Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

6 reviews

erwikka's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m not crying at 1 am you are! When I heard this was Howls Moving Castle with Polish lore I couldn’t pick it up fast enough. I’m happy to admit that it lives up to the Howl’s comparison. I throughly enjoyed this one. It felt like you were in a fairytale and those are some of my favorites I also love the Polish names. Pretty sure this book and the ending will be sitting in my feels for a while and you gotta love that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Animal death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

ghostlyprince's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

haven't been this distraught over a book since grade eight I'm in agony I'm in mourning I'm

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Blood, Colonisation, and Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Child death

*There is a scene where someone poisons their cow on purpose to expose another character but it's the only on page depiction of animal harm/cruelty *There is a scene that implies a character is in a abusive marriage

folkofthebook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

“You are not a monster, Liska Radost. You are sunlight, and you breathe life into everything you touch.”

beauty in the beast meets howl's moving castle with much polish folklore & cultural influence and a whole lots of magic & forest 💚

there are lots of cozy cottagecore vibes and its a slower pace standalone, but it's an impressive debut novel. the magic system was intriguing with its interweaving of folklore creatures, and i found myself surprised at some revelations. there was a solid romance with some fun banter and a surprisingly charming found family. shoutout to the queer rep as well!

it was bittersweet but very touching, and i look forward to more stories from Poranek.

“There is a thing we do,” the Leszy says, “where we rearrange ourselves, cutting off pieces here and there to fit a mold that was never meant for us. I know something of that. But becoming the Driada’s warden taught me one thing: if the world had not prepared a place for you, you must take up a hammer and chisel and carve one out for yourself.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Grief and Death of parent

mzquirk's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Self harm, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked the vibes: the sentient forest and house, the feeling of home, the found-family, the gradual romance. I liked the characters and the very obvious similarities to Beauty and the Beast.

I didn't like the body horror

and human sacrifice.

Those definitely made it seem more dark and evil than it started off being. I also feel conflicted about the clash between the church and paganism.

Also the climax was very sad, and I did not appreciate that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, Murder, Religious bigotry, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Minor: Animal death and Sexual content

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love dark fantasy stories and fairy tale/legend/folklore retellings; this book does those aspects great justice. Prior to reading it, I was unfamiliar with Slavic tales aside from Baba Yaga, about who I recently checked out a modernized retelling. The gods of Leszy and Veles (spelled Weles in the book) feature prominently, and the protagonist's name, Liska (Czech or Slavic for "fox") epitomizes her character and physical traits. Throughout my reading, I found myself looking up concepts like Kupala Night and those various Slavic names to better understand the foundation of the novel, but knowing the background is not necessary to enjoying the narrative. I do think that the book could be enhanced with a little information at the end about the Slavic culture and how it relates to the plot and characters. For those who want to discover more about the originating culture, having that resources handy would be super convenient.

Liska's motivations entirely understandable, even if she diverts almost immediately off the forest path, a foreboding act in any dark fantasy or fairy tale, going back to "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Hansel and Gretel". The Leszy is harsh but mysterious and kind enough that I kept wanting to discover more about him and the house with Liska. Actions are committed rashly at times, but that is to be expected for a teenager and by superstitious villagers that run high on emotions regarding magic and witchcraft. The ending left me wanting more, wishing for one more page, but the note it dropped on provides hope. I loved how well multiple pieces of Slavic culture were woven into the book without my feeling lost or overwhelmed. I definitely recommend. This could be a wonderful book for spooky fall vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent