Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

61 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Big mixed feels about this one. I like so many things about it: January herself; Ade and Yule Ian's story - actually, I found all of the characters fairly well written.

But I struggled with the pacing, especially in the first 2/3. While January is an interesting character, her story kept me less engrossed than Ade and Yule Ian's, even though she's ostensibly the main character. For me, the story really starts in the last third, when everyone's threads come together.

Ultimately, my biggest disappointment with the book is the the conventionality of Harrow's other worlds. They're "completely different from our own," but in very limited ways. Where were the worlds with people but without capitalism? Where were the worlds where people weren't "somewhere in between [men and women]" but just people? The refuges in Arcadia clearly include same-sex couples; were none of them looking for a world where that was the norm, or did the idea of such a world not occur to Harrow? It often seems like, in Harrow's mind, the best a queer and/or BIPOC character can hope for is a world where their identity is ignored or, at best, tolerated, rather than one where it's celebrated.

In 2001, astronauts carry paper notebooks because Arthur C Clarke, however vast his imagination, couldn't conceive of computers so small they fit in the palm of our hands. In The Ten Thousand Doors of January, all worlds, no matter how superficially different from our own, at core are quite similar, because Alix E Harrow, however vast her imagination, couldn't conceive of what real, fundamental difference looks like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy

Minor: Police brutality and War

third_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

A very fun take on portal fantasy! I enjoyed the intergenerational storytelling a lot and the structure of the because being addressed to a particular person throughout. Also a fun magic system, and Harrow's historical settings are wonderful as always. All around a good time, but not so light-hearted as to feel frivolous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

green_amaryllis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

hecubatohim's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chris_reads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Colonisation

malley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Self harm, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence and Pregnancy

mockh2's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, and Violence

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this story. There are a number of back stories, while slow in places they tie nicely together in the end.

I loved the occasional exploration of using particular words, capitalisations and the general importance of words.

There are fleeting references to various other lands / worlds through the Doors and I would have loved it if these had been explored in some way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

angela005's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Torture, Blood, and Colonisation

marsh_mall0w's review

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

This book won't be everyone's cup of tea.

You are reading a book about a book - with the said book chapters included as interludes. Fist 50% of the story is exposition (admittedly beautiful and gut wrenching) and the slow atmospheric buildup might be better suited for an audiobook, given that only around midway the story picks up the pace.

It was very poetic, pretty, but honest and raw kind of a tale. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism