Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

19 reviews

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

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Grief, Confinement, Sexism, Classism, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Gun violence

saturnsierra's review

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

It was a very slow start for me, but the plot picks up around page 100.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Slavery

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

Harrow writes beautiful prose and excellently nails the desperate longing for something more that every young  woman feels growing up in a world full of adults who make it their mission to squash their spirits. January, Ade, and Jane are brave and strong in the face of prejudice and heartache, and I can't help but sympathize with them on a rather personal level.

The concept of looking for an escape, a way out, a Door is deeply relatable. There is nothing more appealing to me than a door. Especially when that door is old, secluded, or has a special Something that has drawn me to it. I find it difficult to resist the urge to try to open every door I pass, and then I am left wondering what was behind it, even years after I've passed it by. It was so cathartic to see a character who is just like me in that regard, always asking questions and looking for answers.

If there was anything I'd say against it, it's that descriptions of events, people, places, etc. trailed on for too long until it felt as though I was reading a list of adjectives. She's also quite fond of the words "oil," "greasy," "shush," and "bronze." And the ending was rather abrupt.

Overall, I enjoyed this read. And it hits a lot of bullet points in my reading wheelhouse: female MC, historical settings, time travel, magical realism, secret doors/passages, and women on journies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Grief, Classism, Confinement, Racism, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Forced institutionalization

laurenleigh's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

This was kind of a weird one for me. I think I should have liked it more? It was a beautifully written and engaging story about the power of words and the magic of books, while also being a striking social commentary on power. Framing our world as one of many, so as to analyze its bizarre inconsistencies and wild prejudice? Brilliant. There were several sentences I’d want to underline and quote here if I had the space. And the narrator was good too! I think I just wasn’t in the right headspace, because I wasn’t as taken with this novel as I probably should have been. I’m going to read it again in print later. That’s why I’m still giving it 5 stars! Five stars means I want to reread. So even if I didn’t totally love this reading experience, I think it was me, not the book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Murder, and Abandonment

barbsantos's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

This book deserves a proper review, which I feel I cannot give. The story is marvelous, the whimsical world that it transported me was a door on itself. I also love so much that January needed no savior, and for some reason I'm incredibly proud that she became the young woman her father knew she needed to be. Oh how I loved this book, it was one of those that I want to transport myself into.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Misogyny, and Animal cruelty

cluckieduck's review

I just couldn’t connect with this story. I tried, I really tried, but the quirky style of prose was just a bit too rambling and tedious that I found myself drifting off. I’ve read some summaries and based on the upcoming content, I’m glad to be stopping now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Misogyny

alyssadavis's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted 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

2.75

The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Pregnancy