't worth it and the present sucks. This comes out in May; highly recommend preordering this.