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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

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Drawn in by the cover, Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek closed the deal with a story about magic, a dark forest and mysterious deals. Inspired by Polish woodlands and giving off European folktale vibes, I had to read it.

Inspired by the Polish wild lands A.B. Poranek explored as a child, Where the Dark Stands Still tells the story of Liska, a young woman fleeing her village for the demon and spirit-filled wood, the Driada. Born with magic in a society ruled by the Church, Liska has lived with the fear of discovery since childhood. At the start of the book, we don’t know what has sent Liska fleeing into the dangerous forest; we just know that she is desperate enough to put all her faith in a mythical flower that will grant her one wish.

Liska intends to use that wish to get rid of her magic for good.

Against all odds, she manages to find the flower and more than she expected. Like all humans who wish to travel through the Driada, she had made an offering to the Leszy, the demon who rules the forest. An offering to grant her protection on her path. Not only does she step off her path, but she is there to steal from him because the flower that she needs to solve all her problems belongs to the Leszy…

He catches her in the act and offers her a bargain: one year of her life serving him in the Driada, and then he will grant her wish. He will take her magic.

The more time she spends with the Leszy, the more Liska learns about him and her situation. There are secrets on top of secrets, and just when she thinks she has learned everything, she finds there is more to know. When she finds out that there have been other companions and that they’ve mysteriously vanished, leaving their belongings behind in the Leszy’s mansion, it becomes even more imperative that she uncovers those secrets before her year of servitude is up.

Eerie forest scenes are juxtaposed with the warmth and humour of a sentient manor house and sassy house spirit. Fans of Howl’s Moving Castle will enjoy this one, as will readers who like books with fairytale and folktale vibes. Where the Dark Stands Still successfully encompasses all of these while managing to stand on its own with interesting characters and a strong plot.

While there is a romance that includes the ‘young girl falls in love with an immortal’ trope, this book doesn’t rely completely on it. The romance is just one part of the book, and if you’re not a fan of romances or this trope, there’s plenty more to enjoy. There’s a huge amount of character growth, and the ending of this one was very satisfactory. I particularly liked the way that Poranek wrote Liska as a rational heroine who weighs up the information in front of her rather than running screaming just because something difficult is presented to her.

Where the Dark Stands Still is a perfect standalone novel, but I would love to see Poranek return to the world she has created in it. The world-building is so intriguing and has so many possibilities. This is a brilliant debut novel and one that I recommend checking out if you love dark dangerous forests, magic, stubborn demons and sassy characters.

About A. B. Poranek

Ania Poranek grew up in Ontario, Canada but spent her summers in the Polish countryside, raiding her grandfather’s library and helping care for his chickens. Her love of animals led her to pursue a degree in Veterinary Medicine, though she never stopped writing along the way. She now lives in Versailles, France, where she spends her free time doodling and wrangling her void demon (read: cat), Neptune.
Her first novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, is an ode to Poland’s wild woodlands, wilder folktales, and the girls who were raised by them.

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