Book Review: Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler, narrated by Eunice Wong

4/5 stars. Palaces of the Crow is a fascinating historical fiction with supernatural elements surrounding the titular crows. This story centers around four young people caught in Lithuania during World War II, trying to hide from both the Russians and the Nazis. In their hiding, they are aided repeatedly by a murder of crows who have advanced intelligence, even beyond what we typically know of the average crow. These crows guide the children to safety and keep them aware of others who might be looking for them.

We follow two timelines – one during the war, between 1941 and 1944, the other in 1971 after the children have grown and lived much of their lives. Through both narratives, we have events from the past revealed to us by the children and we discover that, even as adults, the children continue to carry their war scars with them – their loss of family and friends, the fear that carried them through four years of the war, and even the actions they took during, and even since, the war that have shaped who they are but will never let them be at peace.

I listened to this ARC from NetGalley on audiobook, narrated by Eunice Wong. Wong does an excellent job of placing the listener in the story, feeling the emotions that the children experience as they are trying to stay safe. I highly enjoyed the narration, but having only the audio did affect my ability to follow the timelines, even though each chapter was clearly labeled. In addition, early in the story especially, I kept confusing the points of view of the two female characters until they met each other and lived together. These issues are most certainly a fault of my own and not of the writer or narrator, but it did detract from my enjoyment of the story.

This novel is certainly another fascinating tale from Ray Nayler and I highly recommend it.