WHEN AMONG CROWS

A man with a secret seeks an audience with the all-powerful Baba Jaga in Roth’s fantasy novella.

Dymitr’s grandmother was the one who taught him to spot magical beings. But when he arrives at a bar to find the “zmora” who gather there, he won’t tell them how he, a human, knows about magic. He reveals only that he possesses a precious, magical fern flower that can’t be touched by nonhuman hands. Dymitr has an offer to make: He will use the fern flower to cure a zmora who has been suffering under a terrible curse; in return, he wants help finding Baba Jaga. Baba Jaga—the all-powerful witch who lives in a house on chicken legs, travels in a mortar and pestle, defeated Koschei the Deathless, and so on—isn’t known for showing kindness to random humans. But Ala, the zmora suffering from the curse that will eventually kill her, is desperate enough for the fern flower to help Dymitr on his way. Ala and Dymitr, along with a “strzygi” named Niko, seek out the elusive Baba Jaga together, even when Dymitr reveals that he knows a suspicious amount about the Holy Order, the terrifying humans who ruthlessly kill all magical people they can find. Roth’s story is built on Polish folklore but set in a modern-day Chicago that features a simmering underground culture of magical folk. This world blooms effectively and efficiently, so that Roth’s brief book can dedicate itself to the changing relationships among Ala, Dymitr, and Niko and the spookiness of Baba Jaga’s hidden magical world.

This short, atmospheric book proves that less is often more.