Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

44 reviews

bluejay21's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Classism, Blood, Xenophobia, and Animal cruelty

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

angela005's review

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: Racism, Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Colonisation, Gun violence, Torture, and Blood

thereadinghammock's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

4.25

While I usually enjoy meandering story telling and have no issues jumping back and forth between storylines within a novel, the pacing and format of January's chapters and Yule Ian's were so jarring for me and I found myself struggling for much of the first half of the book. Once the stories began to converge, however, I was all in. I LOVED being able to piece mysteries together just before they were revealed (sometimes a chapter or two ahead of January's revelations). As someone who often guesses wrong in "whodunit" stories, it makes me feel like an accomplished sleuth. I especially loved the emphasis on the power of words in this story. Between how January wrote as a storyteller, and the power they have as blessings within the City of Nin, such as tattoos marking life milestones and blessings stitched into ship sails.

I went into this book with high enough expectations to have been a bit nervous. I enjoyed Once & Future Witches, and my sister had finished this book before me and praised it as having a Starless Sea vibe (while still being quite it's own book). When someone compares a book to one of your all time favorites, the worry of disappointment is high. After a bit of a slow start, I was quite pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed TTDOJ!

<spoilers>I nearly cried at the Scaller family reunion on the pier. My heart breaking for Yule Ian, warring with the guilt of leaving his daughter behind, against his will, but reuniting with his wife after nearly 20 years apart. With Adelaide, letting him stew in his grief for just a moment, before gesturing to January and Bad, limping their way down the dock to celebrate the family reunion they never thought was possible. I also love the open door left for us, the reader, as January reveals her story is the one she wrote for Samuel, to help him remember. And I truly hope January is able to find Jane and write her a way home too.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny, Stalking, Animal death, and Self harm

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

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

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

bibliowhore's review

5.0

this book is about a[n]:

1. book within a book
2. wide-eyed logophile folks with fervent longing for adventure
3. escapism from the ugliness and/or banality of life by traveling through different wondrous worlds—both literally and figuratively (which im doing rn—the latter, i mean)

in conclusion: this book and i are a match made in heaven. will file the experience of reading this as one of my favorite memories

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Racism, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Confinement, Classism, and Injury/Injury detail

popsicleplease's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence

k_galloway's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• 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

beautifully written, but i’m sick of white authors writing characters of  color with internalized racism as their main (and sometimes only) trait. do better.

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Content Warnings

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

adventurous dark 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

bittennailbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

If you are a fan of RF Kuang's Babel, this is your next read.

A standalone, historical fantasy that casts a lens over the archaeologies contribution to colonization.  January Scaller is a curiosity, she is the ward of wealthy Mr. Locke, an artificer that is the head of a highly prestigious archaeological society. January's birth father provides Mr. Locke with artifacts from all over the world in exchange for raising January. After telling Mr. Locke of passing through a magical door to another world as a child, Mr. Locke decides it is time to put an end to his ward's childish imagination. Putting away her childish fantasies, January is offered a prestigious membership into the archaeological society that Mr. Locke runs on her 17th birthday, unheard of for a woman of a colour. Refusing to be another cog in the machine of colonialism, January refuses and upon finding out her father has gone missing on an excursion, January's life is turned upside down. Her only escape maybe the fabled doors in which she once passed through as a small child, it's existence hidden in her old leather bound book called "Ten Thousand Doors".

I thought this book was imaginative, tense, and absolutely threatening to the delicate veil that archeology holds over what its ruined. For those who are wondering about the dog: 

the dog does get hurt (mentioned not brutally described) but is totally fine

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction and Animal death