The first edition of Artur Urbanowicz's debut book received the Stefan Grabiński. The refreshed edition of the novel will premiere in November.
A pair of students
Karolina and Tomek are students from Warsaw, they have been in a relationship for several years. The girl is a small, zealous Christian with a good heart, he is a well-built, diabetic atheist. Their relationship is not going very well lately. In order to improve their relationship, the girl suggests going to the Suwałki Region. The journey is not smooth, but the couple ends up in the village of Białodęby, located on the edge of one of the local forests. Their hostesses are a young and beautiful girl named Natalia and her strange, inhospitable grandmother. Everything seems pretty ordinary at first. Students spend their days getting to know the area better, enjoying the surrounding nature, detached from the hustle and bustle of the city. But gradually strange things start to happen around them.
Gradually increasing tension
All the time I was reading, I was accompanied by a feeling of unease. At some point it becomes clear that the forest the heroes find hides many dark secrets. Staying in it makes us doubt our ability to understand the reality around us. Are the sounds of animals and the crackling of branches just a figment of the imagination? Was the path that the characters just followed really there? The forest seems to be controlled by something. In addition, there are also its inhabitants who do not seem to be ordinary people. Therefore, Karolina and Tomek face a huge challenge to overcome their own fears and get out of this place in one piece. The author presents us in detail with the landscape of the Suwałki Region, which makes us want to visit it as soon as possible. The plot can draw you the tension and the atmosphere of terror thicken more and more. This atmosphere made an amazing impression on me, because I am not a big fan of being in a dense forest, especially after dark. The two main characters experience many ups and downs, and their internal dilemmas give them credibility. Also due to their difficult, even impossible to comprehend, situation, you want to cheer them on. Faith is an important element of the story. The book asks questions that are difficult to find the right answer to, and each reader, after reading them, has to find the answers himself. and their internal dilemmas give them credibility. Also due to their difficult, even impossible to comprehend, situation, you want to cheer them on. Faith is an important element of the story. The book asks questions that are difficult to find the right answer to, and each reader, after reading them, has to find the answers himself. and their internal dilemmas give them credibility. Also due to their difficult, even impossible to comprehend, situation, you want to cheer them on. Faith is an important element of the story. The book asks questions that are difficult to find the right answer to, and each reader, after reading them, has to find the answers himself.
A few words about the new edition
The first change we can see is the new cover. Dark and mysterious, with a huge yellow-orange eye, it attracts attention, perfectly reflecting the content of the book. The text has been redrafted and embellished with beautiful, imaginative illustrations by Michał Loranc. The review copy I received has not yet undergone a final correction. Despite this, I encountered only a few typos and repetitions, which in no way affected my perception of the whole.
Summary
Gałęziste can draw the reader in with its dark atmosphere and cause anxiety. It makes him question the reality around him and asks difficult questions about human nature and beliefs. It’s not easy to write a really surprising ending these days, but the author managed to close the novel masterfully. Even the best authors of crime fiction could envy such a summary of the whole story. Artur Urbanowicz’s novel is another example that Polish horror literature is doing great and can boldly compete with the greatest masters of the genre.
