Where the Dark Stands Still

By: A. B. Poranek

Narrated by: Ola Forman

A New York Times bestseller

A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this “dark, devastating, and gothic” (Kirkus Reviews) 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.

©2024 A. B. Poranek (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

What was that ending?!

This book was delightful. I enjoyed the magic system and world building. The ending was kind of a drag like how are you gonna end on that note leaving me with questions yet feeling like the story is complete.

My heart stood still at the end!!

This was a book I listened to while read in tandem. What a phenomenal story!

The narrator did an excellent job! The names (while reading) were hard for me to know how to pronounce quickly, and the narrator did an excellent job! She did good animating each of the characters. My favorite voice she did by far was the one for the character names Jaga.

This book had so many characters that I fell in love with. Each character had their own endearing personality. As I read, I kept trying to guess what would happen—what the outcome would be, but I was never able to actually guess.

My heart really did stand still near the end of this story. (I don’t want to reveal why or tell any spoilers)! I really really hope you read this book and enjoy it as much as I did. I’m left wanting more! I’m really hoping there will be a second book. The end wraps things up well, but I’m still dying to know more!

A wonderful hidden gem! Please give it a go!

Enchanting

I love the magic behind this book so much! all the folklore entwined into the story us so magical! I will recommend this story always!

beloved

I loved the story, keeping me enthralled all the way though and I swear i cried a bit in the end. Only thoughts right now are I must know if there's a second book

A charming YA fantasy

I went into this book without knowing much because I saw the cover and immediately needed to have it. But sometimes, you can judge a book by the cover.

This standalone, debut YA fantasy with folklore, demons, witchcraft, and sentient houses was such a charming read. I deeply enjoyed the references to Polish folklore that are woven through the story. The story follows Liskia, the determined but broken female main character, who is set on ridding herself of her magic. She ties herself to the forest demon, the Leksy, for a year of servitude, who promises to take away her magic.. Over the course of the year, Liskia and the Leksy grow close as Liskia attempts to free her magic.

The characters, especially Liska, are so easy to love and the Leksy is a really solid fantasy love interest/morally grey character. The author is able to bring to life not only the characters but the setting - specifically the house and the woods!

Here is the thing, I just had a fantastic time reading this book. It has everything you will want - the plot was developed, there was some romance, a found family, a mesmerizing setting, a determined female protagonist, and a devastating ending. Truly the ending made me sob and it felt just perfect. The “big reveal” and the last part of the book felt a little rushed but honestly, this book was excellent and I will definitely be on the look out for this author’s next book!

Amazing and bittersweet

The end was so bittersweet. I hope there is going to be a second book. I love how she has such a great life and still leaves room to grieve and hope. I love this story and I’m so excited to read more from this author.

Whimsically Dark Standalone

Others have said that this book has Studio Ghibli vibes, and I agree, it has that whimsical atmosphere but is a few shades darker. The dynamic between the MC and LI is fun, and I liked the worldbuilding. If you’re looking for a standalone fantasy, I recommend checking out this one.

Contains:
-Violence
-Death
-Trauma
-Implied Sexual Content

It was beautiful and complicated SPOILERS!!!!

I really liked this book but I also had issues with it. For one, I am definitely glad I decided to listen to it since there were a ton of words that I wouldn’t have been able to pronounce. Moving onto what I enjoyed were the magical characters who all had their own depth. Things like the sentient house and house spirits were so cute and exciting. I throughly enjoyed all the twist and turns that didn’t feel super predictable but at the same time not every earth shattering either. It was sorta hinted at always so things like the Leshy sacrificing people to the old god made sense. However, things I didn’t like were among the Leshy dying. It made sense with the story but that killed my heart so bad! I just finished it so I’m still sad about his death. It was super unexpected and just ripped my heart out. The ending was quite sweet though with Liska taking in more magical children. Additionally, the old god was formidable at times but he mainly pissed me off. I wanted a darker more scary antagonist. He just sorta felt a little lack luster. Overall, it was a beautiful book that I would definitely recommend. However, it is more suitable for younger audiences in my opinion. I think anyone could read it, but don’t be surprised at how the romance is sorta surface level.

2.8/5

The narration made the main character seem even more juvenile. The story is very shallow despite the all of the folklore and interesting magic system. It’s like the best parts of this story went completely unexplored. All of the callbacks to Howl’s Moving Castle felt somewhat cheap because this book lacks the heart and depth of that novel. Same with the Polish folklore it references. I think a young teenage reader may really enjoy this though.

Well-written but predictable

The story is not very unique but the prose are well done. I would have liked some additional world building and stronger chemistry between the characters.