Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

50 reviews

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)

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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

rachelgronbach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, and Violence

meagangrace's review against another edition

3.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Racism, Murder, Grief, Death, and Cursing

wrenthebard's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense 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

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Cursing, Murder, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Vomit

sha_keiraa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

absolutely one of the best books i have ever read. made me cry, beautifully written 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, and Body horror

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense

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

4.0

I started this book with an intensely negativity mindset for several reasons. 1) I do not like historical books. I find them to be either boring or painful to read. 2) Connecting to 1, historical books that address racism and sexism can be triggering for me, as a trans-masc black person. 3) I simply found the start of the book to be interesting, but boring, disappointing me based on talk about it being adventurous portal fantasy.

I've just finished reading and my heart is tight in my chest. It hasn't made me cry, but it was right on the edge of it. I don't have good words to describe why I liked the story overall. It's more several small parts that built up into me caring deeply about the story. But to summarize:

1. The racism aspect of the book was what made me immediately connect to January. Both of us struggle with our race being ambiguous, causing people of all races to be unsure of how to approach us. I would've preferred to not focus on it at all, but that would have significantly changed the story. Honestly, I was surprised the author is white. Her depiction of racism was so natural. Better yet, characters of different skin tones are described, not only dark or unnatural skins. I've seen it be far too common that only dark and alien skins will be described, implying that the default skin tone is white and doesn't need to be mentioned for a character description. This was immensely refreshing.
   
   
2. Similarly, the way mental health and abuse was handled was so realistic that it was actually triggering. I had to put the book down to recover a few times. This was an awful experience for me, but I think this is a bonus to the book. I rather be hurt by how accurately a book portrayed a toxic relationship, causing me to further relate to a character, than to see it handled badly.
   
   
3. I was pleasantly surprised to see a prominent LGBT character in the story. It's not lingered on long, but it's made explicitly clear. There's also a small mention of a two old men holding hands.
   
   
4. I can't say that I found Samuel particularly interesting as a character, but I enjoyed him. I wasn't expecting much for a story that's not focused on romance, anyway. Him and January have a nice dynamic, with their relationship not developing in a straight line. Also, he's not Prince Charming. January gets a lot of agency in what she wants. This story has a strong focus on women being courageous and powerful and how those are attractive qualities.
   
   
5. Above could be said for a lot of the characters in this story. I appreciate that relationships in the book are explicitly complicated. I'm very happy that a story about family and your place in society didn't make relationships one-dimensional. Friendships and family in this book feel so grey that there's not a lot of room on how to handle a situation in a "good" or "bad" way.

Aside from my issue with the slow start to the book, the only had bad thing that stands out to me is how impulsive and reckless January can be. At the same time, that could be said for a few characters, and in the context of the book, it makes sense. Also, she's a teenager, so shouldn't expect some ground-breaking planning skills when going through a terrifying situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Racial slurs

Confinement/Emotional Abuse/Child Abuse Explanation:

There is a part where January, as a young girl, is forced to stay in her room for several days with no social contact, breaking her down emotionally so she'll behave."

Forced Institutionalization Explanation:

This is a significant part of the book. January is put into an asylum under false pretenses. She is strapped down and drugged to be kept passive.

Self Harm Explanation:

Connected to above, January gets out of the asylum by carving words into her arm as a necessity

meg_elyse's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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, Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Violence

sabrinz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

I really liked this one.
The story does start off somwhat slow what the account of a seven-year old, but it's still interesting. We follow January from the tender age of 7 (in the 1900s) as she tells the story of how she grew up in a wonderful, big mansion that was more museum than house with a generous sponsor who employed her father to travelt the world and bring back unique and mysterious things.
As time goes by, January is forced to abandon her wild joy and advanterous nature and is forced to mold herself into the image of what is proper for a young lady. She is almost resigned to her fate until one Society party from her foster father that changes everything and set January on a course to an adventaure she always wanted, but also on a journey to find out how exactly she is and wants to be.

This story is one that ties back to the beginnings and where even small things that are mentioned at the beginning have its significance. And I loved all the different worlds and doorways.
It's a really great book that I could not put down by the end - the plot "twists" were teased so marvellously with tiny hints that made you frown when you read the the first time but did not make sense yet without all the details. But they gained much more weight in retrospect. It's a really great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Grief

theoldestbennetsister's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

readerette's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

I wanted to like this book, but I'm not a fan of pretentious writing, and there was plenty of that in this book, especially at the start. It's intended as a kind of fan service, I think, but it still was not enjoyable for me. The plot ended up predictable and the main character was almost too weak for me to continue caring about her at several points. I did finish though--after about 60% it picked up and the characters became more engaging for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Racism, and Violence