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craftysnailtail's review against another edition
- 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
Overall, I highly recommend this book just for Harrow's style alone, but it's also a fascinating plot with creative and well developed characters. Yes, it starts off rather slow, but that's extremely intentional. Yes, January feels frustratingly naive, but of course she is given her living situation. This book is all about adventure, imagination, and developing your own life's narrative. One of the top books I read all year and I recommend it to everyone!
Graphic: Racism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs
Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Death
joannabren's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
spineofthesaurus's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Ableism, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Stalking
athryn's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Confinement
Minor: Grief, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and War
tangleroot_eli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
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.
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Racism, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Classism, Medical content, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Racial slurs
Minor: Police brutality and War
green_amaryllis's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Grief, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Gun violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Minor: Abandonment, Racism, Death of parent, and Murder
brianneh's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Violence, and Forced institutionalization
k_galloway's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Trafficking, Colonisation, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Medical trauma
marioosa517's review
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Death, Stalking, War, Cursing, Body horror, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, and Cultural appropriation
faduma's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Racism