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A review by chaptersofmads
Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry