The book is presented in the form of a fairy tale for children and tells the story of a fantasy-like adventure of a young boy during the martial law in Poland of the December 1981.

Dukaj has described the book as the "dark, national phantasmagoria in the form of a children's fairy tale";[1] Crow-Soldiers throw those caught without a pass into boiling cauldrons, Milipants (misspelled militiamen) beat with the intention to kill, and crows go for the eyes.

[2] There are inspirations and references to the Grimm Brothers, Lewis Carroll (whose quote opens the book), Cormac McCarthy, Edgar Allan Poe, Stefan Żeromski and Tadeusz Konwicki.

[3] After he wakes, he witnesses the kidnapping of most of his family and the wounding of his mother by the eponymous Wroniec ("Crowman", a pun on the nickname of WRON and General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who orchestrated the martial law).

[3] The book garnered mostly positive reviews, including those in the mainstream Polish press (Gazeta Wyborcza, Polityka, Tygodnik Powszechny, Dziennik Polski).

[2][4] While reviewers often stated that the book "should be controversial", they praised Dukaj for this innovative approach and breaking the unspoken taboo with regards to writing about this part of modern Polish history.