Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

22 reviews

stargrlbooks's review

4.0

I am conflicted on this one. On one hand, I absolutely adore Alix Harrow's writing and find myself enamored by her ability to create beautiful and magical worlds within such mundane settings. I fell for the characters in this book and I think overall I enjoyed it. However, the pacing is a bit weird for me and I found that the weaving between point of views was harsh at first and I found myself skimming some of the first chapters. I also think I went in a little too excited after Starling House and was met with a story that wasn't as satisfying or compelling. I would read it again though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Racial slurs

merbears's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Self harm, Racism, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism, Xenophobia, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Cultural appropriation, and Death

Minor: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Murder

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

I can't get enough of Harrow's style of writing. Her metaphors and descriptions are like nothing I've encountered in writing before. Everything feels lyrical and alive. It's honestly difficult to move on after reading one of her books because it's like I have a book hangover, but in the worst way. I love the story and the characters, but what I can't move on from is Harrow herself. Her style almost ruins reading anything else after finishing a novel of hers.

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!

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Content Warnings

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

fatedefied's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment

valorree's review

adventurous dark inspiring 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? No

4.5

Vague spoilers ahead, not enough to warrant spoiler tags (*I* think, but maybe you think they would so heres a warning) on the themes in this book

The first couple chapters from January's POV were kinda hard to get through, not because the writing was bad but bc of the colonialism, racism, and imperialism that January herself subscribes to at times. Of course that's important for character development and it's an accurate portrayal of the times but it still was rough at times

(Below are some spoilers on plot points so I do use the tags)

I think if I was younger I would have liked this less, back then I was used to

large story arcs with one big bad or evil entity with a final showdown

which this book doesn't have. Instead the ending is

a relatively small one, where there are small and mid-level bosses January overcomes. The final boss being her pseudo-father and caretaker

and i think i can appreciate that a lot more because of how it is a really great representation of these rich white men thinking they're at the top of the food chain and being an authority over things when really nature

the doors opening and closing 

doesn't really notice and will always balance out.

Locke and his group trying to put rules to how magic works

goes about as well as California trying to build a sea in the desert 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia

spineofthesaurus's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

tangleroot_eli's review

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: 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

carolined314's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Self harm, War, Xenophobia, Violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Pregnancy

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

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