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Palaces of the Crow
From the Locus and Hugo Award-winning author, this haunting novel blends history and speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.
June, 1941. Four young teens are caught between the Nazis and the Red Army.
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 has deserted the Red Army. Kezia is a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivisation. As the German blitzkrieg crashes across the border, all three are caught up in the onslaught. Along with Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, they are driven into the primeval Lithuanian forest.
As the war rages, the threats of the forest emerge - not only the Germans but also Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, bandits and outcasts twisted by war. Survival will require forming an unbreakable bond with one another - and also with Neriya's crows, no ordinary corvids, who guard a secret of their own deep in the trees.
June, 1941. Four young teens are caught between the Nazis and the Red Army.
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 has deserted the Red Army. Kezia is a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivisation. As the German blitzkrieg crashes across the border, all three are caught up in the onslaught. Along with Innokentiy, an abandoned boy who cannot speak, they are driven into the primeval Lithuanian forest.
As the war rages, the threats of the forest emerge - not only the Germans but also Russian deserters, Polish partisans, fascist Lithuanian police, bandits and outcasts twisted by war. Survival will require forming an unbreakable bond with one another - and also with Neriya's crows, no ordinary corvids, who guard a secret of their own deep in the trees.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2026
About the author
Ray Nayler
86 books1,216 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 178 reviews
June 2, 2026
Still a man, but last night I dreamed I was a scrap of the night sky, flying above the trees, and below me was a map of the world no human eyes had ever seen. pg. 227
In June of 1941, Neriya follows a crow into the Lithuanian forest. She’s played with the crow, which she’s named Buster Keaton, since she was seven years old. Over the years, Buster has mastered the games Neriya devises, making her think him the most intelligent of the numerous hooded crows inhabiting the forest. Neriya spends summers in the shtetl, “little town” (predominantly Jewish), and the remainder of the year, she lives with her parents in Vilnius. Her father is a doctor, and her mother is his assistant. Today is Sunday, and while her parents are sleeping, Neriya follows Buster. When the sounds of booming warfare come from close by, Buster flies in Keriya’s face to prevent her from leaving the forest.
Czeslaw alters his birth certificate to show that he’s four years older than his actual fourteen, so that he can join the Soviet army. His Polish family has lived in exile in Siberia, where Czeslaw’s father and grandfather taught him how to survive and hunt in the Taiga. When men came into the logging camp and took his father and grandfather away, that is when Czeslaw joined the army. His skill with guns impressed the recruiters enough to ignore his youth.
When Kezia, along with her Roma family, awakens one morning to six Germans surrounding them with rifles. For a while, Kezia lives on honey that she steals from bee hives. After some time, she discovers an abandoned boy wandering the streets of a village. The boy is mute; he latches onto Kezia.
The four young people find their way to one another and form their own kind of family. Among them is one photograph of Neriya with her mother and father. They display it in their underground hut, and it becomes a symbol of family and connection for all of them.
This is the second book I’ve read by Ray Nayler. The first one was The Mountain in the Sea. In both books, animals figure in extraordinary ways. Crows in this one and octopuses in ‘The Mountain in the Sea.’ Crows are depicted here as empathetic, intelligent, and community-minded helpers. They are depicted as working collaboratively when most of the humans around them are hell-bent on destroying one another. It’s a jarring juxtaposition.
The people in Lithuania were caught between the pincher arms of two totalitarian regimes. In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the country, and then in 1941, Nazi Germany invaded. In 1944-1945, the Soviet Union again occupied the country. It’s difficult to imagine how horrible the conditions must have been, or what the people had to do to survive during this time. Nayler places the four young people in this story in the forests near Vilnius where 70,000 Jews and 30,000 others were murdered between June and December 1941, their corpses buried in mass graves, when there was a burial at all.
In this story, there are two main timelines: the 1940s and the 1970s. In the 1970s, we discover who of the four survives and the cost to them. It’s a heartbreaking and necessary story. Necessary because more than ever, we need stories about diversity and how narrow our lives become when leaders work to eradicate it. Ethnic nationalism, no matter the brand, seems to promote one way of living, one way of thinking, one race above all others. This story becomes even more poignant when the crows attain a rich connection with these young humans, showing how collaboration enhances not just survival, but daily life and can add humor and empathy to an existence that is flat and eroded without it.
The last section of the book is called Mutual Aid. The thinking behind the concept comes from Pyotr Kropotkin, a Russian philosopher, who says:
The war of each against all is not the law of nature. Mutual aid is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle.
Nayler places his story of collaboration in an environment that is dominated by fear and war, an environment that made it extremely difficult for trust to exist, much less thrive. Is it only our young that can carry this message of hope for humanity? I believe the young need a little help.
In June of 1941, Neriya follows a crow into the Lithuanian forest. She’s played with the crow, which she’s named Buster Keaton, since she was seven years old. Over the years, Buster has mastered the games Neriya devises, making her think him the most intelligent of the numerous hooded crows inhabiting the forest. Neriya spends summers in the shtetl, “little town” (predominantly Jewish), and the remainder of the year, she lives with her parents in Vilnius. Her father is a doctor, and her mother is his assistant. Today is Sunday, and while her parents are sleeping, Neriya follows Buster. When the sounds of booming warfare come from close by, Buster flies in Keriya’s face to prevent her from leaving the forest.
Czeslaw alters his birth certificate to show that he’s four years older than his actual fourteen, so that he can join the Soviet army. His Polish family has lived in exile in Siberia, where Czeslaw’s father and grandfather taught him how to survive and hunt in the Taiga. When men came into the logging camp and took his father and grandfather away, that is when Czeslaw joined the army. His skill with guns impressed the recruiters enough to ignore his youth.
When Kezia, along with her Roma family, awakens one morning to six Germans surrounding them with rifles. For a while, Kezia lives on honey that she steals from bee hives. After some time, she discovers an abandoned boy wandering the streets of a village. The boy is mute; he latches onto Kezia.
The four young people find their way to one another and form their own kind of family. Among them is one photograph of Neriya with her mother and father. They display it in their underground hut, and it becomes a symbol of family and connection for all of them.
This is the second book I’ve read by Ray Nayler. The first one was The Mountain in the Sea. In both books, animals figure in extraordinary ways. Crows in this one and octopuses in ‘The Mountain in the Sea.’ Crows are depicted here as empathetic, intelligent, and community-minded helpers. They are depicted as working collaboratively when most of the humans around them are hell-bent on destroying one another. It’s a jarring juxtaposition.
The people in Lithuania were caught between the pincher arms of two totalitarian regimes. In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the country, and then in 1941, Nazi Germany invaded. In 1944-1945, the Soviet Union again occupied the country. It’s difficult to imagine how horrible the conditions must have been, or what the people had to do to survive during this time. Nayler places the four young people in this story in the forests near Vilnius where 70,000 Jews and 30,000 others were murdered between June and December 1941, their corpses buried in mass graves, when there was a burial at all.
In this story, there are two main timelines: the 1940s and the 1970s. In the 1970s, we discover who of the four survives and the cost to them. It’s a heartbreaking and necessary story. Necessary because more than ever, we need stories about diversity and how narrow our lives become when leaders work to eradicate it. Ethnic nationalism, no matter the brand, seems to promote one way of living, one way of thinking, one race above all others. This story becomes even more poignant when the crows attain a rich connection with these young humans, showing how collaboration enhances not just survival, but daily life and can add humor and empathy to an existence that is flat and eroded without it.
The last section of the book is called Mutual Aid. The thinking behind the concept comes from Pyotr Kropotkin, a Russian philosopher, who says:
The war of each against all is not the law of nature. Mutual aid is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle.
Nayler places his story of collaboration in an environment that is dominated by fear and war, an environment that made it extremely difficult for trust to exist, much less thrive. Is it only our young that can carry this message of hope for humanity? I believe the young need a little help.
May 23, 2026
Goodness. Well, this was phenomenal. It feels like I've read a number of outstanding books grappling with war and humanity recently, but it turns out they haven't really been all that recent: The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed was March of 2024 and I read the stunning The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden at the end of 2023. They both just stand out in my mind so starkly that it feels like I must have read them more recently. (There's also little specific overlap, beyond the fact that war novels done well can be very powerful indeed, and when done poorly, for cheap emotional punches, I'm all the more disappointed in them for failing to live up to the heft of their subject matter.)
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is set in WWI, Siege of Burning Grass takes place in a completely fictional war and world, and Palaces of the Crow takes place in WWII. I went into this book totally blind, having loved some short stories by Ray Nayler and willing to just trust him to take me somewhere interesting. (And how!) I'll get into some detail, keeping spoiler-free, but for what it's worth, I think my experience of the book was better for not having read any reviews or even the book's blurb before diving in. If you'd like to do that too, I'd recommend stopping here.
If you aren't up for that, then here goes: in the book you meet 4 kids who find each other and try to survive and keep from starving to death before the nebulous, undetermined "when all this is over" comes to pass. You and I, being from the future, know roughly when and how WWII wound down, but none of our protagonists do. They only know that the world has gone absolutely insane, that no institutions or people can be relied upon, and they have no idea when that will change. There is a shattered landscape of shattered people who, even if they had their selfhood still intact, wouldn't be able to muster much in the way of sympathy for anyone who has lost everything, because everyone as far as the eye can see has lost everything and is carrying unspeakable personal grief and burdens. Often guilt, too.
Our protagonists are 14 and under, though this is absolutely not a YA book.
Czeslaw is Polish, his family forced into labor in Siberian forests, and he lied about his age to join the Red Army. He's the only surviving member of his unit. Neriya loves biology and her parents are doctors (her father is a doctor, her mother is effectively a doctor in all but title)--her family is Jewish and she's befriended some crows who live near the shtetl her family spends summers in, and they seem just... a few degrees different? from other crows. Some similar behavior types to those we associate with corvids--recognizing and remembering individual humans, offering gifts, a talent for puzzle-solving and games--but just a bit uncanny, a bit turned up to 11. Kezia is Romani and being followed by an abandoned unnamed little boy who doesn't speak. All have already suffered terrible, senseless losses by the time they find each other.
For those for whom this matters, this book struck me as less fantasy than as magical realism. There are fantastical elements, but they just *are*--and they're eclipsed by the realities of the war. If you desperately want to know why these crows are different or what their story is, well. You will get to learn a little more about who they are now, but not how they got this way. Acceptance of the other as an other on their own terms, rather than as a fulfillment of our expectations or projections, is a theme here. So is the importance of memory and stories to honoring those we lose. So is kindness as a self-perpetuating cultural meme that can echo down through years and generations.
Even when Nayler didn't do things with this story and these characters that I wanted him to do: have characters we care about emerge from the war, or emerge unscathed, or become adults that we the readers could have uncomplicated feelings about, it was still always the right thing to do for the story.
Throughout Palaces of the Crow, there are references to and excerpts from a work called Autobiography of a Burned Village. I am a sucker for references in fiction to fictional works (even if they are thinly-veiled allusions to, or fictional analogs of, a real work); it's up there with footnotes as just a personal dopamine done-deal. So, needless to say, I loved them. These excerpts were, without exception, poignant and evocative.
I received an ARC of Macmillan Audio's audiobook edition of this book, narrated by Eunice Wong. Gosh, does a talented actor / narrator make all difference in the reader's experience of an audiobook. And she is MARVELOUS. Her tone, her inflection, the cadence of her speech*--all pitch-perfect. I always knew who was speaking based on how individual the characters' speech patterns sounded. She brought the perfect tone and speed to every scene.
I love this book. Love it. I will be getting a deadtree copy for my shelves. (I keep thinking that reviewing advance copies of books will let me buy fewer of them, but that's not how it turns out.) Palaces of the Crow is heavy, and it should be. There's no other way to write about war unless you're making propaganda. But it has hope and human (and inter-species!) connection in it too, and I loved the elements that felt like mythic fiction--all of that served to keep it in the realm of "heavy" rather than crossing into "bleak."
If you're thinking you don't have much stomach for heavy anything these days, so did I. This is complicated but it's also beautiful and so sublime, trust me. It's worth it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy--my opinions are my own.
*Not to mention her pronunciation of a number of words in several different languages--just nailed it. Spot on.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is set in WWI, Siege of Burning Grass takes place in a completely fictional war and world, and Palaces of the Crow takes place in WWII. I went into this book totally blind, having loved some short stories by Ray Nayler and willing to just trust him to take me somewhere interesting. (And how!) I'll get into some detail, keeping spoiler-free, but for what it's worth, I think my experience of the book was better for not having read any reviews or even the book's blurb before diving in. If you'd like to do that too, I'd recommend stopping here.
If you aren't up for that, then here goes: in the book you meet 4 kids who find each other and try to survive and keep from starving to death before the nebulous, undetermined "when all this is over" comes to pass. You and I, being from the future, know roughly when and how WWII wound down, but none of our protagonists do. They only know that the world has gone absolutely insane, that no institutions or people can be relied upon, and they have no idea when that will change. There is a shattered landscape of shattered people who, even if they had their selfhood still intact, wouldn't be able to muster much in the way of sympathy for anyone who has lost everything, because everyone as far as the eye can see has lost everything and is carrying unspeakable personal grief and burdens. Often guilt, too.
Our protagonists are 14 and under, though this is absolutely not a YA book.
Czeslaw is Polish, his family forced into labor in Siberian forests, and he lied about his age to join the Red Army. He's the only surviving member of his unit. Neriya loves biology and her parents are doctors (her father is a doctor, her mother is effectively a doctor in all but title)--her family is Jewish and she's befriended some crows who live near the shtetl her family spends summers in, and they seem just... a few degrees different? from other crows. Some similar behavior types to those we associate with corvids--recognizing and remembering individual humans, offering gifts, a talent for puzzle-solving and games--but just a bit uncanny, a bit turned up to 11. Kezia is Romani and being followed by an abandoned unnamed little boy who doesn't speak. All have already suffered terrible, senseless losses by the time they find each other.
For those for whom this matters, this book struck me as less fantasy than as magical realism. There are fantastical elements, but they just *are*--and they're eclipsed by the realities of the war. If you desperately want to know why these crows are different or what their story is, well. You will get to learn a little more about who they are now, but not how they got this way. Acceptance of the other as an other on their own terms, rather than as a fulfillment of our expectations or projections, is a theme here. So is the importance of memory and stories to honoring those we lose. So is kindness as a self-perpetuating cultural meme that can echo down through years and generations.
Even when Nayler didn't do things with this story and these characters that I wanted him to do: have characters we care about emerge from the war, or emerge unscathed, or become adults that we the readers could have uncomplicated feelings about, it was still always the right thing to do for the story.
Throughout Palaces of the Crow, there are references to and excerpts from a work called Autobiography of a Burned Village. I am a sucker for references in fiction to fictional works (even if they are thinly-veiled allusions to, or fictional analogs of, a real work); it's up there with footnotes as just a personal dopamine done-deal. So, needless to say, I loved them. These excerpts were, without exception, poignant and evocative.
I received an ARC of Macmillan Audio's audiobook edition of this book, narrated by Eunice Wong. Gosh, does a talented actor / narrator make all difference in the reader's experience of an audiobook. And she is MARVELOUS. Her tone, her inflection, the cadence of her speech*--all pitch-perfect. I always knew who was speaking based on how individual the characters' speech patterns sounded. She brought the perfect tone and speed to every scene.
I love this book. Love it. I will be getting a deadtree copy for my shelves. (I keep thinking that reviewing advance copies of books will let me buy fewer of them, but that's not how it turns out.) Palaces of the Crow is heavy, and it should be. There's no other way to write about war unless you're making propaganda. But it has hope and human (and inter-species!) connection in it too, and I loved the elements that felt like mythic fiction--all of that served to keep it in the realm of "heavy" rather than crossing into "bleak."
If you're thinking you don't have much stomach for heavy anything these days, so did I. This is complicated but it's also beautiful and so sublime, trust me. It's worth it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy--my opinions are my own.
*Not to mention her pronunciation of a number of words in several different languages--just nailed it. Spot on.
May 23, 2026
Ray Nayler just keeps getting better.
Set in the early days of the Nazi invasion of Russia, the action occurs in the Soviet satellite state of Lithuania. Four children (mostly teen, one younger) are scattered by the war and end up hiding together in a forest, where they are befriended and protected by crows.
That sounds like a simple premise. It's not. The way the crows are introduced makes it plausible that something like this would happen; this could barely be considered a fantasy, it really doesn't read like one, but more like historical fiction. Each of the characters are unique and well developed: Czeslaw the teen soldier who lost his Russian unit; Neriya the Jewish girl whose entire village was destroyed while she was in the woods; Kezia the Roma girl who saw her family shot; and The Boy, mute and the only living person in a village the others come upon.
Is it possible for children to survive for years in the forest while hiding from soldiers and partisan patrols? Czeslaw has a rifle so he can hunt, and they teach each other all that they can to survive. Meanwhile, the crows provide lookout and warning to keep them safe.
Nayler uses his foreign service experience and knowledge of the complexity of warfare to show why the children feared all groups, not just Nazis. Different groups would shoot at each other regardless of affiliation, all just looking to survive and gain an advantage (even just a pair of good boots).
There are some very hard parts of this book, but it is ultimately a hopeful one due to the sense that people will come together in difficult times, and the lessons taught to one another will help us all survive. There is not a happy ending for everyone, but the ending feels earned. Well done.
Set in the early days of the Nazi invasion of Russia, the action occurs in the Soviet satellite state of Lithuania. Four children (mostly teen, one younger) are scattered by the war and end up hiding together in a forest, where they are befriended and protected by crows.
That sounds like a simple premise. It's not. The way the crows are introduced makes it plausible that something like this would happen; this could barely be considered a fantasy, it really doesn't read like one, but more like historical fiction. Each of the characters are unique and well developed: Czeslaw the teen soldier who lost his Russian unit; Neriya the Jewish girl whose entire village was destroyed while she was in the woods; Kezia the Roma girl who saw her family shot; and The Boy, mute and the only living person in a village the others come upon.
Is it possible for children to survive for years in the forest while hiding from soldiers and partisan patrols? Czeslaw has a rifle so he can hunt, and they teach each other all that they can to survive. Meanwhile, the crows provide lookout and warning to keep them safe.
Nayler uses his foreign service experience and knowledge of the complexity of warfare to show why the children feared all groups, not just Nazis. Different groups would shoot at each other regardless of affiliation, all just looking to survive and gain an advantage (even just a pair of good boots).
There are some very hard parts of this book, but it is ultimately a hopeful one due to the sense that people will come together in difficult times, and the lessons taught to one another will help us all survive. There is not a happy ending for everyone, but the ending feels earned. Well done.
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.
June 10, 2026
The author writes wonderful prose- not always happy, but always driving home imagery, emotion, and human nature.
I was shocked and horrified at times, and appreciated that the story takes on difficult settings and topics.
I think I was expecting more of a supernatural story, and was a bit disappointed that the synopsis painted a bit of a different picture than the reality. I’ve seen other reviewers state it’s more magical realism, and I guess I agree with that description.
Both books I’ve read by Nayler focus on the dynamics between humans and animals. Really love the interactions between species detailed on the pages.
I did struggle with the audiobook aspect- the different timelines and POVs were confusing to follow.
Thank you to the author, narrator, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for a copy!
I was shocked and horrified at times, and appreciated that the story takes on difficult settings and topics.
I think I was expecting more of a supernatural story, and was a bit disappointed that the synopsis painted a bit of a different picture than the reality. I’ve seen other reviewers state it’s more magical realism, and I guess I agree with that description.
Both books I’ve read by Nayler focus on the dynamics between humans and animals. Really love the interactions between species detailed on the pages.
I did struggle with the audiobook aspect- the different timelines and POVs were confusing to follow.
Thank you to the author, narrator, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for a copy!
June 7, 2026
4.5/5 ⭐
Palaces of the Crow isn't my typical book, but I absolutely loved it. The storytelling and writing are exceptional. Nayler has written young teen protagonists in a way that is convincing and compelling, placing them in a truly horrific setting of WWII Lithuania. The bonds built among the children, their time in the forest, and their relationship with the crows made this book unique and beautiful.
Ultimately, a story of hope and the bonds of friendship and found family during unimaginable circumstances.
Palaces of the Crow isn't my typical book, but I absolutely loved it. The storytelling and writing are exceptional. Nayler has written young teen protagonists in a way that is convincing and compelling, placing them in a truly horrific setting of WWII Lithuania. The bonds built among the children, their time in the forest, and their relationship with the crows made this book unique and beautiful.
Ultimately, a story of hope and the bonds of friendship and found family during unimaginable circumstances.
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 ~
Want to Read
May 23, 2026WSJ review, by Sam Sacks: https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/book...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt:
“It is a war of everyone against everyone,” Mr. Nayler writes. “But especially of the strong against the weak.” Yet the crows offer a saving contrast to the Darwinian competition. At one point Neriya and her companions are ushered into the sanctum sanctorum of a corvid roost, where thousands if not millions of crows coexist in sophisticated collaboration. For carrion birds, war is a time of plenty, and Neriya senses that her adoption by the crows is a sort of refinement indulged in a thriving colony. She feels cared for in the way that people care for pets."
Nayler has become one of my favorite writers. This one is a venture into the uncanny valley: "The novel presents an extraordinary alien intelligence that happens to make its home here on Earth."
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers)
Excerpt:
“It is a war of everyone against everyone,” Mr. Nayler writes. “But especially of the strong against the weak.” Yet the crows offer a saving contrast to the Darwinian competition. At one point Neriya and her companions are ushered into the sanctum sanctorum of a corvid roost, where thousands if not millions of crows coexist in sophisticated collaboration. For carrion birds, war is a time of plenty, and Neriya senses that her adoption by the crows is a sort of refinement indulged in a thriving colony. She feels cared for in the way that people care for pets."
Nayler has become one of my favorite writers. This one is a venture into the uncanny valley: "The novel presents an extraordinary alien intelligence that happens to make its home here on Earth."
May 20, 2026
I’ve been a Nayler fan for a few years now, but this might be my new favorite. It hits many of the themes that he has returned to frequently, and the style of prose and characterization is familiar. But the historical setting marks a sharp departure from his previous two novels, and it makes for a story that feels more cohesive. There’s no musing on AI here, nor ways that society could unravel in the near future. Instead, it’s rooted in a particular time and place, one in which society has already pretty thoroughly unraveled, and is centered on three youths trying to keep both their bodies and their psyches intact in a world where anyone who finds them will more-than-likely want to kill them.
It’s still a speculative novel, and you could convincingly argue it as first contact in a similar vein to The Mountain in the Sea—though with corvids rather than cephalopods. But it feels like a historical novel *before* it is a speculative novel, and it’s tighter both in the cast and thematic focus.
The crows are great. But this is a novel about people: a pair of teenage girls, one Jewish and one Roma, and a Polish soldier cut off from the Red Army and likely to be shot as a deserter before he’d be welcomed back. There’s a lot of musing on how society has cut them off and created such horrifying conditions, tucked into bits of conversation and character backstory. But there’s just as much on the reasons to press forward and on the value of leaning on one another. The social commentary is on-point, but it’s so folded into the character struggles that it never feels preachy.
It’s hard to call this an uplifting book, as it is, after all, taking place amidst the Holocaust. Perhaps the best that can be done is bittersweet. But it does achieve bittersweetness. There are moments of heartbreak, but there are also things that are truly preserved. It doesn’t shy away from the horrors, but neither does it revel in them—it’s a book that’s always pushing beyond. Not towards a naive ideal future. But toward a future that the readers know as a past, that the readers know is deeply flawed, but in which they still find reasons to live.
I adored this book.
First impression: 19/20. Full review to come at www.tarvolon.com
It’s still a speculative novel, and you could convincingly argue it as first contact in a similar vein to The Mountain in the Sea—though with corvids rather than cephalopods. But it feels like a historical novel *before* it is a speculative novel, and it’s tighter both in the cast and thematic focus.
The crows are great. But this is a novel about people: a pair of teenage girls, one Jewish and one Roma, and a Polish soldier cut off from the Red Army and likely to be shot as a deserter before he’d be welcomed back. There’s a lot of musing on how society has cut them off and created such horrifying conditions, tucked into bits of conversation and character backstory. But there’s just as much on the reasons to press forward and on the value of leaning on one another. The social commentary is on-point, but it’s so folded into the character struggles that it never feels preachy.
It’s hard to call this an uplifting book, as it is, after all, taking place amidst the Holocaust. Perhaps the best that can be done is bittersweet. But it does achieve bittersweetness. There are moments of heartbreak, but there are also things that are truly preserved. It doesn’t shy away from the horrors, but neither does it revel in them—it’s a book that’s always pushing beyond. Not towards a naive ideal future. But toward a future that the readers know as a past, that the readers know is deeply flawed, but in which they still find reasons to live.
I adored this book.
First impression: 19/20. Full review to come at www.tarvolon.com
June 24, 2026
I am a huge fan of Naylor’s previous work, especially The Mountain In The Sea (2022), a meditation on the nature of consciousness, and an eco-logical call to arms, so I had been looking forward to the release of this new novel.
The Palace of The Crows has a similar message to previous books. It tells a story about the relationship formed between four young children and crows, as they fight for survival in Lithuania during WWII. Separated from their families at various locations they find each other with the help of the crows. After years of survival they are separated and eventually reunited. It is obvious a tremendous amount of research was done on the behavior of crows and also on the area where the story takes place.
It is a story of the nature of crows, the brutality of war, the meaning of reciprocity and the nature of gifts. The heart of the story is about our relationships with, and responsibilities to the animals who we live with and the damage we cause to their natural habitat.
I loved how the story was told from the different children’s perspective in a nonlinear fashion, pre and post WWII. I fell in love with the characters, the pacing was slow and steady leading to a heartfelt ending. 5/5 stars. I can’t wait for his next novel.
The Palace of The Crows has a similar message to previous books. It tells a story about the relationship formed between four young children and crows, as they fight for survival in Lithuania during WWII. Separated from their families at various locations they find each other with the help of the crows. After years of survival they are separated and eventually reunited. It is obvious a tremendous amount of research was done on the behavior of crows and also on the area where the story takes place.
It is a story of the nature of crows, the brutality of war, the meaning of reciprocity and the nature of gifts. The heart of the story is about our relationships with, and responsibilities to the animals who we live with and the damage we cause to their natural habitat.
I loved how the story was told from the different children’s perspective in a nonlinear fashion, pre and post WWII. I fell in love with the characters, the pacing was slow and steady leading to a heartfelt ending. 5/5 stars. I can’t wait for his next novel.
June 2, 2026
One of my anticipated new releases for this year. In Palaces of the Crow, four young people shelter deep in the Lithuanian forest during the worst of World War II. As war rages around them, they must depend on their own wilderness skills and the help of the curiously intelligent crows that live in the forest to survive.
Nayler has done the octopus book and the mammoth book to great effect, and in this novel, he moves on to the crow book. Unlike his previous novels, Palaces of the Crow has a solidly historical setting and doesn't venture far into the realm of the speculative, outside the slightly more intelligent crows. This book is also more interested in character interiority than Nayler's previous novels. Rather than broad concepts, it's focused tightly on four people's struggle to survive: Neriya, daughter of a Jewish doctor; Czeslaw, an underage soldier cut off from the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma girl who escaped the massacre of her family; and a young boy who can't speak. The setting is confined to one Lithuanian forest far from the broad historical sweep of death camps or armies. But the story is all the more vivid for the claustrophobia of the setting. All of our protagonists know that every faction that moves through the woods, from actual Nazis to the Red Army to Lithuanian peasants, would happily shoot them and leave them dead in an unmarked grave. And meanwhile, the harsh winters and increasingly scarce game can kill them just as easily...
A survival story of brutal clarity. I think the shift to more character focused historical fiction has served Nayler well. Here, the light SF elements serve to illustrate his thematic points about interconnectedness and survival, but do not become a major part of the plot. Recommended.
Nayler has done the octopus book and the mammoth book to great effect, and in this novel, he moves on to the crow book. Unlike his previous novels, Palaces of the Crow has a solidly historical setting and doesn't venture far into the realm of the speculative, outside the slightly more intelligent crows. This book is also more interested in character interiority than Nayler's previous novels. Rather than broad concepts, it's focused tightly on four people's struggle to survive: Neriya, daughter of a Jewish doctor; Czeslaw, an underage soldier cut off from the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma girl who escaped the massacre of her family; and a young boy who can't speak. The setting is confined to one Lithuanian forest far from the broad historical sweep of death camps or armies. But the story is all the more vivid for the claustrophobia of the setting. All of our protagonists know that every faction that moves through the woods, from actual Nazis to the Red Army to Lithuanian peasants, would happily shoot them and leave them dead in an unmarked grave. And meanwhile, the harsh winters and increasingly scarce game can kill them just as easily...
A survival story of brutal clarity. I think the shift to more character focused historical fiction has served Nayler well. Here, the light SF elements serve to illustrate his thematic points about interconnectedness and survival, but do not become a major part of the plot. Recommended.
June 7, 2026
Amazing in every way. One of if not my favorite read of the year so far.
May 29, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC.
This was a great book. The various characters and their stories, the ways in which they had to navigate their situations, their bond, all of that was incredibly well written and presented to the reader. I also appreciated that the author was staying honest about the horrors of war but not mindlessly using those atrocities to shock the readers, especially considering this is based on a real war and a real genocide.
At times I was a bit confused with the timelines, as it seems to jump back and forth a bit and I personally found that if I don't pay close attention, I'll just miss that this is something that happens and get confused. I'm also, still, a bit confused about Neriya and Kezia, and who was actually narrating some parts of the book. I'm not sure if I just missed it, or if it was implied but not made explicit, but that part confuses me a bit.
I like that the story doesn't have a traditional happy ending, too, as that feels more real and respectful. No one involved in WW2 in any way had a happy ending that wasn't at least bittersweet, and there were certainly lots of complicated, still unresolved choices made, so representing that in this novel was also an aspect I liked.
The writing was great, definitely fit the mood of the story, and the narrator did a great job at narrating this audiobook.
This was a great book. The various characters and their stories, the ways in which they had to navigate their situations, their bond, all of that was incredibly well written and presented to the reader. I also appreciated that the author was staying honest about the horrors of war but not mindlessly using those atrocities to shock the readers, especially considering this is based on a real war and a real genocide.
At times I was a bit confused with the timelines, as it seems to jump back and forth a bit and I personally found that if I don't pay close attention, I'll just miss that this is something that happens and get confused. I'm also, still, a bit confused about Neriya and Kezia, and who was actually narrating some parts of the book. I'm not sure if I just missed it, or if it was implied but not made explicit, but that part confuses me a bit.
I like that the story doesn't have a traditional happy ending, too, as that feels more real and respectful. No one involved in WW2 in any way had a happy ending that wasn't at least bittersweet, and there were certainly lots of complicated, still unresolved choices made, so representing that in this novel was also an aspect I liked.
The writing was great, definitely fit the mood of the story, and the narrator did a great job at narrating this audiobook.
June 11, 2026
4.75 Ah, the magnificent power of stories. This is a book about many things but for me it felt like an achingly beautiful love poem to the magic and power of storytelling.
OK, there is so much more to this book; it's about mutual aid, active curiosity, the value of the world, community, family, etc... there is so much to love about the quiet, lyrical power of this book. Despite the often dark settings and subject matter it is full of beautiful, simple and achingly true observations, many of which resonated deeply and will stay with me.
It's the sort of book that, when you complete it, you close it and you sigh deeply. You pause... you don't want to poison the environment and place it's brought you. You want to carry the perceptions and beliefs of the characters into your world. Yeah, is that kind of book.
You really should consider reading. Not only is it beautifully written but the story is ingenious. I wanted to read the book again once I reached the very satisfying ending. I'm certain I'll return to this again in the future. When I'm looking to be comforted and find solace and a silver lining in the grey skies and trouble on the streets of cities.
-----------
Recently I finished six months working on a humanitarian project and upon completion I realized that it was difficult to find a word to describe my relationship and feelings for the people I had been through it with - and then I read this and my confusion made sense.
"Friend. Family. Those are modern words made for a modern world. For civilization, which really meant a word carved out of nature like a little dollhouse. An artificial world, with the natural painted and papered away, where each person lived in their own decorated box of a room. Where distance from one another was possible and true relationships fell away."
Yeah, of course I felt the way I did. This book helped me appreciate and process my struggle to find words to describe our relationship.
There was this beautiful description as well:
"That she carried, like all children did, her parents around inside her. That sometimes her parents spoke through her, in the voice and with the understanding of adults."
And this, "And once she could read everything she wanted, everything there was to read, she would be able to understand how it fit together. How the whole world fit together."
Spoiler? Not really, but you may want you save this for after you have read. I'm just putting furn another quote that I adored.
"I don't think we live for other other people," Czeslaw said. "I think we live as other people. We really are the people we care about. The people who went before us. We carry on for the dead, we protect the living, and we wait for a better world." Pg 374
OK, there is so much more to this book; it's about mutual aid, active curiosity, the value of the world, community, family, etc... there is so much to love about the quiet, lyrical power of this book. Despite the often dark settings and subject matter it is full of beautiful, simple and achingly true observations, many of which resonated deeply and will stay with me.
It's the sort of book that, when you complete it, you close it and you sigh deeply. You pause... you don't want to poison the environment and place it's brought you. You want to carry the perceptions and beliefs of the characters into your world. Yeah, is that kind of book.
You really should consider reading. Not only is it beautifully written but the story is ingenious. I wanted to read the book again once I reached the very satisfying ending. I'm certain I'll return to this again in the future. When I'm looking to be comforted and find solace and a silver lining in the grey skies and trouble on the streets of cities.
-----------
Recently I finished six months working on a humanitarian project and upon completion I realized that it was difficult to find a word to describe my relationship and feelings for the people I had been through it with - and then I read this and my confusion made sense.
"Friend. Family. Those are modern words made for a modern world. For civilization, which really meant a word carved out of nature like a little dollhouse. An artificial world, with the natural painted and papered away, where each person lived in their own decorated box of a room. Where distance from one another was possible and true relationships fell away."
Yeah, of course I felt the way I did. This book helped me appreciate and process my struggle to find words to describe our relationship.
There was this beautiful description as well:
"That she carried, like all children did, her parents around inside her. That sometimes her parents spoke through her, in the voice and with the understanding of adults."
And this, "And once she could read everything she wanted, everything there was to read, she would be able to understand how it fit together. How the whole world fit together."
Spoiler? Not really, but you may want you save this for after you have read. I'm just putting furn another quote that I adored.
"I don't think we live for other other people," Czeslaw said. "I think we live as other people. We really are the people we care about. The people who went before us. We carry on for the dead, we protect the living, and we wait for a better world." Pg 374
June 27, 2026
"Pretending to be happy for the sake of those around her, so that they would not be lonely and afraid. So that her own feelings would not infect them.
But was that true? Or had she made herself happy by pretending to be happy? Thinking back to that time, it was impossible to tell which was which.
All around her, others had seemed happy. But were they doing the same? Pretending to be happy for the sake of others?" (277)
But was that true? Or had she made herself happy by pretending to be happy? Thinking back to that time, it was impossible to tell which was which.
All around her, others had seemed happy. But were they doing the same? Pretending to be happy for the sake of others?" (277)
May 17, 2026
Perfect historical fiction 👌
I loved the characters (human and crow) and the science/biology he weaved throughout the story. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.
I loved the characters (human and crow) and the science/biology he weaved throughout the story. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.
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.
May 20, 2026
Four children, barely teenagers, are forced to survive in a forest when they find themselves victims of a war they have no part in. Caught between Nazis and the Red Army, they have only each other to survive the winter in a wild forest that's full of people who will hurt them and a highly intelligent flock of crows who help them along the way.
This story is an intriguing mix of historical and speculative fantasy that remains grounded in how the children each tell their part of the story. It's a tragedy softened by the fact that they have each other, pushed to survive because they have someone else they want to protect, even when they might have been ready to give up on themselves. I loved how it shows that even people from very different backgrounds can get together to support and uplift each other when everything around them is falling apart. It's a tragedy from beginning to end, but there are moments of light that highlight the best of humanity and the boundless potential of nature.
Eunice Wong does a wonderful job narrating, and I praise her and the audiobook team for the decision not to give the characters accents despite them being Eastern Europeans. They're all from such different places and backgrounds that it would have been a mess of accents that hindered the story instead of adding to it. In its place, we get nuanced narration that gives life to each character and their thoughts as we explore the harshness of the world they're thrust into. It's a masterclass in narrating emotions through nuance.
Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the engrossing listen!
This story is an intriguing mix of historical and speculative fantasy that remains grounded in how the children each tell their part of the story. It's a tragedy softened by the fact that they have each other, pushed to survive because they have someone else they want to protect, even when they might have been ready to give up on themselves. I loved how it shows that even people from very different backgrounds can get together to support and uplift each other when everything around them is falling apart. It's a tragedy from beginning to end, but there are moments of light that highlight the best of humanity and the boundless potential of nature.
Eunice Wong does a wonderful job narrating, and I praise her and the audiobook team for the decision not to give the characters accents despite them being Eastern Europeans. They're all from such different places and backgrounds that it would have been a mess of accents that hindered the story instead of adding to it. In its place, we get nuanced narration that gives life to each character and their thoughts as we explore the harshness of the world they're thrust into. It's a masterclass in narrating emotions through nuance.
Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the engrossing listen!
June 11, 2026
Palaces of the Crow is a beautifully moving piece of speculative historical fiction. Its a quiet novel filled with introspective character moments and subtle messaging. Its also quite sad, as you would expect given the subject matter. Its a story that tackles complex themes of survival amidst the horrors of war and the trauma that occurs during and after it. Despite that sadness, there are also a lot of beautiful things in this novel. The way the characters find and care for each other and their relationship with the crows is beautiful to read and really speaks about the way humanity and kindness can still be found in dark times. Its a story that really made me feel and think about things.
The only thing missing from the story for me was more details about the crows. The book description made me think they were more a part of the story and that there would be more science fiction surrounding them. I would have liked to see that aspect pushed a bit more. Without it, I felt this was more of a historical fiction novel than anything else. That isn't a bad thing but it just wasn't what I was entirely expecting.
Despite that, I still really liked this book. Ray Nayler's prose is always excellent and beautifully literary. This is the third book I've read by him and, although it wasn't my favourite of his (that would be Where the Axe is Buried), I will definitely pick up whatever he writes next.
The only thing missing from the story for me was more details about the crows. The book description made me think they were more a part of the story and that there would be more science fiction surrounding them. I would have liked to see that aspect pushed a bit more. Without it, I felt this was more of a historical fiction novel than anything else. That isn't a bad thing but it just wasn't what I was entirely expecting.
Despite that, I still really liked this book. Ray Nayler's prose is always excellent and beautifully literary. This is the third book I've read by him and, although it wasn't my favourite of his (that would be Where the Axe is Buried), I will definitely pick up whatever he writes next.
June 17, 2026
In this alternate history/historical fiction novel, four teens caught between the Nazis and the Red Army find each other while hiding in a Lithuanian forest. They join together (along with some curiously intelligent crows) to survive when the world is falling apart. I chose to read Palaces of the Crow as the 5th book in my Q2 2026 focus on WWII. Thanks to Macmillan Audio, Ray Nayler (author), and Libro.fm for the audiobook review copy (narrated by Eunice Wong). Their generosity did not affect my review. I did an immersive read with my own ebook copy.
I was thrilled to discover that I could add to my Q2 focus a recent release that is about the events surrounding WWII but is also an alternate history/historical fiction book. Not enough people are talking about this really great novel. The story is hard to read at times; Nayler does not shy away from the violence of war and desperation. And like my friend said about The Hunger Games, even though there are winners and survivors, there isn’t really a happy ending because of everything they went through. But there’s a sense of hope here, and sometimes that’s the best we can ask for. 4.25 stars
I was thrilled to discover that I could add to my Q2 focus a recent release that is about the events surrounding WWII but is also an alternate history/historical fiction book. Not enough people are talking about this really great novel. The story is hard to read at times; Nayler does not shy away from the violence of war and desperation. And like my friend said about The Hunger Games, even though there are winners and survivors, there isn’t really a happy ending because of everything they went through. But there’s a sense of hope here, and sometimes that’s the best we can ask for. 4.25 stars
May 25, 2026
Like a bead of glass placed in the eye socket of a skull by a mourning crow, this book is a gift.
In 1941 Lithuania, four young people fleeing violence find each other. A Jewish girl, a Roma girl, a Red Army deserter, and a little boy who can't speak. Together, they manage to find a small place of fragile safety from the horrors of war. These are four wonderful characters, but the real stars of the novel are the crows. These intelligent crows have a community, almost a civilisation, that they invite these escapees to shelter.
Nayler is known as a science fiction writer, and I have seen this book marked as speculative, but it reads as fairly straight historical fiction. The crows are maybe more intelligent than you would expect, but it is within the realm of reality.
This beautiful story offers a glimmer of hope in dark times. It shows how by creating true bonds and connections, whether between people or animals, and however brief, we can create meaning for our place in the world.
In 1941 Lithuania, four young people fleeing violence find each other. A Jewish girl, a Roma girl, a Red Army deserter, and a little boy who can't speak. Together, they manage to find a small place of fragile safety from the horrors of war. These are four wonderful characters, but the real stars of the novel are the crows. These intelligent crows have a community, almost a civilisation, that they invite these escapees to shelter.
Nayler is known as a science fiction writer, and I have seen this book marked as speculative, but it reads as fairly straight historical fiction. The crows are maybe more intelligent than you would expect, but it is within the realm of reality.
This beautiful story offers a glimmer of hope in dark times. It shows how by creating true bonds and connections, whether between people or animals, and however brief, we can create meaning for our place in the world.
June 7, 2026
This was an amazing novel about children trying to survive during World War II, and how they crossed paths with crows in the Lithuanian forest. It's about the power of human (and cross-species!) connection and cooperation. As Nayler reminds us (quoting Kropotkin) at the beginning of the novel: "Mutual aid is as much a law of nature as mutual struggle." It's a serious contender for best novel of 2026.
June 22, 2026
This is a heartbreaking story. It left me with a lump in throat that took multiple attempts to swallow. What it is not is science fiction or fantasy despite the tags. It is at best magical realism, though without much magic.
Nayler's writing can't be faulted in this book. It's an emotional book but it never descends to melodrama and the low-key understated nature of the writing makes the emotional impact all the greater. The book jumps around between multiple viewpoints and time periods, and this is a little confusing at first, but it becomes clear at the end why the book is written this way. And speaking of the ending, there is a twist at the end that is pure genius and completely blindsided me.
For me this was an easy 5 star rating. If you're looking for a traditional fantasy then this isn't it, but otherwise I cannot recommend this book enough.
Nayler's writing can't be faulted in this book. It's an emotional book but it never descends to melodrama and the low-key understated nature of the writing makes the emotional impact all the greater. The book jumps around between multiple viewpoints and time periods, and this is a little confusing at first, but it becomes clear at the end why the book is written this way. And speaking of the ending, there is a twist at the end that is pure genius and completely blindsided me.
For me this was an easy 5 star rating. If you're looking for a traditional fantasy then this isn't it, but otherwise I cannot recommend this book enough.
June 18, 2026
If anyone else wrote a WWI novel about magical crows I wouldn’t pick it up, but I trust Naylor and he continues to reward that trust. His deeply felt sense of compassion and curiosity comes through so strongly on the page and I couldn’t put this down.
June 23, 2026
when a book is brilliant and devastating, and i can feel it haunting deep within my bones, i am completely consumed. this is one that i could feel the echoes of a crow’s call in my blood. a red threading. a favorite book.
this is all i will say. read.
this is all i will say. read.
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.
May 28, 2026
3.5 stars
Want to Read
June 10, 2026Reasons to read
~ exceptional prose
~ historical fiction
~ befriending a super intelligent crow
~ exceptional prose
~ historical fiction
~ befriending a super intelligent crow
June 20, 2026
not sure if ray nayler intended for me to cry this much ?
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