Where the Dark Stands Still
#3314.04 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2024 Reading commitment Low A. B. Poranek Last reviewed 2026-10-25
Overview
A. B. Poranek's debut, Where the Dark Stands Still (McElderry Books, 2024), is a young adult gothic fairy tale steeped in Polish folklore, set in a village on the edge of a spirit-wood where magic is feared. Liska Radost strikes a bargain with the Leszy, the demon warden of the wood, and must survive a year in his crumbling manor. It was a finalist for the 2025 Mythopoeic Award for Young Adult Literature.
Dark fantasy, Fairy-tale retelling · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Where the Dark Stands Still A. B. Poranek
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Where the Dark Stands Still | 2024 | 1 | core | 4.04 (30,147 ratings) |
A. B. Poranek's standalone debut.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Where the Dark Stands Still? Where the Dark Stands Still's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Where the Dark Stands Still finished? Complete (2024).
- How much reading does Where the Dark Stands Still take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is Where the Dark Stands Still ranked? #331 in this site's official ranking, based on 30,147 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #331?
Ranked #331 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.04 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (30,147 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #330, The Craft Sequence (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 1 book · Complete · 30k ratings · Ranks #331 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment dark fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Mythopoeic Award (Young Adult Literature), 2025: finalist: Where the Dark Stands Still
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Suggestions computed from what Where the Dark Stands Still and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Six Crimson Cranes Fairy-tale retelling / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.07
- The Scholomance Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.05
- The Wrath and the Dawn Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 4.04
- Sisters of the Salt Dark fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 3.92
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.04 across 30,147 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon Extension: Adrian Selby's world (Snakewood), Where the Dark Stands Still (Poranek), The Village Beyond the Mist (Kashiwaba) accepted 2026-10-25
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Paper Literary: Where the Dark Stands Still (publisher copy) Tier 2
- Benbrook Public Library catalogue: Where the Dark Stands Still (McElderry, 2024, first edition) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25
Rule: Core Canon = Where the Dark Stands Still (2024), a standalone novel.