Palaces of the Crow
On sale
21st May 2026
Price: £22
From the Locus and Hugo Award-winning author Ray Nayler, this haunting novel blends history and speculative wonder into a story of survival, loyalty and the fragile beauty of life in the darkest of times.
‘an extraordinary science fiction novel’ SFX MAGAZINE
‘constantly surprising, moving and thought-provoking’ GUARDIAN
‘a must-read author’ SFF WORLD
June 1941, Eastern Europe. As the German blitzkrieg tears across a divided continent, four young lives are thrown into chaos: Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a scientist; Czesław, an underage Polish deserter fleeing the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivisation; and a nameless,, abandoned boy who cannot speak.
Driven deep into the Lithuanian woods, they form an unbreakable bond with one another and with a flock of crows whose uncanny intelligence hints at a secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined.
‘an extraordinary science fiction novel’ SFX MAGAZINE
‘constantly surprising, moving and thought-provoking’ GUARDIAN
‘a must-read author’ SFF WORLD
June 1941, Eastern Europe. As the German blitzkrieg tears across a divided continent, four young lives are thrown into chaos: Neriya, a young Jewish girl who dreams of becoming a scientist; Czesław, an underage Polish deserter fleeing the Red Army; Kezia, a Roma horse trader whose family is on the run from Soviet collectivisation; and a nameless,, abandoned boy who cannot speak.
Driven deep into the Lithuanian woods, they form an unbreakable bond with one another and with a flock of crows whose uncanny intelligence hints at a secret older and stranger than they could ever have imagined.
Reviews
An impassioned paean to togetherness even in the midst of the chaotic isolation of war and to the power of storytelling to keep memory and hope alive
Summing up then, despite its different setting, Palaces of the Crow is yet another affecting and effective novel from Ray. It is rather emotional, perhaps his most affecting story to date. Like before, with Ray's previous books, Palaces of the Crow made me sad, it made me angry, and yet made me think. All of this together means that Palaces of the Crow is another book by Ray that hits the ball out of the park for me. Still a must-read author.
This is an extraordinary science fiction novel that deftly deals with the nature of consciousness
Over the last four years, Ray Nayler has become one of the most consistently fascinating science fiction writers working today
It shouldn't surprise anyone that the crows come out looking better than their human counterparts in Nayler's latest work of speculative fiction
Nayler's twisting, turning political thriller has spectacular surprises, grounded by realistic, complex characters who are determined to change their world, however hopeless it may seem. A bold, epic SF story and an inspiring tale about taking down all forms of authoritarianism
An intense, claustrophobic novel . . . a work of first-rate science fiction
A brilliant . . . blend of history and fantasy . . . Nayler's tale is packed with human brutality and the nobility of animals and their complex minds, never descending into sentimentality . . . [an] impressive novel
A story skilfully sown with dramatic surprises . . . [Palaces of the Crow] presents an extraordinary alien intelligence that happens to make its home here on Earth
A searing epic about the horrifying costs of war and the terrifying process of sanitising the past to protect the guilty and the complicit; it wraps readers in its intensity from the first page. Highly recommended
Ray Nayler's Palaces of the Crow is an evocative and deeply human portrait of survival and awe along the Eastern European front of WWII
Roll over, George Orwell: This post-apocalyptic dystopia makes Airstrip One look like a summer camp. Nayler's sophomore novel is set in a familiar future world in which totalitarian orders rule, with recognisably Putinesque touches in what's called the (né Russian) Federation, not least an autocratic ruler who's been running the show for decades . . . A richly detailed evocation of a grim future that is, sadly, absolutely believable
[A] constantly surprising, moving and thought-provoking novel.