In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf

Amy  

fantasy

Weatherly has been raised in poverty by her grandmother, an unkind witch woman. Weatherly is a Death Talker who can save people from death. When her cousin is killed in an "accident" by a community member, she attempts to find out the truth and uses her family magic to aid in the search.

Weatherly’s life was not an easy one. But, once her cousin died, she felt driven to follow the cousin’s vague trail of clues pointing towards… something that neither Weatherly nor the reader seemed to be able to figure out. I love fantasy and magic but In the Hour of Crows was often bizarre and nonsensical. Dana Elmendorf did succeed in writing creepy, atmospheric scenes and situations. But I had a hard time sticking with this death-filled novel.

Weatherly isn’t very likable even though she tries to save lives. The process by which she chased away death was, frankly, gross. I never got to the point of caring how things turned out for her.  She goes through this novel by the seat of her pants with lots of questions and no answers or plans. I found her story frustrating. Things weren’t entirely explained to the reader. Why was she buried as a girl with the dead babies at the beginning? Why does death manifest in her phlegm? Why is the Soul Walker hardly around and why does he become a crow? 

I found it difficult to buy into Weatherly’s type of magic, the unexplained treatment of her by her grandmother, and the grim situations. And there was also no obvious reason why any of Weatherly’s friends cared for her. She never did anything for them. In fact, she was often rude to them and took advantage of them. She was reckless and irresponsible. However, the very end (before the Epilogue) was surprisingly touching. If you read creepy fantasies for the atmosphere, you'll probably like it more than I did. I just prefer a more sensical plot and/or character development.

I was given a free galley by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I thank them for the opportunity to read it early.  It will be released on June 4, 2024.