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carbs4life's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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 enjoyed the Harrow’s prose. It had a way of sucking me into this story and it wraps up nicely. Ten Thousand Doors is full of adventure and romance across worlds. The romance is contained to journal entries which I found quite effective and does not distract from the main direction of the plot.
It is an imaginative and interesting story. One that I found myself thinking about when I wasn’t reading. I believe I’ll keep this book on my mind for years imagining the world that Alix Harrow built.
It is an imaginative and interesting story. One that I found myself thinking about when I wasn’t reading. I believe I’ll keep this book on my mind for years imagining the world that Alix Harrow built.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Racism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, and Confinement
isabelmary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This book was such a mixed bag for me. The prose was lovely, and the sense of atmosphere the author evokes is wonderful. The path that January takes - from subdued “good girl” to untamed and free - is compelling, but overall I won’t be revisiting this book or investigating the author’s other works.
Some pros:
- Gorgeous prose - describing the Doors and the other worlds etc
- it was nice to have race actually play a realistic role in a historical fantasy
- the ending was satisfying
- the work itself is clearly well crafted with a lot of love
- the premise is great
- the interweaving of the stories works overall
Some cons:
- it took the protagonist a LONG time to realize things that felt very obvious to me, and that was frustrating
- the interpolation of the two different first person narrative accounts felt contrived (For the middle half of the novel, January ends every chapter picking up a book and reading a chapter of it. In some ways this must’ve taken a lot of clever planning to pull off, but it ended up getting a little unlikely and irritating)
- both narratives were written from the character’s future, and both of them take multiple moments to decry the decisions of the past eg “if only I’d been fast enough”…. That stressed me out
- the love interest has no personality of his own and seems to have a totally improbable attachment to her
- the ending confrontation was actually pretty anticlimactic to meLocke was clearly evil from day 1, and January’s shock at realizing that did nothing for me. It was realistic for her, sure, but annoying as a reader. There was no real explanation for how she withstood his will and so his death felt unearned to me
Some pros:
- Gorgeous prose - describing the Doors and the other worlds etc
- it was nice to have race actually play a realistic role in a historical fantasy
- the ending was satisfying
- the work itself is clearly well crafted with a lot of love
- the premise is great
- the interweaving of the stories works overall
Some cons:
- it took the protagonist a LONG time to realize things that felt very obvious to me, and that was frustrating
- the interpolation of the two different first person narrative accounts felt contrived (For the middle half of the novel, January ends every chapter picking up a book and reading a chapter of it. In some ways this must’ve taken a lot of clever planning to pull off, but it ended up getting a little unlikely and irritating)
- both narratives were written from the character’s future, and both of them take multiple moments to decry the decisions of the past eg “if only I’d been fast enough”…. That stressed me out
- the love interest has no personality of his own and seems to have a totally improbable attachment to her
- the ending confrontation was actually pretty anticlimactic to me
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racism
anolissa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Confinement
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
"Once there was a brave and temeraryous (sp?) girl who found a Door. It was a magic Door that’s why it has a capital D. She opened the Door."
Set (mostly) in the early 1900s in (mostly) Vermont, The Ten Thousand Doors of January tells the (mostly) coming-of-age tale of January who longs to join her father on his artifact-hunting trips but is stuck being raised in luxury and on display by their wealthy benefactor-collector, Mr. Locke. It is, of course, about so much more than that: a possibly real magic Door, a possibly evil Society, an impossible love story, the impossible power of words, the possibilities of courage and progress.
I'm a sucker for a portal fantasy and this is such a good one! The narrative follows an unusual format, which might weigh down some readers, but I loved the dimension it adds and the way it drew me into the experience.
Content notes: racism, bigotry, confinement (to room, closet, mental asylum, bed, with and without restraints), tattooing and cutting, knife and gun violence, death, vampire, mind control
Set (mostly) in the early 1900s in (mostly) Vermont, The Ten Thousand Doors of January tells the (mostly) coming-of-age tale of January who longs to join her father on his artifact-hunting trips but is stuck being raised in luxury and on display by their wealthy benefactor-collector, Mr. Locke. It is, of course, about so much more than that: a possibly real magic Door, a possibly evil Society, an impossible love story, the impossible power of words, the possibilities of courage and progress.
I'm a sucker for a portal fantasy and this is such a good one! The narrative follows an unusual format, which might weigh down some readers, but I loved the dimension it adds and the way it drew me into the experience.
Content notes: racism, bigotry, confinement (to room, closet, mental asylum, bed, with and without restraints), tattooing and cutting, knife and gun violence, death, vampire, mind control
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Confinement, Racism, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
mmackoy's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
heytherekaity's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
5.0
hello yes I LOVE this book!!!!!
do you like portal fantasies? have you ever wished the Wayward Children series were full length books instead of novellas? do you dream of a grown up version of The Magician's Nephew? because if so, WOW do I have the book for you!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is an absolutely PHENOMENAL book and you should read it as soon as you possibly can!!!
and also Alix E. Harrow is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors and somehow I ended up reading her debut THIRD (I read A Spindle Splintered first, then The Once and Future Witches) and OH MY STARS it's just SO GOOD! her writing style just really works for me and I wish she had at least ten more books for me to read RIGHT NOW! (but there will be more soon and I will wait. patiently. or at least attempting to wait patiently)
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Readerly
do you like portal fantasies? have you ever wished the Wayward Children series were full length books instead of novellas? do you dream of a grown up version of The Magician's Nephew? because if so, WOW do I have the book for you!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is an absolutely PHENOMENAL book and you should read it as soon as you possibly can!!!
and also Alix E. Harrow is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors and somehow I ended up reading her debut THIRD (I read A Spindle Splintered first, then The Once and Future Witches) and OH MY STARS it's just SO GOOD! her writing style just really works for me and I wish she had at least ten more books for me to read RIGHT NOW! (but there will be more soon and I will wait. patiently. or at least attempting to wait patiently)
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Readerly
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia
juliana_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Animal cruelty
prettyfunctional's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read this book after loving The Once and Future Witches. They were wildly different and I appreciate the author for that. I love the mix of plot twists you can see coming and the ones you can't
However... I'm not sure about the depictions of race in this book. Awkward at best. I'll be thinking on the topic for a while before I know how I feel
However... I'm not sure about the depictions of race in this book. Awkward at best. I'll be thinking on the topic for a while before I know how I feel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, and Racism
Minor: Gun violence
iloivar's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
This book just hit me right. Like it took all the trappings of the books I loved as a kid and left them dressed up as the past while it hauled them forward into today.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Racism
wayward_sara's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This book is really a beautiful story about changes, love, the power of words, travel and how you must live by your own rules. And sometimes the best thing you can do is not to have them and just allow yourself to explore. I usually don't like a first person pov, but the writing style of this book is wonderful, I was mesmerized from the beginning and every chapter had a plot twist. Last but not least, the ending was hopeful and happy without ignoring all the dangers the characters had to face.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Racism