Where the Dark Stands Still – Book Tour

A.B. Poranek

Publication date: February 27th, 2024
Genres: Young Adult Gothic Fantasy
Rep: Polish, European

SYNOPSIS:

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 soon discovers the sinister roots of their 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…

REVIEW:

Liska finds she is less afraid than she should be. Perhaps it is because this wood, just like her, is something unnatural, something other.

Experiencing Liska’s journey to acceptance of herself and healing what she’d inadvertently done to her magic throughout the book was a beautiful transformation. Her decision on her place towards the middle of the book felt slightly anticlimactic for the apparent gravity of that choice. The Leszy is a morally grey character lover’s dream, I understand his choices and how gutting they must have been. Liska and the Leszy’s relationship definitely qualifies for enemies to lovers and forced proximity – even if she made that bargain. I wasn’t expecting the twist regarding the demons at the close of the book but I loved it – I loved the Driada forest and the sentient mansion built by the Leszy. The concept of souls was also one that I had not encountered before but to me, it makes sense – especially in this magical setting.

Aside from the two main characters we have in the book, the author has some outstanding supporting characters which formed one of my favorite tropes in fantasy books – found family. I loved House Under the Rowan Tree, Jaga, Maksio, Kazimiera and heck – even Mrok. They all had their own way of supporting the main characters but mostly Liska.

If you are a fan of the Winternight trilogy by Katharine Arden, I highly recommend reading this book. It isn’t quite as dark (specifically the treatment of the FMC by the characters in the book) but you’ll find a host of familiar creatures & the FMC’s rejection by society for being “different”. If a sequel or series happened to follow this book I would absolutely read them & I will be following A.B. Poranek to see what she comes up with next. Thank you to TBR & Beyond Tours for choosing me to be a part of this tour – you all have picked me for tours that turned me onto so many of my favorite books over the years. Thank you to McElderry Books and A.B. Poranek for the early copy to read for this tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A. B. 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.