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A review by amelianotthepilot
Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
2.0
I was really hopeful for this one it seems right up my alley: forests, a hot mysterious magical man, gothic house horror. But it really fell flat for me.
It is a polish mythology based book with a forest, a hot mysterious magical man, and gothic horror house but it just sorta seemed like a Howl's Moving Castle and Beauty and the Beast knock off (in a bad way).
Liska Radost has magic which she feels it is a curse, all the townspeople fear her and she needs to keep it hidden but she hears of a mythical magic flower in the woods that if plucked you'll be granted one wish. So she finds the flower and goes to pluck it only to be stopped by a stag/man, 'the Leszy'. (Probably the only thing I enjoyed from this story was the cool body horror going on with the description of Leszy morphing from stag to human.) Leszy says he will grant her wish if she becomes his housekeeper for a year. Liska is very shy and enjoys housework, alla Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, and spends most of her days cleaning his derelict forest house and befriending the kitchen demon (sound familiar?) until the house likes her better than him. Alla howl's moving castle the Leszy is very moody and dramatic and is often away from the house doing some sort of fighting that Liska (and the reader) are not privy to until later. Leszy wears a stag mask for most of the book, refusing to reveal his face or anything true about himself, until he comes home injured one night (alla Howl) and she must heal him only to discover !shocker! he's just a man!(and oh no hes hot !). Meanwhile, Leszy is attempting to teach Liska magic but since she has such trauma surrounding it, it's not going well. We spend the whole book finding out how he's a bad person and has done bad/questionable things, ending with a really flat finale. It was not satisfying.
I think there were too many things going on in this book: the flower wish, Liska learning to use and control her magic, Leszy's curse, fighting the evil magic.
Where it really fell flat for me was that Howl of Howl's Moving Castle, really cares for Sophie and we can see that again and again through his actions. But since this was Liska's perspective we never see Leszy do anything nice or care for her in any way until the end and they're suddenly in love it didn't feel right. I never felt like they were in love more than just physical attraction and the ending was ridiculous. Also Sophie of Howl's Moving Castle, is never forced to clean Howl's house or forced to stay where she is, she chooses that, but Leszy forces Liska to stay and makes her clean and cook.
Overall disappointed in a book that seemed perfect vibes.
It is a polish mythology based book with a forest, a hot mysterious magical man, and gothic horror house but it just sorta seemed like a Howl's Moving Castle and Beauty and the Beast knock off (in a bad way).
Liska Radost has magic which she feels it is a curse, all the townspeople fear her and she needs to keep it hidden but she hears of a mythical magic flower in the woods that if plucked you'll be granted one wish. So she finds the flower and goes to pluck it only to be stopped by a stag/man, 'the Leszy'. (Probably the only thing I enjoyed from this story was the cool body horror going on with the description of Leszy morphing from stag to human.) Leszy says he will grant her wish if she becomes his housekeeper for a year. Liska is very shy and enjoys housework, alla Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle, and spends most of her days cleaning his derelict forest house and befriending the kitchen demon (sound familiar?) until the house likes her better than him. Alla howl's moving castle the Leszy is very moody and dramatic and is often away from the house doing some sort of fighting that Liska (and the reader) are not privy to until later. Leszy wears a stag mask for most of the book, refusing to reveal his face or anything true about himself, until he comes home injured one night (alla Howl) and she must heal him only to discover !shocker! he's just a man!(and oh no hes hot !). Meanwhile, Leszy is attempting to teach Liska magic but since she has such trauma surrounding it, it's not going well. We spend the whole book finding out how he's a bad person and has done bad/questionable things, ending with a really flat finale. It was not satisfying.
I think there were too many things going on in this book: the flower wish, Liska learning to use and control her magic, Leszy's curse, fighting the evil magic.
Where it really fell flat for me was that Howl of Howl's Moving Castle, really cares for Sophie and we can see that again and again through his actions. But since this was Liska's perspective we never see Leszy do anything nice or care for her in any way until the end and they're suddenly in love it didn't feel right. I never felt like they were in love more than just physical attraction and the ending was ridiculous. Also Sophie of Howl's Moving Castle, is never forced to clean Howl's house or forced to stay where she is, she chooses that, but Leszy forces Liska to stay and makes her clean and cook.
Overall disappointed in a book that seemed perfect vibes.