Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Where the Dark Stands Still

I liked the vibes: the sentient forest and house, the feeling of home, the found-family, the gradual romance. I liked the characters and the very obvious similarities to Beauty and the Beast.

I didn't like the body horror

and human sacrifice.

Those definitely made it seem more dark and evil than it started off being. I also feel conflicted about the clash between the church and paganism.

Also the climax was very sad, and I did not appreciate that.

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aluualuu's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was such a good idea for a story, the authors love of Polish folktales really comes through. I just think there was it was executed could have been more well planned, especially the ending

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chaptersofmads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

"Of women, he's heard it said: "She will be the end of me" or "She will by my undoing." None of that is true for Liska Radost. She is not the end of anything, but the beginning of everything. He has been dead a long time, and she is his resurrection."

Beautiful, bittersweet, and magical; this book was a delight from beginning to end.

Where the Dark Stands Still had so many elements I love in a story: sentient houses, eerie forests, nature magic, a study of the conflict between paganism and Christianity, the old gods and the new, morally grey characters, and even a hint of found family. This book felt like someone incorporated Polish folklore into a crossover between The Bear and the Nightingale and East of the Sun, West of the Moon, (two of my favorite stories) creating something that was both familiar and unique at once.

Though I felt there were a few technical flaws, the fact that the reading experience for this book is so reminiscent of a fairytale - eerie and strangely cozy at once - made these aspects easy to overlook. If a plot-point seemed too rushed or didn't make sense, it did so in the dream-like way of a fairytale.
Any other flaws were mostly personal, such as the fact there are - in my opinion - too many YA books utilizing "fox" related nicknames from the love interest and every time the nickname was mentioned (which was often) it pulled me out of the story a bit.

All of this to say, I'm so glad I decided to pick this book up on a whim because it really was such a lovely experience. I think this is the kind of book that will appeal to so many readers and I'm looking forward to whatever the author creates from here.

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