Name: Where the Dark Stands Still
Rating: 3.954545454545455 (11 reviews)
ISBN: 9780241622162

Ania Poranek

A sweeping gothic fairytale romance for fans of A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer and Gallant by V.E. Schwab. Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters. After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood - the Leszy - who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish. Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska makes an unsettling discovery. She is not the first person to strike this bargain. And if she wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host's spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past. Those who enter the wood do not always return . . .

Where the Dark Stands Still

marie

“you are not a monster, liska radost. you are sunlight, and you breathe life into everything you touch.” 

“it’s yours now. it always has been yours, every part of me.” 

A.B. Poranek

'Where the Dark Stands Still is a triumph; a deeply romantic debut with spiralling, atmospheric prose that swept me up and away to the enchanted forests of Polish folklore. You'll never want to leave this beautiful, magical world'. Sarah Underwood, NYT Bestselling Author of Lies We Sing to the Sea A sweeping gothic fairytale romance for fans of Belladonna by Adalyn Grace and Gallant by V.E. Schwab. Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters. After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood - the Leszy - who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish. Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain and all of her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host's spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past. Those who enter the wood do not always return . . . 'An enchanting spell of a read, woven through with petal-soft romance and roots-deep self-acceptance. The dark, gothic fairy tale of my dreams' Kika Hatzopoulou, author of the Sunday Times Bestseller Threads that Bind 'Folkloric and beautiful, Where The Dark Stands Still invites you to stray from the safe paths into a darkly whimsical fairytale forest, where secrets and bargains lead to tentative hope' Lyndall Clipstone, author of Unholy Terrors and the World at the Lake's Edge duology.

Steph

What the hell was the ending? Where the Dark Stands Still is one of those books that I love everything about. The setting, the characters, the magic system, the slow burn, the mystery, the side characters. I love them all. And they all come together perfectly. So what the hell was the ending? I swear if the book ended differently, I would have given this book a 5 star.

I listened to this on the plane while traveling between London, Portugal, and back home. I don't think the writing was groundbreaking prose, but the author did have some lines that did make be go, "oh that was a clever way to incorporate imagery in a simile or foreshadow plot elements." Off the top of my head, when our protagonist goes into the forest, the trees and growth are compared to the jaws of a beast which painted a fun fairy tale-est picture in my head.

This felt like a slow-burn/enemies to lovers romance, but I'd say for 1/2 of it I did roll my eyes at the dialogue. The book incorporated interesting folklore elements I hadn't seen before in this genre, but did seem to reuse a lot of tropes and plot beats from other books I had read. Another relationship between a young coming of age girl and a 1000+ old man! But I keep reading these things so I'm part of the problem. Either way, it was quite irritating that he kept calling our protagonist a "not so clever fox." At first I thought this would illustrate how their relationship changed, since he would likely just call her a clever fox, or simply a fox, as they grew close and she showed her magical prowess. However, that didn't turn out to be the case, and he kept saying that mouthful phrase even toward the end of the book and as he neared his death? It felt like a missed opportunity and in my opinion a bit lazy. But maybe I'm missing the point and it was simply supposed to be a funny, long ass pet name.

Did some parts near the end make me kick my feet a lil tho? yeah so I guess I'm being a bit harsh. I think that it it did a cute job also portraying the LGBTQ+ relationship mentioned.

I read this via audiobook and I'm not sure if it was just the copy I checked out, but for like 3/4 of the book the kitchen spirit sounded like its audio was like being screamed out of a tube and really low quality? Yet everything else was fine, so I'm not sure if that was an intentional sound choice. It did make me hate the character at first but now I'm more indifferent to it.

I give this 2.5/3 stars. If you like the genre I think you would like this book more than I do.

Ashley Denktas

I listened to this on the plane while traveling between London, Portugal, and back home. I don't think the writing was groundbreaking prose, but the author did have some lines that did make be go, "oh that was a clever way to incorporate imagery in a simile or foreshadow plot elements." Off the top of my head, when our protagonist goes into the forest, the trees and growth are compared to the jaws of a beast which painted a fun fairy tale-est picture in my head.

This felt like a slow-burn/enemies to lovers romance, but I'd say for 1/2 of it I did roll my eyes at the dialogue. The book incorporated interesting folklore elements I hadn't seen before in this genre, but did seem to reuse a lot of tropes and plot beats from other books I had read. Another relationship between a young coming of age girl and a 1000+ old man! But I keep reading these things so I'm part of the problem. Either way, it was quite irritating that he kept calling our protagonist a "not so clever fox." At first I thought this would illustrate how their relationship changed, since he would likely just call her a clever fox, or simply a fox, as they grew close and she showed her magical prowess. However, that didn't turn out to be the case, and he kept saying that mouthful phrase even toward the end of the book and as he neared his death? It felt like a missed opportunity and in my opinion a bit lazy. But maybe I'm missing the point and it was simply supposed to be a funny, long ass pet name.

Did some parts near the end make me kick my feet a lil tho? yeah so I guess I'm being a bit harsh. I think that it it did a cute job also portraying the LGBTQ+ relationship mentioned.


I read this via audiobook and I'm not sure if it was just the copy I checked out, but for like 3/4 of the book the kitchen spirit sounded like its audio was like being screamed out of a tube and really low quality? Yet everything else was fine, so I'm not sure if that was an intentional sound choice. It did make me hate the character at first but now I'm more indifferent to it.

I give this 2.5/3 stars. If you like the genre I think you would like this book more than I do.

A. B. Poranek

A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this young adult fantasy perfect for fans of An Enchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows. Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish. Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.

"You are not a monster, Liska Radost. You are sunlight, and you breathe life into everything you touch."

"This is the strangest part of it all: every time Liska meets the stag, she tries to touch him. Everytime, her hand passes through. Until one night, one rainy spring night, it does not."

screams into pillow, punches pillow, squeals into pillow, throws the pillow. 

"You are not a monster, Liska Radost. You are sunlight, and you breathe life into everything you touch."

"This is the strangest part of it all: every time Liska meets the stag, she tries to touch him. Everytime, her hand passes through. Until one night, one rainy spring night, it does not."

screams into pillow, punches pillow, squeals into pillow, throws the pillow. 

I LOVE YOU LISKA



Twas ok, bit repetitive and simplistic in terms of plot and characters, the Polish theme felt forced and out of place at times but it was an entertaining and unusual take on the classic beauty and the beast trope.

Bethany

A fun sort of beauty and the beast retelling. I was surprised with the ending but I felt it fit very well 

Chelsea

Sasha

yes!!! YES!!! polish ghibli yes!!!! ambiguous endings YES!!!

abi a

Nicole Neuman

Salomé GB

Stella Schuster

Zoe R

When attempting to rid herself of magic, seventeen-year-old Liska is captured by the demon warden of the spirit-wood who offers her one year of servitude in exchange for any wish, but she soon discovers the sinister truth at the heart of their deal.

Where the Dark Stands Still

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