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Palaces of the Crow
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Expected 19 May 26In Ray Nayler’s speculative novel of the recent past, four young teens caught between Nazis and the Red Army survive winter in the woods with the help of a flock of highly intelligent crows with a magnificent secret of their own to protect
Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a biologist, has befriended a local flock of crows in her shtetl. Czeslaw is an underage Polish soldier who deserts the Red Army and runs into the freezing Lithuanian woods. Kezia is a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivization. As the German blitzkrieg crashes across the border in June 1941, all three are caught up in the onslaught. Along with Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, they are driven into the primeval forest, where they survive by forming an unbreakable bond with one another—and with Neriya’s intelligent crows, who for years have been bringing her intricate gifts suggesting they are no ordinary corvids.
As the war goes on, the crows warn the children of danger and help them hide from the human threats of the forest—not only the Germans but also Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, and the other bandits and outcasts wandering the benighted landscape.
From the Ray Bradbury Prize and Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist, and Hugo and Locus Award winner, Ray Nayler, Palaces of the Crow blends history and haunting speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.
Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a biologist, has befriended a local flock of crows in her shtetl. Czeslaw is an underage Polish soldier who deserts the Red Army and runs into the freezing Lithuanian woods. Kezia is a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivization. As the German blitzkrieg crashes across the border in June 1941, all three are caught up in the onslaught. Along with Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, they are driven into the primeval forest, where they survive by forming an unbreakable bond with one another—and with Neriya’s intelligent crows, who for years have been bringing her intricate gifts suggesting they are no ordinary corvids.
As the war goes on, the crows warn the children of danger and help them hide from the human threats of the forest—not only the Germans but also Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, and the other bandits and outcasts wandering the benighted landscape.
From the Ray Bradbury Prize and Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist, and Hugo and Locus Award winner, Ray Nayler, Palaces of the Crow blends history and haunting speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication May 19, 2026
About the author
Ray Nayler
88 books1,154 followersHugo 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.
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.
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Palaces of the Crow
By Ray Nayler
Pub Date: May 19 2026
This is a historical fiction taking place during World War II. Four children from different walks of life are lead into a forest and kept safe from nazis surrounding them. The protectors are that lead them to safety is a group of crows. There is a found family theme here. I enjoyed this this book. It was different and with that kept my interest. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early in return for my honest review.
By Ray Nayler
Pub Date: May 19 2026
This is a historical fiction taking place during World War II. Four children from different walks of life are lead into a forest and kept safe from nazis surrounding them. The protectors are that lead them to safety is a group of crows. There is a found family theme here. I enjoyed this this book. It was different and with that kept my interest. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early in return for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to Netgalley and MCD for this ARC!
The foray into history was not what I expected from Ray Nayler, who's other works exist in the sphere of the distant future, but I hope it won't be his last. In Palaces of the Crow, we follow our four characters as they attempt to survive 1940s Lithuania in the woods, surrounded by desperate people who would kill them without hesitation, with the help of a community of crows.
Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and The Boy find each other and in finding each other they find their will to survive. Neriya is Jewish at a time when that word alone is a death sentence in Eastern Europe. Czeslaw forged the year on his birth certificate to join the Red Army and barely escaped when his unit was ambushed. Kezia, a Roma girl with a "sickness" in her bloodline that she is terrified of, is escaping from the Soviets. And lastly, The Boy, the smallest and youngest, and mute, who has been left with no history or name by the world. The community they cultivated with each other can keep them safe as long as they stay sharp and aware of their surroundings.
Ray Nayler has captivated me before with the worlds he sees and creates, but his character work has really come a long way and he has hit his stride with this book. As the story unfolded, I was truly just along for the ride among all the twists and turns. Usually I am able to see where I'm being led by an author, but with Palaces I was blind to where I was being led until the moment Nayler decided I should know. And I really wanted to know, I couldn't put this book down.
I don't think this book will be for everyone, but the people who this book will be for... Once they find it, they will love it. I would recommend this to anyone who loves found family, nonlinear storytelling, survival through the worst of it, and if you have previously read and even marginally enjoyed any of Nayler's other works. Especially Tusks of Extinction.
I'm so thankful that I got to read this book before it's publication date (05/19/26) so I can tell everyone to read it.
The foray into history was not what I expected from Ray Nayler, who's other works exist in the sphere of the distant future, but I hope it won't be his last. In Palaces of the Crow, we follow our four characters as they attempt to survive 1940s Lithuania in the woods, surrounded by desperate people who would kill them without hesitation, with the help of a community of crows.
Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and The Boy find each other and in finding each other they find their will to survive. Neriya is Jewish at a time when that word alone is a death sentence in Eastern Europe. Czeslaw forged the year on his birth certificate to join the Red Army and barely escaped when his unit was ambushed. Kezia, a Roma girl with a "sickness" in her bloodline that she is terrified of, is escaping from the Soviets. And lastly, The Boy, the smallest and youngest, and mute, who has been left with no history or name by the world. The community they cultivated with each other can keep them safe as long as they stay sharp and aware of their surroundings.
Ray Nayler has captivated me before with the worlds he sees and creates, but his character work has really come a long way and he has hit his stride with this book. As the story unfolded, I was truly just along for the ride among all the twists and turns. Usually I am able to see where I'm being led by an author, but with Palaces I was blind to where I was being led until the moment Nayler decided I should know. And I really wanted to know, I couldn't put this book down.
I don't think this book will be for everyone, but the people who this book will be for... Once they find it, they will love it. I would recommend this to anyone who loves found family, nonlinear storytelling, survival through the worst of it, and if you have previously read and even marginally enjoyed any of Nayler's other works. Especially Tusks of Extinction.
I'm so thankful that I got to read this book before it's publication date (05/19/26) so I can tell everyone to read it.
March 29, 2026
I love Nayler's writing--both his exploration of human and animal behaviors as well as his sparse prose. The only reason this isn't five stars for me personally is this novel is really leans historical fiction, not speculative. Crows truly are unbelievably smart and so this, combined with the story's historical setting, felt plausible compared to the sci fi premises of his other books. It's a fast, engaging (and heartbreaking) read.
~Thank you to the publisher for an advance reader copy ~
~Thank you to the publisher for an advance reader copy ~
January 14, 2026
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.
Want to Read
February 6, 2026Sounds interesting. I really liked Tusks of Extinction and The Mountain under the Sea. I'll definitely have to check this one out.
March 8, 2026
Just incredible. Sad and tense and mysterious, with crows that perhaps are more than they appear. Great follow up from The Mountain in the Sea.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
I picked this up expecting more of Where the Axe is Buried and/or The Tusks of Extinction. What I got was a bit more of The Mountain in the Sea, crossed with, of all things, Slaughterhouse-Five and just a touch of H is for Hawk. I wasn’t expecting that at all. If you are, check your assumptions at the door because this is an awesome, heartbreaking, riveting and frequently terrifying read – but it isn’t any of the things I thought it would be.
This is one of those “fiction is the lie that tells the truth” stories, about the parts of World War II that got buried by various governments in the post-war economic boom and the Cold War. And it feels like a truth, as it quotes from a searing collection of firsthand accounts from survivors of Belarusian villages burned by the Nazis (and looted by the partisans) during World War II. That book, variously titled “I Am from the Fiery Village” or as it is referred to in Palaces of the Crow, “The Autobiography of a Burned Village” grounds this fictional story in a reality that tears at the reader over and over – but also carries the reader over the magical realism-esq parts of the story, meaning those ‘palaces’ and the crows who built them, inhabited them, and sheltered the human protagonists of this story within them during a war that did its worst to kill them and everyone around them over and over again.
And did succeed in taking one of their lives – and leaving even bigger holes in the hearts and souls of those who survived.
The story is told from the perspective of four children who became adults in the crucible of war in the middle of territory contested between Russian and Germany in what is now the Republic of Belarus. Neriya, a Jewish girl whose shtetl was burned to the ground – like over six hundred others. Kezia, a Roma girl whose family and clan were slaughtered, like so many others. Czeslaw, an underage Polish deserter from the Russian army, and an unnamed boy whose last order from his mother was to be ‘quiet’ and hasn’t spoken a word since.
Palaces of the Crow is about their survival, all too often just barely, by the skin of their teeth, in the midst of crossfire between opposing armies and/or bands of desperate, barely human survivors, in a land laid waste by war. A survival made possible by the help and protection of a flock of preternaturally intelligent crows, who warned them of danger, herded them away from hunters, and took them inside the very heart of their vast nest to allow them to survive the war’s last, desperate winter.
That description is barebones and not enough. It doesn’t convey the desperation, the danger, the moments of joy or the love between the no-longer-children in this found family of lost souls. For that, you need to read the story, and you should. Because this isn’t a hero’s story of war. It’s a survivor’s story, and that’s the perspective that needs to be told – and remembered.
Escape Rating A+: I picked this up for the author, and that’s a good thing, because it’s both not what I expected and frankly not a story that any of the blurbs are having any luck summarizing. It’s also NOT, as some of the sites have it, in any way science fictional. It’s even dubious whether it is even in the realm of speculative fiction at all.
Which doesn’t mean that it isn’t like the author’s previous work, because it very much is. Especially The Mountain in the Sea. Their themes are surprisingly similar even though their settings are centuries apart. The Mountain in the Sea is a story about an attempt to communicate with other intelligences on Earth, set during a future period of global catastrophe when survival, any and all survival, seems to be in doubt.
Palaces of the Crow is also a story about attempting to communicate with, or understand the communications of, other intelligences on Earth, set during a historic period of global catastrophe when survival seemed to be in doubt.
If The Mountain in the Sea had been set in the world of Slaughterhouse-Five – without that classic’s science fictional elements, it might have been something like Palaces of the Crow. Only bloodier and even more horrifying albeit with a somewhat more hopeful, for certain, bleak definitions of hope, ending.
But that bleakness fits the characters, the setting and the perspective of the whole story. Because this story is not told from a Western point of view. World War II, as seen from the U.S., was a distant thing, a righteous quest for glory – whether it actually was or not. The war wasn’t HERE (except for the Aleutian Islands and the lower 48 still have a difficult time seeing any parts of Alaska as ‘here’) Even for Britain, there were lots of bombs and they suffered a terrible loss of life, but they weren’t invaded. France was invaded, but it wasn’t starving frozen as it was in Belarus. It was war and it was horrifying, but it wasn’t the frozen bleakness of Belarus and the stories of it are just different (All the Light We Cannot See might serve as an example of what this story might have been if it were set in France during the same time period). The bleakness of THIS story is very much an eastern European perspective and it’s not one we see often in Western literature.
There are two twists at the end. One I saw coming, the other led to that bit of hope in the ending that I wasn’t, but was very pleased to see. Not because it was happy – although it is if you squint a bit, but because it was home.
I’m back to where I was at the beginning, that this book is marvelous and heartbreaking as long as you check your assumptions about it at the door before you start. It’s the kind of story that you’ll be thinking about for a long time after you finish – and not just because of the crows.
Originally published at Reading Reality
This is one of those “fiction is the lie that tells the truth” stories, about the parts of World War II that got buried by various governments in the post-war economic boom and the Cold War. And it feels like a truth, as it quotes from a searing collection of firsthand accounts from survivors of Belarusian villages burned by the Nazis (and looted by the partisans) during World War II. That book, variously titled “I Am from the Fiery Village” or as it is referred to in Palaces of the Crow, “The Autobiography of a Burned Village” grounds this fictional story in a reality that tears at the reader over and over – but also carries the reader over the magical realism-esq parts of the story, meaning those ‘palaces’ and the crows who built them, inhabited them, and sheltered the human protagonists of this story within them during a war that did its worst to kill them and everyone around them over and over again.
And did succeed in taking one of their lives – and leaving even bigger holes in the hearts and souls of those who survived.
The story is told from the perspective of four children who became adults in the crucible of war in the middle of territory contested between Russian and Germany in what is now the Republic of Belarus. Neriya, a Jewish girl whose shtetl was burned to the ground – like over six hundred others. Kezia, a Roma girl whose family and clan were slaughtered, like so many others. Czeslaw, an underage Polish deserter from the Russian army, and an unnamed boy whose last order from his mother was to be ‘quiet’ and hasn’t spoken a word since.
Palaces of the Crow is about their survival, all too often just barely, by the skin of their teeth, in the midst of crossfire between opposing armies and/or bands of desperate, barely human survivors, in a land laid waste by war. A survival made possible by the help and protection of a flock of preternaturally intelligent crows, who warned them of danger, herded them away from hunters, and took them inside the very heart of their vast nest to allow them to survive the war’s last, desperate winter.
That description is barebones and not enough. It doesn’t convey the desperation, the danger, the moments of joy or the love between the no-longer-children in this found family of lost souls. For that, you need to read the story, and you should. Because this isn’t a hero’s story of war. It’s a survivor’s story, and that’s the perspective that needs to be told – and remembered.
Escape Rating A+: I picked this up for the author, and that’s a good thing, because it’s both not what I expected and frankly not a story that any of the blurbs are having any luck summarizing. It’s also NOT, as some of the sites have it, in any way science fictional. It’s even dubious whether it is even in the realm of speculative fiction at all.
Which doesn’t mean that it isn’t like the author’s previous work, because it very much is. Especially The Mountain in the Sea. Their themes are surprisingly similar even though their settings are centuries apart. The Mountain in the Sea is a story about an attempt to communicate with other intelligences on Earth, set during a future period of global catastrophe when survival, any and all survival, seems to be in doubt.
Palaces of the Crow is also a story about attempting to communicate with, or understand the communications of, other intelligences on Earth, set during a historic period of global catastrophe when survival seemed to be in doubt.
If The Mountain in the Sea had been set in the world of Slaughterhouse-Five – without that classic’s science fictional elements, it might have been something like Palaces of the Crow. Only bloodier and even more horrifying albeit with a somewhat more hopeful, for certain, bleak definitions of hope, ending.
But that bleakness fits the characters, the setting and the perspective of the whole story. Because this story is not told from a Western point of view. World War II, as seen from the U.S., was a distant thing, a righteous quest for glory – whether it actually was or not. The war wasn’t HERE (except for the Aleutian Islands and the lower 48 still have a difficult time seeing any parts of Alaska as ‘here’) Even for Britain, there were lots of bombs and they suffered a terrible loss of life, but they weren’t invaded. France was invaded, but it wasn’t starving frozen as it was in Belarus. It was war and it was horrifying, but it wasn’t the frozen bleakness of Belarus and the stories of it are just different (All the Light We Cannot See might serve as an example of what this story might have been if it were set in France during the same time period). The bleakness of THIS story is very much an eastern European perspective and it’s not one we see often in Western literature.
There are two twists at the end. One I saw coming, the other led to that bit of hope in the ending that I wasn’t, but was very pleased to see. Not because it was happy – although it is if you squint a bit, but because it was home.
I’m back to where I was at the beginning, that this book is marvelous and heartbreaking as long as you check your assumptions about it at the door before you start. It’s the kind of story that you’ll be thinking about for a long time after you finish – and not just because of the crows.
Originally published at Reading Reality
February 7, 2026
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!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Palaces of the Crows by Ray Nayler
4.45 rounded down to 4 🔮 orbs
Est. Pub. Date: May 19, 2026
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux / MCD
In the soil of Lithuania, 1941…
💡 Orbs Prologue: Eyeless, I wiggle through the dirt consisting of rotted flesh and bones. Vibrations pound the surface, a bombardment of hatred and fury unleashed. An inherent feeling resurfaces, and my main objective becomes relocation. Squirming my way through streams of blood, I break through to the chaos of human civilization. Swiftly now, or as swift as a worm's body will allow, I make my escape through the vast, harsh wilderness. Cold cylindrical casings obstruct a direct path, and the decaying carcasses become tiring obstacles along my escape route. A lingering question infiltrates my mind. Where are those dive-bombing reapers of death, or as you humans like to call them, crows?
🧐 A small glimpse: In Ray Nayler’s latest novel, we take a look at a not-so-pleasant part of human history, WWII. As readers converge on a forest-laden area in Lithuania, it remains clear that no human is safe. Russians, Germans, and Jews alike fall to a society hellbent on creating wastelands of destruction. While the atrocities remain stained on the hands of all who take part in the looting of human decency, there are those from the skies who attempt to intervene. The crows become an important part of helping our four teens, thus giving new meaning to man’s best friend. Each child is equipped with very different social situations, which help define the overall arc that Nayler attempts to convey. From various points of view, readers gain an immediate empathetic feel for the hardships of the time, regardless of one’s prior allegiances. The crows, therefore, stand without such knowledge of religion or power structures. Through their beady black eyes, they only see friend or foe, which further drives home the point of the story.
👍 Orbs Pros: Uplifting, well, sort of! A story of four strangers coming together as one to survive a borderline apocalyptic scenario is heartwarming, to say the least! The message! Be kind. This simple message rang throughout my readthrough, and yet, I caught myself wondering, "Why is this so difficult for humans to remember?” Introspective! Through the hazy, smoke-filled air, a thundering of tanks rolls forward, squashing the lives from those within. Further testing the fortitude of the human spirit often results in an interesting dichotomy in the human psyche. While certainly flawed, we remain ever resilient.
👎 Orbs Cons: War!! This book doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It is raw and in-your-face. I wouldn’t go as far as to say anything was overly done, but when writing a book based around WWII, there will be plenty of morbidity, and quite frankly, it might be too much for some to stomach. However, I will say that Nayler doesn’t dwell on the death aspects just to marinate the pages with some bloody fodder. There is a point to the madness. For us, as readers, to understand our past transgressions, we must see the cold, hard truth in its totality. A bit of a slow burn at the beginning!
Highly Recommended! Going in this completely blind, I left thoroughly impressed with Nayler’s writing acumen. I would gladly suggest Nayler to fans who love learning about human nature through a variety of lenses. Quickly becoming a must-read author for me, I can highly recommend this offering, that is, if you can endure the heartache of humans at their utmost worst.
💡 Orbs Epilogue: Ahh yes, the crows. Their soaring presence is something I do not look forward to. Often, we become morsels to satiate their hunger. Interestingly, the birds' shadows have eluded my senses. Are they off doing other important tasks? Teaching their young to hunt? Feeding them the scraps of my kind. Shivering my way along, my body glistens in the steady rainfall, wondering if this is the environment's selfish attempt to wash away the truth of humanity's sins. Perhaps it could have something to do with these explosions. That is why they are not around! Faster now, avoidance remains the key. As I exit the wooded area, I prepare myself for a well-deserved descent into the dirt abyss. Wriggling, I burrow, earthworming my way down to a new home, my tail end dangling only slightly in the breezy air above. Pluck! Snatched from soil, I dangle from the onyx beak of my nemesis with one thought on my mind. Couldn’t I have been born with actual legs?
Many thanks to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux / MCD for the ARC through NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
4.45 rounded down to 4 🔮 orbs
Est. Pub. Date: May 19, 2026
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux / MCD
In the soil of Lithuania, 1941…
💡 Orbs Prologue: Eyeless, I wiggle through the dirt consisting of rotted flesh and bones. Vibrations pound the surface, a bombardment of hatred and fury unleashed. An inherent feeling resurfaces, and my main objective becomes relocation. Squirming my way through streams of blood, I break through to the chaos of human civilization. Swiftly now, or as swift as a worm's body will allow, I make my escape through the vast, harsh wilderness. Cold cylindrical casings obstruct a direct path, and the decaying carcasses become tiring obstacles along my escape route. A lingering question infiltrates my mind. Where are those dive-bombing reapers of death, or as you humans like to call them, crows?
🧐 A small glimpse: In Ray Nayler’s latest novel, we take a look at a not-so-pleasant part of human history, WWII. As readers converge on a forest-laden area in Lithuania, it remains clear that no human is safe. Russians, Germans, and Jews alike fall to a society hellbent on creating wastelands of destruction. While the atrocities remain stained on the hands of all who take part in the looting of human decency, there are those from the skies who attempt to intervene. The crows become an important part of helping our four teens, thus giving new meaning to man’s best friend. Each child is equipped with very different social situations, which help define the overall arc that Nayler attempts to convey. From various points of view, readers gain an immediate empathetic feel for the hardships of the time, regardless of one’s prior allegiances. The crows, therefore, stand without such knowledge of religion or power structures. Through their beady black eyes, they only see friend or foe, which further drives home the point of the story.
👍 Orbs Pros: Uplifting, well, sort of! A story of four strangers coming together as one to survive a borderline apocalyptic scenario is heartwarming, to say the least! The message! Be kind. This simple message rang throughout my readthrough, and yet, I caught myself wondering, "Why is this so difficult for humans to remember?” Introspective! Through the hazy, smoke-filled air, a thundering of tanks rolls forward, squashing the lives from those within. Further testing the fortitude of the human spirit often results in an interesting dichotomy in the human psyche. While certainly flawed, we remain ever resilient.
👎 Orbs Cons: War!! This book doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It is raw and in-your-face. I wouldn’t go as far as to say anything was overly done, but when writing a book based around WWII, there will be plenty of morbidity, and quite frankly, it might be too much for some to stomach. However, I will say that Nayler doesn’t dwell on the death aspects just to marinate the pages with some bloody fodder. There is a point to the madness. For us, as readers, to understand our past transgressions, we must see the cold, hard truth in its totality. A bit of a slow burn at the beginning!
Highly Recommended! Going in this completely blind, I left thoroughly impressed with Nayler’s writing acumen. I would gladly suggest Nayler to fans who love learning about human nature through a variety of lenses. Quickly becoming a must-read author for me, I can highly recommend this offering, that is, if you can endure the heartache of humans at their utmost worst.
💡 Orbs Epilogue: Ahh yes, the crows. Their soaring presence is something I do not look forward to. Often, we become morsels to satiate their hunger. Interestingly, the birds' shadows have eluded my senses. Are they off doing other important tasks? Teaching their young to hunt? Feeding them the scraps of my kind. Shivering my way along, my body glistens in the steady rainfall, wondering if this is the environment's selfish attempt to wash away the truth of humanity's sins. Perhaps it could have something to do with these explosions. That is why they are not around! Faster now, avoidance remains the key. As I exit the wooded area, I prepare myself for a well-deserved descent into the dirt abyss. Wriggling, I burrow, earthworming my way down to a new home, my tail end dangling only slightly in the breezy air above. Pluck! Snatched from soil, I dangle from the onyx beak of my nemesis with one thought on my mind. Couldn’t I have been born with actual legs?
Many thanks to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux / MCD for the ARC through NetGalley. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I went into Palaces of the Crow expecting something a little different from Ray Nayler’s previous work, and it delivered in the best way possible. While there are speculative elements woven throughout the story, this leans much more into historical fiction and horror, creating something bleak, haunting, and very human. Set in 1940s Lithuania during the chaos of the German blitzkrieg, the novel drops us into forests filled with danger from every direction - not just the Germans, but Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, and all the desperate outcasts and bandits trying to survive in a country being torn apart by war. There’s this constant sense of fear and instability hanging over the entire book that makes it impossible to put down.
At the center of the story are four unforgettable young characters: Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and The Boy - Innokentiy. Neriya especially stood out to me: a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a biologist and who has spent years observing and befriending the crows around her shtetl. Czeslaw, an underage Polish deserter from the Red Army, carries his own weight of guilt and survival. Kezia, a Roma horse trader fleeing Soviet collectivization with her family, brings another perspective to a story already layered with displacement and loss. Then there’s Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, but whose presence says so much regardless. Watching these four come together in the woods, forming fragile bonds while trying to stay alive, was honestly one of the strongest parts of the novel for me. The found family element here hit incredibly hard.
And then there are the crows.
The flock watching over the children adds this eerie speculative thread running beneath the novel that never overwhelms the historical setting but instead deepens it. The crows warn them of danger, bring intricate gifts, and behave with an intelligence that feels uncanny and almost otherworldly. Nayler handles this aspect so well because it never fully shifts into outright sci-fi or explanation. The mystery surrounding the birds lingers over the story in a way that feels beautiful and haunting rather than flashy, and it fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the novel.
This is not an easy read emotionally. It’s true horror in many ways - not really because of monsters, but because of the brutality of war, cruelty, starvation, fear, and what people become when survival is all that matters. But despite all of that darkness, there’s also so much tenderness in this story. The care these teens show one another, the moments of loyalty and quiet hope they cling to, and the fragile beauty threaded through the narrative kept this from ever feeling hopeless. The synopsis says Nayler “blends history and haunting speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times,” and that description could not be more accurate.
The writing itself was stunning. Atmospheric, sharp, and deeply immersive, with nonlinear storytelling that slowly pieces together these characters’ lives and experiences in a way that feels incredibly intentional. It’s very different from Nayler’s usual science fiction-heavy work, but you can still feel his fascination with intelligence, survival, and humanity woven throughout the novel.
If you’ve enjoyed Nayler’s previous books and are open to something much darker and more historical, I absolutely recommend giving this one a chance. And if you love nonlinear storytelling, found family, survival narratives, and speculative elements that stay subtle and haunting rather than overt, this will likely work really well for you too. I know this is going to be one of those books that lingers in my mind for a very long time.
4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy - this was stunning work.
At the center of the story are four unforgettable young characters: Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and The Boy - Innokentiy. Neriya especially stood out to me: a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a biologist and who has spent years observing and befriending the crows around her shtetl. Czeslaw, an underage Polish deserter from the Red Army, carries his own weight of guilt and survival. Kezia, a Roma horse trader fleeing Soviet collectivization with her family, brings another perspective to a story already layered with displacement and loss. Then there’s Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, but whose presence says so much regardless. Watching these four come together in the woods, forming fragile bonds while trying to stay alive, was honestly one of the strongest parts of the novel for me. The found family element here hit incredibly hard.
And then there are the crows.
The flock watching over the children adds this eerie speculative thread running beneath the novel that never overwhelms the historical setting but instead deepens it. The crows warn them of danger, bring intricate gifts, and behave with an intelligence that feels uncanny and almost otherworldly. Nayler handles this aspect so well because it never fully shifts into outright sci-fi or explanation. The mystery surrounding the birds lingers over the story in a way that feels beautiful and haunting rather than flashy, and it fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the novel.
This is not an easy read emotionally. It’s true horror in many ways - not really because of monsters, but because of the brutality of war, cruelty, starvation, fear, and what people become when survival is all that matters. But despite all of that darkness, there’s also so much tenderness in this story. The care these teens show one another, the moments of loyalty and quiet hope they cling to, and the fragile beauty threaded through the narrative kept this from ever feeling hopeless. The synopsis says Nayler “blends history and haunting speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times,” and that description could not be more accurate.
The writing itself was stunning. Atmospheric, sharp, and deeply immersive, with nonlinear storytelling that slowly pieces together these characters’ lives and experiences in a way that feels incredibly intentional. It’s very different from Nayler’s usual science fiction-heavy work, but you can still feel his fascination with intelligence, survival, and humanity woven throughout the novel.
If you’ve enjoyed Nayler’s previous books and are open to something much darker and more historical, I absolutely recommend giving this one a chance. And if you love nonlinear storytelling, found family, survival narratives, and speculative elements that stay subtle and haunting rather than overt, this will likely work really well for you too. I know this is going to be one of those books that lingers in my mind for a very long time.
4.5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advance listening copy - this was stunning work.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
What can I say about Palaces Of The Crow by Ray Nayler? It is spellbinding and fascinating while being heart rendering and gut wrenching at the same time.
Neriya is a young Jewish woman who has befriended the crows that gather around the shtetl that her family travels to in the spring seasons. She has learned how intelligent the creatures can be and has bonded with them in a way that has made her part of the flock. One day her best friend Buster, a crow that brings her gifts, refuses to let her go back home. She will never forget being afraid of him for the first time as he attacks her to keep her from going toward home. Buster saved her life that day, the day that she lost the only life she knew.
Czeslaw left home and lied about his age to join The Red Army, fearing that if he didn’t find a way to hide that he was Polish he would soon lose his life like his father and he couldn’t bear to do that to his mother. Better he leave her knowing he is alive out there someplace than for her to watch him die in front of her eyes. At the age of 14 he forged his documents and the adults that could plainly tell he was a child looked past that and put a gun in his hands and sent him off to fight a war that would take the lives of thousands.
Kezia has spent too long running with her Romani family. Fleeing into the forest to find shelter from the Germans and the Partisans that want to kill just to do it. Her life is forever altered when she sees her father and uncle killed in front of her and the sounds of her sister being dragged off, her screams echoing until silence is all that is left.
Crows will take care of their own. Whether they be maimed, ill, or elderly. The way they care for one another is an amazing thing to witness. They are loyal and intelligent creatures who can remember faces for years to come.
In Palaces Of The Crows we learn the story of 4 children that have to survive with one another in the wild, doing their best to avoid being discovered by any other people. The world is no longer safe for them or for anyone really. War gives people a chance to release their baser instincts as an excuse to do things in the name of war that they know would never be allowed any other time. We forget we are human when war takes over. It no longer matters that these children are just children playing adults trying to find a way to survive in a time when being Jewish, Romani, Lithuanian, Polish is a death sentence.
I found myself in tears by the end of this book for these characters that lived a brutal life that took so much from them, for the lives lost that I wasn’t expecting. I found absolute beauty in the crows which are creatures that have always fascinated me.
Thank you #Netgalley for the chance to read #PalaceOfTheCrows by #RayNayler in return for a fair and honest review
Neriya is a young Jewish woman who has befriended the crows that gather around the shtetl that her family travels to in the spring seasons. She has learned how intelligent the creatures can be and has bonded with them in a way that has made her part of the flock. One day her best friend Buster, a crow that brings her gifts, refuses to let her go back home. She will never forget being afraid of him for the first time as he attacks her to keep her from going toward home. Buster saved her life that day, the day that she lost the only life she knew.
Czeslaw left home and lied about his age to join The Red Army, fearing that if he didn’t find a way to hide that he was Polish he would soon lose his life like his father and he couldn’t bear to do that to his mother. Better he leave her knowing he is alive out there someplace than for her to watch him die in front of her eyes. At the age of 14 he forged his documents and the adults that could plainly tell he was a child looked past that and put a gun in his hands and sent him off to fight a war that would take the lives of thousands.
Kezia has spent too long running with her Romani family. Fleeing into the forest to find shelter from the Germans and the Partisans that want to kill just to do it. Her life is forever altered when she sees her father and uncle killed in front of her and the sounds of her sister being dragged off, her screams echoing until silence is all that is left.
Crows will take care of their own. Whether they be maimed, ill, or elderly. The way they care for one another is an amazing thing to witness. They are loyal and intelligent creatures who can remember faces for years to come.
In Palaces Of The Crows we learn the story of 4 children that have to survive with one another in the wild, doing their best to avoid being discovered by any other people. The world is no longer safe for them or for anyone really. War gives people a chance to release their baser instincts as an excuse to do things in the name of war that they know would never be allowed any other time. We forget we are human when war takes over. It no longer matters that these children are just children playing adults trying to find a way to survive in a time when being Jewish, Romani, Lithuanian, Polish is a death sentence.
I found myself in tears by the end of this book for these characters that lived a brutal life that took so much from them, for the lives lost that I wasn’t expecting. I found absolute beauty in the crows which are creatures that have always fascinated me.
Thank you #Netgalley for the chance to read #PalaceOfTheCrows by #RayNayler in return for a fair and honest review
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley, "Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books" and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
==============================
“Hope is the thing with feathers” - Emily Dickinson
Let me begin by saying, historical fiction set during WWII is not something that normally attracts my attention. It has to be exceptional, giving me an in-depth personal perspective and a story of hope or redemption outside the general suffering. It has to be engaging and informative. Ray Nayler delivers on this in “Palaces of the Crow”.
Here we have four young people struggling to survive in the Lithuanian woods while WWII rages around them. Initially strangers from diverse backgrounds, they have a common bond. Each has a special connection with a community of crows. And not just any crows, but a community of crows that is just slightly ahead of their brethren down Charles Darwin’s path of evolution.
The story begins with Neriya, who is led deep into the woods minutes before her shtetl was razed by the Germans and burnt to the ground. There are none of the Jewish community left in the countryside, and she takes refuge in a zemlyanka (a hunting dugout) hidden in the forest. She is soon joined by Czeslaw, whose entire Red Army unit was destroyed and Kezia, a Roma girl who evaded an attack on her family. Completing the grouping is a mute and nameless boy left behind as people fled the countryside.
We are treated to the perspectives of the first three children, while there is a dual timeline voiced by "Neriya Abramovna Kantorova" in 1971. The chapters are interspersed with excerpts from a journal found by the children “An Autobiography of a Burned Village” that gives the perspective of a survivor of the Russian pogroms from the First World War.
Nayler leads us on a journey of found community, resilience and survival during a period from 1941 to 1944. By August 1941, the vast majority of Jews in rural Lithuania had already been murdered. Entire communities (shtetls) that had existed for centuries vanished in a matter of days or weeks. But there were some who survived, hidden in the forest, evading not only the Germans but also by local Lithuanian partisans and militias. Nayler gives a voice to the children who endured the horrors of this time and at the same time presents a fragile community of crows. Their's is a unique and intriguing adaptation that could be wiped out if discovered by the wrong people. The analogy isn’t lost in this telling.
This isn’t just a historical fiction about the annihilation of the Yiddish-speaking Litvak culture, but of the impacts to those living during those times. It is a story of found community, of scientific observations and of hopes for a future.
==============================
“Hope is the thing with feathers” - Emily Dickinson
Let me begin by saying, historical fiction set during WWII is not something that normally attracts my attention. It has to be exceptional, giving me an in-depth personal perspective and a story of hope or redemption outside the general suffering. It has to be engaging and informative. Ray Nayler delivers on this in “Palaces of the Crow”.
Here we have four young people struggling to survive in the Lithuanian woods while WWII rages around them. Initially strangers from diverse backgrounds, they have a common bond. Each has a special connection with a community of crows. And not just any crows, but a community of crows that is just slightly ahead of their brethren down Charles Darwin’s path of evolution.
“The crows fed us during the war. They warned us of danger. They took care of us. But not for the reasons we may have thought they had: it was all for reasons of their own.”
The story begins with Neriya, who is led deep into the woods minutes before her shtetl was razed by the Germans and burnt to the ground. There are none of the Jewish community left in the countryside, and she takes refuge in a zemlyanka (a hunting dugout) hidden in the forest. She is soon joined by Czeslaw, whose entire Red Army unit was destroyed and Kezia, a Roma girl who evaded an attack on her family. Completing the grouping is a mute and nameless boy left behind as people fled the countryside.
We are treated to the perspectives of the first three children, while there is a dual timeline voiced by "Neriya Abramovna Kantorova" in 1971. The chapters are interspersed with excerpts from a journal found by the children “An Autobiography of a Burned Village” that gives the perspective of a survivor of the Russian pogroms from the First World War.
Nayler leads us on a journey of found community, resilience and survival during a period from 1941 to 1944. By August 1941, the vast majority of Jews in rural Lithuania had already been murdered. Entire communities (shtetls) that had existed for centuries vanished in a matter of days or weeks. But there were some who survived, hidden in the forest, evading not only the Germans but also by local Lithuanian partisans and militias. Nayler gives a voice to the children who endured the horrors of this time and at the same time presents a fragile community of crows. Their's is a unique and intriguing adaptation that could be wiped out if discovered by the wrong people. The analogy isn’t lost in this telling.
This isn’t just a historical fiction about the annihilation of the Yiddish-speaking Litvak culture, but of the impacts to those living during those times. It is a story of found community, of scientific observations and of hopes for a future.
“Because there would be a future. All of this had to end eventually. And once it did, one way or another, change would come.”
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler
Narrated by Eunice Wong
I did not expect for this story to hit me so hard. I read a lot of WWII stories and was drawn to the story of four children, three teens and a mute boy who seems younger than a teen, struggling to survive long term in woods filled with enemies from every side, enemies trying to kill each other and every living thing. Humanity seems to have taken flight and these four children must survive while their bodies slowly starve, must spend their time quiet, sometimes freezing, always hungry, always knowing that at any minute the terrible things that they have seen happen to friends, loved ones, neighbors, and strangers, could happen to them.
Brilliant Jewish Neriya wants to be a biologist someday, Illiterate Roma Kezia absorbs what Neriya teaches her as if she is a sponge. Their years together almost melds their minds, they dream of writing a book together about the very special crows who protect them, so the pair can let the world, a world they dream will someday be peaceful, know of this great avian discovery.
Czeslaw is an underage Polish soldier because he lied about his age in order to join the army rather than to be killed by the army. But all the boys and men he fought with are dead and he must hide from those who will kill him. Finally there is the mute boy, who they call "the boy". The four children come to love each other, would be willing to die for each other, live for each other. And it was the crows who brought them together in one way or another and it is the crows who keep them alive, warn them, guide them, entertain them, give to them and talk to them. There was someone before these four who interacted with the crows and maybe that is why these four have been adopted by them.
The story is heartbreaking from the very beginning and the heartbreak never lets up. How can it when death is a constant and one can only hope when death comes that it will be swift? The war goes on, the years pass, how can anyone live under this constant stress and lack of nourishment? These four do just that until things happen and then we move farther into the future. I could not have hoped for a better ending than we get with this story. The ending was what I wanted but never imagined I would get.
The reason I wanted to listen to this book so much was because I saw it was narrated by Eunice Wong. She has a very distinct way of speaking and narrating and I have picked books before based solely on the fact that she was narrating the book. Her narration fits so well with the stream on conscious thinking of the children and with their dialogue with each other. I wanted so much for these children and for the birds and I'm so glad I was able to listen to the audiobook of this journey.
Expected publication May 19, 2026
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC
Narrated by Eunice Wong
I did not expect for this story to hit me so hard. I read a lot of WWII stories and was drawn to the story of four children, three teens and a mute boy who seems younger than a teen, struggling to survive long term in woods filled with enemies from every side, enemies trying to kill each other and every living thing. Humanity seems to have taken flight and these four children must survive while their bodies slowly starve, must spend their time quiet, sometimes freezing, always hungry, always knowing that at any minute the terrible things that they have seen happen to friends, loved ones, neighbors, and strangers, could happen to them.
Brilliant Jewish Neriya wants to be a biologist someday, Illiterate Roma Kezia absorbs what Neriya teaches her as if she is a sponge. Their years together almost melds their minds, they dream of writing a book together about the very special crows who protect them, so the pair can let the world, a world they dream will someday be peaceful, know of this great avian discovery.
Czeslaw is an underage Polish soldier because he lied about his age in order to join the army rather than to be killed by the army. But all the boys and men he fought with are dead and he must hide from those who will kill him. Finally there is the mute boy, who they call "the boy". The four children come to love each other, would be willing to die for each other, live for each other. And it was the crows who brought them together in one way or another and it is the crows who keep them alive, warn them, guide them, entertain them, give to them and talk to them. There was someone before these four who interacted with the crows and maybe that is why these four have been adopted by them.
The story is heartbreaking from the very beginning and the heartbreak never lets up. How can it when death is a constant and one can only hope when death comes that it will be swift? The war goes on, the years pass, how can anyone live under this constant stress and lack of nourishment? These four do just that until things happen and then we move farther into the future. I could not have hoped for a better ending than we get with this story. The ending was what I wanted but never imagined I would get.
The reason I wanted to listen to this book so much was because I saw it was narrated by Eunice Wong. She has a very distinct way of speaking and narrating and I have picked books before based solely on the fact that she was narrating the book. Her narration fits so well with the stream on conscious thinking of the children and with their dialogue with each other. I wanted so much for these children and for the birds and I'm so glad I was able to listen to the audiobook of this journey.
Expected publication May 19, 2026
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ARC
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an advance review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This was the first time in a while that I picked up a book and genuinely couldn’t put it down. This was a one sitting read for me!! From the opening pages, I was immediately grabbed by the story and with every subsequent page I felt like I was being pulled deeper into the forest with these young people and the crows they found themselves acquainted with.
There is a fluidity to the prose in this book that works so well for the speculative elements of this historical fiction. It’s detailed but not overbearing, and with each of the perspectives included it felt like I was right beside Neriya, Czesław, Kezia, and the Boy, listening to and watching the crows. There’s an interesting balance between the tension of hiding from people who mean them harm and the almost languid unfolding of the days, months, and years of this story; the routines developed by these young people and the regular appearances of the crows. Just as the lives of these young people are fractured across the years, so too is this story, told in snatches of memory across a battered landscape.
I really enjoyed the way that many of the themes in this novel were explored, specifically the power of memory and the things that shape us as a person. The way that these elements are explored through the unique experiences and culture of each of the perspective characters was so well done, and I especially loved the way that these things began to intertwine in their lives and the stories and memories they shared and created with one another. I loved the way that time passed in this story and how all of these characters were in and out of memory, and somehow existing alongside the memory of the entire landscape as they grapple with the changing of the world over their lifetimes.
This was absolutely one of my top reads of the year so far. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and Nayler painted such a clear picture of where we were in time and space throughout this book. It all comes together so beautifully to explore how these people were so affected by the world they were born into and the choices (or lack thereof) before them.
This was the first time in a while that I picked up a book and genuinely couldn’t put it down. This was a one sitting read for me!! From the opening pages, I was immediately grabbed by the story and with every subsequent page I felt like I was being pulled deeper into the forest with these young people and the crows they found themselves acquainted with.
There is a fluidity to the prose in this book that works so well for the speculative elements of this historical fiction. It’s detailed but not overbearing, and with each of the perspectives included it felt like I was right beside Neriya, Czesław, Kezia, and the Boy, listening to and watching the crows. There’s an interesting balance between the tension of hiding from people who mean them harm and the almost languid unfolding of the days, months, and years of this story; the routines developed by these young people and the regular appearances of the crows. Just as the lives of these young people are fractured across the years, so too is this story, told in snatches of memory across a battered landscape.
I really enjoyed the way that many of the themes in this novel were explored, specifically the power of memory and the things that shape us as a person. The way that these elements are explored through the unique experiences and culture of each of the perspective characters was so well done, and I especially loved the way that these things began to intertwine in their lives and the stories and memories they shared and created with one another. I loved the way that time passed in this story and how all of these characters were in and out of memory, and somehow existing alongside the memory of the entire landscape as they grapple with the changing of the world over their lifetimes.
This was absolutely one of my top reads of the year so far. I’ve never read anything quite like it, and Nayler painted such a clear picture of where we were in time and space throughout this book. It all comes together so beautifully to explore how these people were so affected by the world they were born into and the choices (or lack thereof) before them.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A Ray Nayler book was my introduction to Eunice Wong as a narrator, so it feels right to listen to another of his books narrated by her. She does a great job with the cadence of each character, and while there are fewer accents (something that I actually really appreciate, that people speaking in their native or fluent language don't have a narrated accent, even if it's a non-English language), Nayler's style in wrapping you in the setting and unsettling nature of the plot come to life with her narration.
Similar to The Mountain in the Sea, we've got humans interacting with animals that are acting out of their normal sphere of behavior. This time, however, with the focus being on teenagers during WW2, the focus is much more human in nature, using the crows as a mirror to hold up to human behavior. What is a story about survival during unprecedented times unfolds into a story of memory and storytelling, of learned behaviors and identifying what it takes for a thing or person to be truly lost or forgotten.
I feel like while there's a lot of WW2 novels that focus on resistance or how people were oppressed and disappeared, the Baltics and Eastern Europe get kind of forgotten in the English language. Most of the stories get as far northeast as Poland, so it was really nice and interesting to experience a story that captures the people trapped in the middle, both before and after the war. The forest is a perfect setting for that kind of liminal transition, but also as a natural force that cares little for humans and in which people can disappear, either willingly or not. I didn't know the tensions between Lithuania and Poland, between Russia and the rest of the Baltics during WW2, particularly with the threat of the Germans and the shadow of the pogroms and all the various racial tensions. The historical march of empires and the people forgotten or assimilated in their wakes is something that I didn't think would fit into speculative fiction as well as Nayler has accomplished. This has definitely solidified him as an auto-buy author for me
Similar to The Mountain in the Sea, we've got humans interacting with animals that are acting out of their normal sphere of behavior. This time, however, with the focus being on teenagers during WW2, the focus is much more human in nature, using the crows as a mirror to hold up to human behavior. What is a story about survival during unprecedented times unfolds into a story of memory and storytelling, of learned behaviors and identifying what it takes for a thing or person to be truly lost or forgotten.
I feel like while there's a lot of WW2 novels that focus on resistance or how people were oppressed and disappeared, the Baltics and Eastern Europe get kind of forgotten in the English language. Most of the stories get as far northeast as Poland, so it was really nice and interesting to experience a story that captures the people trapped in the middle, both before and after the war. The forest is a perfect setting for that kind of liminal transition, but also as a natural force that cares little for humans and in which people can disappear, either willingly or not. I didn't know the tensions between Lithuania and Poland, between Russia and the rest of the Baltics during WW2, particularly with the threat of the Germans and the shadow of the pogroms and all the various racial tensions. The historical march of empires and the people forgotten or assimilated in their wakes is something that I didn't think would fit into speculative fiction as well as Nayler has accomplished. This has definitely solidified him as an auto-buy author for me
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
On the run from different facets of WWII, four teens' lives collide in a forest filled with unusually intelligent crows where they must fight to survive and avoid detection. In the war-torn winter everyone is an enemy.
Objectively, I think this is a good book. The writing is well-done and there are definitely some visceral scenes that hit where it hurts, plus I love the premise so much. Subjectively....I don't know, this just didn't work for me. For one, and I hate to say this, if I had to give a one line critique: Need More Crows. I know that's not very helpful feedback, but for a book that is really being sold on the whole "group of super intelligent crows" thing, they just aren't a very significant part of the story and for the most part I don't think the actual plot would be that different if they weren't there at all. This is very much a historical novel with a whisper of maybe magical realism, which is fine but it's not really what I was hoping for.
Unfortunately, with the crows being a small part of the plot, this book just doesn't feel very unique. There are so so many stories about the horror of WWII out there—I would know! For some reason I have been given stories about my ancestors being graphically massacred since I was like six. The speculative elements were what was meant to set this book apart, but they're not central enough to the story to make this book stand out. I also think more scenes with the kids bonding or at least interacting would have also made their weird little survival family more believable and compelling. It's a lot of internal monologue and flashbacks which flesh out their histories a little but don't give you a love of reasons to root for them other than indicating that these kids have experienced some truly horrific stuff.
Most people who read this will probably enjoy it more than I did! But TLDR: Needs more crows and compelling character relationships.
Thank you to Ray Nayler and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Objectively, I think this is a good book. The writing is well-done and there are definitely some visceral scenes that hit where it hurts, plus I love the premise so much. Subjectively....I don't know, this just didn't work for me. For one, and I hate to say this, if I had to give a one line critique: Need More Crows. I know that's not very helpful feedback, but for a book that is really being sold on the whole "group of super intelligent crows" thing, they just aren't a very significant part of the story and for the most part I don't think the actual plot would be that different if they weren't there at all. This is very much a historical novel with a whisper of maybe magical realism, which is fine but it's not really what I was hoping for.
Unfortunately, with the crows being a small part of the plot, this book just doesn't feel very unique. There are so so many stories about the horror of WWII out there—I would know! For some reason I have been given stories about my ancestors being graphically massacred since I was like six. The speculative elements were what was meant to set this book apart, but they're not central enough to the story to make this book stand out. I also think more scenes with the kids bonding or at least interacting would have also made their weird little survival family more believable and compelling. It's a lot of internal monologue and flashbacks which flesh out their histories a little but don't give you a love of reasons to root for them other than indicating that these kids have experienced some truly horrific stuff.
Most people who read this will probably enjoy it more than I did! But TLDR: Needs more crows and compelling character relationships.
Thank you to Ray Nayler and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance listening copy in exchange for an honest review.
Going into Palaces of the Crow, I expected speculative fiction with historical elements, but what I found was something much quieter, sadder, and more haunting. While there are mysterious and fantastical aspects involving the crows, this story feels deeply rooted in the human cost of war and survival.
Set in Lithuania during World War II, the novel follows four young people hiding in the forest while danger surrounds them from every direction. The atmosphere throughout the book feels heavy with hunger, fear, grief, and uncertainty, yet there are also moments of tenderness and connection that keep the story from becoming hopeless.
The crows themselves were one of the most interesting parts of the novel for me. Nayler handles them with restraint, allowing them to remain mysterious and unsettling rather than over explaining their behavior. They add a strange, almost dreamlike layer to the story that lingers long after the book ends.
This is not a fast-paced read, and at times the story unfolds slowly and reflectively. I think readers expecting action-heavy speculative fiction may be surprised by how literary and emotionally intimate it feels. For me, the emotional atmosphere and the relationships between the characters were what stood out most.
Eunice Wong’s narration was excellent. She brought warmth and personality to the characters while still preserving the bleakness and tension woven throughout the story. Her performance added a lot of emotional depth to the listening experience.
The production was lovely, with hauntingly beautiful music and excellent sound.
This is ultimately a very somber and thoughtful novel about survival, memory, cruelty, and connection in impossible circumstances. I think it will especially resonate with readers who enjoy literary historical fiction with subtle speculative elements and emotionally atmospheric storytelling.
I highly recommend this novel, and rate it 5/5 stars.
Going into Palaces of the Crow, I expected speculative fiction with historical elements, but what I found was something much quieter, sadder, and more haunting. While there are mysterious and fantastical aspects involving the crows, this story feels deeply rooted in the human cost of war and survival.
Set in Lithuania during World War II, the novel follows four young people hiding in the forest while danger surrounds them from every direction. The atmosphere throughout the book feels heavy with hunger, fear, grief, and uncertainty, yet there are also moments of tenderness and connection that keep the story from becoming hopeless.
The crows themselves were one of the most interesting parts of the novel for me. Nayler handles them with restraint, allowing them to remain mysterious and unsettling rather than over explaining their behavior. They add a strange, almost dreamlike layer to the story that lingers long after the book ends.
This is not a fast-paced read, and at times the story unfolds slowly and reflectively. I think readers expecting action-heavy speculative fiction may be surprised by how literary and emotionally intimate it feels. For me, the emotional atmosphere and the relationships between the characters were what stood out most.
Eunice Wong’s narration was excellent. She brought warmth and personality to the characters while still preserving the bleakness and tension woven throughout the story. Her performance added a lot of emotional depth to the listening experience.
The production was lovely, with hauntingly beautiful music and excellent sound.
This is ultimately a very somber and thoughtful novel about survival, memory, cruelty, and connection in impossible circumstances. I think it will especially resonate with readers who enjoy literary historical fiction with subtle speculative elements and emotionally atmospheric storytelling.
I highly recommend this novel, and rate it 5/5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
When I saw this on NetGalley, the cover immediately caught my eye, and the description sealed the deal — a young Jewish girl, a Polish soldier, a Roma horse trader, and a mute boy with no name, all banding together for survival deep in the woods with the help of a flock of highly intelligent crows as they try to escape the horrors of WWII. Caught between the Nazis and the Red Army, guided by birds? Ok, call me curious!
Strangely, this is the third war‑set book I’ve read this year, which is usually a hard no for me. But the first two — Sarafina by Philip Fracassi and The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean — both had elements that intrigued me. Sarafina leaned into historical horror with touches of magical realism. TGWaTF was an alternate historical fantasy. So when I picked up Palaces of the Crow, I was hoping it, too, would lean in one of those directions. I mean… a group of kids being led through the woods by crows practically begs for magical realism, right?!
So there I was, waiting for something strange or uncanny to happen — and instead, I found myself reading a much more grounded story about a group of children who’ve lost everything, hunkering down with their feathered companions. It’s a book rooted in survival, friendship, trauma, and loss and explores the world through multiple perspectives, breaking down the boundaries between humans and animals... yet it never fully steps into the magical or fantastical space I was expecting.
Taken at face value, it’s a solid story about resilience and connection in the midst of war. But I can’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t dive into the elements that initially drew me to it. Is it unfair to say I feel a little cheated?
Strangely, this is the third war‑set book I’ve read this year, which is usually a hard no for me. But the first two — Sarafina by Philip Fracassi and The Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean — both had elements that intrigued me. Sarafina leaned into historical horror with touches of magical realism. TGWaTF was an alternate historical fantasy. So when I picked up Palaces of the Crow, I was hoping it, too, would lean in one of those directions. I mean… a group of kids being led through the woods by crows practically begs for magical realism, right?!
So there I was, waiting for something strange or uncanny to happen — and instead, I found myself reading a much more grounded story about a group of children who’ve lost everything, hunkering down with their feathered companions. It’s a book rooted in survival, friendship, trauma, and loss and explores the world through multiple perspectives, breaking down the boundaries between humans and animals... yet it never fully steps into the magical or fantastical space I was expecting.
Taken at face value, it’s a solid story about resilience and connection in the midst of war. But I can’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t dive into the elements that initially drew me to it. Is it unfair to say I feel a little cheated?
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Historical fiction that feels like the truth.
Ray Nayler's books always embroil me in contemplation about the nature of consciousness and the nature of being - what does it mean to be something and to become something? Wherein lies the purpose? How do we make meaning of our lives, of the many millions of lives, especially in the face of violence?
"The past remains whole, in its own eternal moment. The bathhouse remains unburned, somewhere in time.
Somewhere, the seller of chestnuts sings, and is not dead in a ditch from a bayonet blade."
More than just thoughtful, Nayler writes in prose that is weighty and beautiful at the same time - the reader follows this deer trail through the woods and feels the importance of secrecy and silence at the same time as they notice the liveliness of the forest.
"What was important was the fact of their existence. Their thriving. Their safety here, dep in this protected place, where they could nurse their aged and injured, teach their young, make their tools.
Where they could continue to become what they were becoming."
Eminently readable, I honestly think that this book lies at a perfect cross-roads to recommend it for all sorts of readers - I came to it from my previous enjoyment of Nayler's science fiction, but historical and literary readers will also love this. I think the element of the crows intelligence is less alternative science fiction and more a crystallization of interspecies relationships and the ways in which our relationships with other creatures reflect our relationships to one another.
Ray Nayler's books always embroil me in contemplation about the nature of consciousness and the nature of being - what does it mean to be something and to become something? Wherein lies the purpose? How do we make meaning of our lives, of the many millions of lives, especially in the face of violence?
"The past remains whole, in its own eternal moment. The bathhouse remains unburned, somewhere in time.
Somewhere, the seller of chestnuts sings, and is not dead in a ditch from a bayonet blade."
More than just thoughtful, Nayler writes in prose that is weighty and beautiful at the same time - the reader follows this deer trail through the woods and feels the importance of secrecy and silence at the same time as they notice the liveliness of the forest.
"What was important was the fact of their existence. Their thriving. Their safety here, dep in this protected place, where they could nurse their aged and injured, teach their young, make their tools.
Where they could continue to become what they were becoming."
Eminently readable, I honestly think that this book lies at a perfect cross-roads to recommend it for all sorts of readers - I came to it from my previous enjoyment of Nayler's science fiction, but historical and literary readers will also love this. I think the element of the crows intelligence is less alternative science fiction and more a crystallization of interspecies relationships and the ways in which our relationships with other creatures reflect our relationships to one another.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Ray Nayler, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the ARC!
…
About:
Set during World War II, Palaces of the Crow follows four young people—a Polish soldier, a Roma girl from a family of horse traders, a Jewish girl determined to pursue an education, and a silent, abandoned boy—whose paths converge as they flee through the Lithuanian woods. As they struggle to survive, they form an unlikely bond not only with each other, but with a group of unusually intelligent crows who offer a strange kind of guidance and protection.
…
Thoughts:
This was my first read by Nayler, and while it leans more toward historical fiction than his typical speculative work (from what I gather), I found it deeply engaging. The presence of the crows adds a subtle speculative layer, offering a compelling exploration of nonhuman intelligence and the ways the natural world can provide both solace and perspective in moments of crisis.
The novel also gestures toward larger, more meta questions—particularly around how stories of trauma are told and who gets to tell them—which I found especially thought-provoking.
I was most drawn to the characters in their childhood chapters, where their resilience and vulnerability felt especially vivid. In the later timelines, their portrayals a bit wooden, though that distance may be intentional. The found family dynamic, however, remains a strong and satisfying throughline.
Overall, this is a unique and moving read that blends historical fiction with a quiet, contemplative speculative edge.
…
About:
Set during World War II, Palaces of the Crow follows four young people—a Polish soldier, a Roma girl from a family of horse traders, a Jewish girl determined to pursue an education, and a silent, abandoned boy—whose paths converge as they flee through the Lithuanian woods. As they struggle to survive, they form an unlikely bond not only with each other, but with a group of unusually intelligent crows who offer a strange kind of guidance and protection.
…
Thoughts:
This was my first read by Nayler, and while it leans more toward historical fiction than his typical speculative work (from what I gather), I found it deeply engaging. The presence of the crows adds a subtle speculative layer, offering a compelling exploration of nonhuman intelligence and the ways the natural world can provide both solace and perspective in moments of crisis.
The novel also gestures toward larger, more meta questions—particularly around how stories of trauma are told and who gets to tell them—which I found especially thought-provoking.
I was most drawn to the characters in their childhood chapters, where their resilience and vulnerability felt especially vivid. In the later timelines, their portrayals a bit wooden, though that distance may be intentional. The found family dynamic, however, remains a strong and satisfying throughline.
Overall, this is a unique and moving read that blends historical fiction with a quiet, contemplative speculative edge.
Review of advance copy
This is the second book by Ray Nayler that I've read, and while different, I haven't liked either of them. I just did not think this book worked on any level.
I can't fully put my finger on why I feel this way, but something about this story didn't really sit right with me. Set during WWII in the woods of the Soviet Union, the novel focuses on four young people brought together by a group of crows who protect them (and only them) from the horrors of war, genocide, and the worst aspects of human behavior. Why them? Only the crows know, and we never actually find out.
The novel shifts perspectives and voices (none of which are really all that distinct from one another) and timelines, causing the readers to always have to reorient themselves, all the while the language, texts within the text, and digressions or memories cause for a dizzying reading experience that seems more for the benefit and amusement of the author than for a satisfying experience for the audience. I also found that the book read like YA, which for me is not a good thing. It's possible to write a novel about young people but for adult audiences, but this is not a positive example of that.
The final result is a book I just did not like nor enjoy and I felt like I was slogging through it rather than appreciating the journey.
I can't fully put my finger on why I feel this way, but something about this story didn't really sit right with me. Set during WWII in the woods of the Soviet Union, the novel focuses on four young people brought together by a group of crows who protect them (and only them) from the horrors of war, genocide, and the worst aspects of human behavior. Why them? Only the crows know, and we never actually find out.
The novel shifts perspectives and voices (none of which are really all that distinct from one another) and timelines, causing the readers to always have to reorient themselves, all the while the language, texts within the text, and digressions or memories cause for a dizzying reading experience that seems more for the benefit and amusement of the author than for a satisfying experience for the audience. I also found that the book read like YA, which for me is not a good thing. It's possible to write a novel about young people but for adult audiences, but this is not a positive example of that.
The final result is a book I just did not like nor enjoy and I felt like I was slogging through it rather than appreciating the journey.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I loved this heartbreakingly beautiful story of survival and found family. Palaces of the Crow follows three teens and a younger child as they try, aided by a flock of crows, to hide in a Lithuanian forest during the Second World War. The main characters were under threat from not only the Russians and the Germans, but also from their own countrymen. I have read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but the Lithuanian setting was new to me, and I found it fascinating.
It reads as historical fiction with a touch of the fantastic, and has a nonlinear structure with a third person narrative that follows multiple characters. The writing was captivating and atmospheric, with gorgeous prose that immersed me in a haunting world of ethereal forests and preternaturally intelligent crows. It wove a poignant story of wartime devastation and human resilience.
I experienced this as an audiobook, and it was well produced with excellent narration. I did find myself wishing I’d had the text as well, so I could follow the shifting viewpoints more easily and dig a little deeper into the wonderful writing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.
It reads as historical fiction with a touch of the fantastic, and has a nonlinear structure with a third person narrative that follows multiple characters. The writing was captivating and atmospheric, with gorgeous prose that immersed me in a haunting world of ethereal forests and preternaturally intelligent crows. It wove a poignant story of wartime devastation and human resilience.
I experienced this as an audiobook, and it was well produced with excellent narration. I did find myself wishing I’d had the text as well, so I could follow the shifting viewpoints more easily and dig a little deeper into the wonderful writing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A story about four children, all from persecuted groups, in the east during WWII isn't the easiest to read. But add in a flow of hyperintelligent crows, and you got just the right amount of speculative to pull me in.
The book didn't really follow a real structured plot. We follow Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and the quiet boy they pick up, through their personal tragedies and how they find together and survive deep in a forest with the help of a flock of crows.
We also eventually start switching into their future, and how they ended up.
I had a good time while reading and was never bored, but I couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. It was tragic hearing about their personal stories, and it was curious to see how and where they ended up after being separated. There was one big question that came to a satisfying conclusion.
Overall I wanted a but more from the crows. They are everpresent and have a huge impact, but they are never truly central.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
The book didn't really follow a real structured plot. We follow Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and the quiet boy they pick up, through their personal tragedies and how they find together and survive deep in a forest with the help of a flock of crows.
We also eventually start switching into their future, and how they ended up.
I had a good time while reading and was never bored, but I couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. It was tragic hearing about their personal stories, and it was curious to see how and where they ended up after being separated. There was one big question that came to a satisfying conclusion.
Overall I wanted a but more from the crows. They are everpresent and have a huge impact, but they are never truly central.
I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley, Macmillian Audio & Ray Nayler for this e-arc!
This book was painful but with a beautiful narrative structure. You are given pieces of the past & the future that only gradually shape.
You see how monsters are made—the downfall of a monster. No one remains powerful forever and what happens then?
I had to turn the audiobook off at one point because I was crying and I cannot be crying and driving.
I have so many quotes that I’m going to be adding after publication.
I think that in this particular political climate, books like this are especially important.
They are fictional, but the experiences were grounded in a horrific reality: lost children, destroyed families. It was a systematic destruction where so much was lost to war.
Also, while preparing to post this, I ended up skimming through Naylor’s GoodReads history where I saw books he had rated from 2025: “Gifts of The Crow” (John Marzluff) & “Centuries Will Not Suffice” (Print Buttar)
2025—I wonder what came first, had he read the books to research? Or had the idea came from them?
This book was painful but with a beautiful narrative structure. You are given pieces of the past & the future that only gradually shape.
You see how monsters are made—the downfall of a monster. No one remains powerful forever and what happens then?
I had to turn the audiobook off at one point because I was crying and I cannot be crying and driving.
I have so many quotes that I’m going to be adding after publication.
I think that in this particular political climate, books like this are especially important.
They are fictional, but the experiences were grounded in a horrific reality: lost children, destroyed families. It was a systematic destruction where so much was lost to war.
Also, while preparing to post this, I ended up skimming through Naylor’s GoodReads history where I saw books he had rated from 2025: “Gifts of The Crow” (John Marzluff) & “Centuries Will Not Suffice” (Print Buttar)
2025—I wonder what came first, had he read the books to research? Or had the idea came from them?
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review:
Spice: 0/5
Rating: 3/5
This was hard to rate for me. Nayler's writing is beautiful, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I am used to more science fictiony writing from him, but this one felt more like a very quiet and sad WWII story. Yes, the crows were hyper intelligent and protected the children...but the "secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined"? I don't know...it wasn't really there for me. I loved the characters, but I don't love traditional WWII stories, so this one didn't hit for me. I don't mind reading stories from this era if there is some sort of weird magic or science fiction that makes the story more than a war story, but I just didn't feel like this one had that. It was a war story. It was terribly sad. It was everything you expect from a book set in WWII, so if you like those types of stories, then you might like this one.
Spice: 0/5
Rating: 3/5
This was hard to rate for me. Nayler's writing is beautiful, but it wasn't what I was hoping for. I am used to more science fictiony writing from him, but this one felt more like a very quiet and sad WWII story. Yes, the crows were hyper intelligent and protected the children...but the "secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined"? I don't know...it wasn't really there for me. I loved the characters, but I don't love traditional WWII stories, so this one didn't hit for me. I don't mind reading stories from this era if there is some sort of weird magic or science fiction that makes the story more than a war story, but I just didn't feel like this one had that. It was a war story. It was terribly sad. It was everything you expect from a book set in WWII, so if you like those types of stories, then you might like this one.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you NetGalley for this pre-publication copy of Palaces of the Crow, Ray Nayler's newest book. In this novel the author delves into historical fiction with a speculative fiction twist as he explores the experiences of four young people as they are swept up into the tumult of WWII in Lithuania.
Nayler writes well in this novel, building the characters and the environment as the four struggle to survive the winter and avoidthe multiple competing warring forces, any of whom would kill them without hesitation.
For me there was nothing wrong with this book, the characters were interesting and the story engaging. However, the book as historical fiction didn't overly interest me personally and I couldn't sustain my interest. I've loved Nayler's other books and was excited to read this but this novel slid into my DNF pile.
Nayler writes well in this novel, building the characters and the environment as the four struggle to survive the winter and avoidthe multiple competing warring forces, any of whom would kill them without hesitation.
For me there was nothing wrong with this book, the characters were interesting and the story engaging. However, the book as historical fiction didn't overly interest me personally and I couldn't sustain my interest. I've loved Nayler's other books and was excited to read this but this novel slid into my DNF pile.
Review of advance copy received from Author
To say I love this book with all my heart is an understatement. A very Jewish tale of WW II, but four young teens caught between German invaders, and the violent resistance of the Partisan Red Army survive with the help of a flock Crows, who they befriend name and learn to co-exist with.
As someone who watches the nightly eastern flight of Crows here in San Diego, I didn't have to be sold. Nayler's debut novel Mountain in the Sea is a masterpiece that is impart about communication with natural world, this one is not SF and that makes the magic trick of it that much more impressive. Pre-order it, and read as soon as you can. A more detailed review and a podcast interview coming up.
Also will be interviewing Ray for
https://www.philipkdickfest.com/telethon
So yeah...
As someone who watches the nightly eastern flight of Crows here in San Diego, I didn't have to be sold. Nayler's debut novel Mountain in the Sea is a masterpiece that is impart about communication with natural world, this one is not SF and that makes the magic trick of it that much more impressive. Pre-order it, and read as soon as you can. A more detailed review and a podcast interview coming up.
Also will be interviewing Ray for
https://www.philipkdickfest.com/telethon
So yeah...
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
*Advance copy provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.*
Ray Nayler is a must-read author for me by now. His novels are always so surprising, inventing and smart. I don't usually enjoy historical fiction (especially not set during WWII) so I was expecting this to be my first Nayler disappointment, but of course not. He always delivers!
This is speculative historical fiction, and less sci-fi than his previous novels. It's tragic and beautiful and so interesting. WWII was fought all over the world, and so many people suffered, but there are some people and areas that we don't really hear about in school or media. This is one such story and I learned a lot.
Also, crows are so cool!
Ray Nayler is a must-read author for me by now. His novels are always so surprising, inventing and smart. I don't usually enjoy historical fiction (especially not set during WWII) so I was expecting this to be my first Nayler disappointment, but of course not. He always delivers!
This is speculative historical fiction, and less sci-fi than his previous novels. It's tragic and beautiful and so interesting. WWII was fought all over the world, and so many people suffered, but there are some people and areas that we don't really hear about in school or media. This is one such story and I learned a lot.
Also, crows are so cool!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Palaces of the Crow is a speculative novel following a rag-tag band of four young people escaping soldiers, police, deserters and other dangers of the forest
Set in the Lithuanian woods, Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and Innokentiy navigate between the Red Army and Nazi soldiers with the help of a flock of magical crows.
A little outside of my normal reading repertoire, I did enjoy listening to this book, but I’m not sure I’d reread it. I would recommend it to speculative fiction and history nerds for whom I think it would be a great fit.
I thought the narration by Eunice Wong was great for this audiobook!
Palaces of the Crow is a speculative novel following a rag-tag band of four young people escaping soldiers, police, deserters and other dangers of the forest
Set in the Lithuanian woods, Neriya, Czeslaw, Kezia, and Innokentiy navigate between the Red Army and Nazi soldiers with the help of a flock of magical crows.
A little outside of my normal reading repertoire, I did enjoy listening to this book, but I’m not sure I’d reread it. I would recommend it to speculative fiction and history nerds for whom I think it would be a great fit.
I thought the narration by Eunice Wong was great for this audiobook!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Ray Nayler reaches new levels of complexity, subtlety, and artfulness with Palaces of the Crow, a historical adventure with light speculative / supernatural elements. He beautifully captures the tragedy of young people suffering an apocalypse they did not create (Europe in World War II), and the wonder of people's ability to survive and connect in such brutal circumstances. This is in many ways a classic anti-war novel, but surprisingly combined with a keen interest in nature and animals (some very special animals in particular!) Immersive, gripping, mysterious, hard-hitting, and full of humanity; a truly fantastic read. 9/10
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