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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
January Scaller is een meisje dat opgroeit in een groot landhuis onder het toeziend oog van Mr. Locke. Haar vader werkt voor Mr. Locke en gaat voor hem op pad om allerlei aparte objecten te zoeken en mee terug te brengen. Ze leeft een tamelijk geïsoleerd leven en brengt haar tijd door met lezen. Ergens in het huis is er een kist waarin ze van tijd tot tijd dingen vindt. Op een dag is dat een boek; "The Ten Thousand Doors". En vanaf dat moment begint de ontdekkingsreis van January, waarbij de deuren naar andere werelden een grote rol spelen. January ontdekt het verhaal van haar ouders en hun geschiedenis en de rol van Mr. Locke. Met een geweldige bijrol van haar hond Bad.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
This is another book that came across my radar through an new-to-me source - Ars Technica. I am so glad I took the plunge and tried a new book and a rather unfamiliar genre (fantasy).
The story hooked me from the very beginning, though I struggled a bit to keep track of who was who. The first narrative was straightforward enough but then it added in a handwritten book with several additional complex stories. A great cover, wonderful character development, a fascinating story line, and it made me cry. This author has a gift for storytelling and writes very vivid imagery. I can't wait to see what she writes next (hopefully a sequel!).
Favorite quotes -
A footnote - "6. There is, of course, no such thing as a fallen woman, unless we are speaking of a woman who recently tripped on the stairs. One of the most difficult elements of this world is the way its social rules are simultaneously rigid and arbitrary. It is impermissible to engage in physical love before binding legal marriage, unless one is a young man of means. Men must be bold and assertive, but only if they are light-skinned. Any persons may fall in love regardless of station, but only if one is a woman and the other a man. I urge you not to navigate your own life by such faulty borders, my dear. There are, after all, other worlds" (102-103).
"Once we have agreed that true love exists, we may consider its nature. It is not, as many misguided poets would have you believe, an event in and of itself; it is not something that happens, but something that simply is and always has been. One does not fall in love; one discovers it" (165).
"Worlds are never meant to be prisons, locked and suffocating and safe. Worlds are supposed to be great rambling houses with all the windows thrown open and the wind and summer rain rushing through them, with magic passages in their closets and secret treasure chests in their attics" (340).
The story hooked me from the very beginning, though I struggled a bit to keep track of who was who. The first narrative was straightforward enough but then it added in a handwritten book with several additional complex stories. A great cover, wonderful character development, a fascinating story line, and it made me cry. This author has a gift for storytelling and writes very vivid imagery. I can't wait to see what she writes next (hopefully a sequel!).
Favorite quotes -
A footnote - "6. There is, of course, no such thing as a fallen woman, unless we are speaking of a woman who recently tripped on the stairs. One of the most difficult elements of this world is the way its social rules are simultaneously rigid and arbitrary. It is impermissible to engage in physical love before binding legal marriage, unless one is a young man of means. Men must be bold and assertive, but only if they are light-skinned. Any persons may fall in love regardless of station, but only if one is a woman and the other a man. I urge you not to navigate your own life by such faulty borders, my dear. There are, after all, other worlds" (102-103).
"Once we have agreed that true love exists, we may consider its nature. It is not, as many misguided poets would have you believe, an event in and of itself; it is not something that happens, but something that simply is and always has been. One does not fall in love; one discovers it" (165).
"Worlds are never meant to be prisons, locked and suffocating and safe. Worlds are supposed to be great rambling houses with all the windows thrown open and the wind and summer rain rushing through them, with magic passages in their closets and secret treasure chests in their attics" (340).
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
In terms of pacing, I'd call this novel medium-slow paced, and it does pick up in the last 1/3 or 1/4 of the novel to a solid medium pace. This is a debut, so it tracks that this novel might be written a bit differently now by Harrow, but it's solid.
As with most novels that folks fawn over, this one was a solid slightly above middle of the line novel for me, but didn't entirely wow me.
A portal fantasy with a unique twist, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is about a young woman coming of age in the early 20th century, a father who is mostly absent working for their benefactor/to whom she becomes a ward, and a mother who she has never known. It turns out her father, from an entirely different world, is seeking treasures from other worlds while searching for a way back to his own, which January only learns as an adolescent after she is told her father is dead.
Characters are fairly well-developed, dialogue and actions are believable, the villains of the story are, appropriately, wealthy white men/"men" who contrive to control access to other worlds, prevent whimsy and magic from leaking into the world as we know it and to allow for the ongoing expansion of empire in an "orderly" fashion.
Sindbad/Bad the dog, January, Jane (originally from east Africa, and who has lived in another world herself, escaping during the expansion of the British empire in east Africa), Samuel, and January's parents loom large on the page as their yarn unwinds.
Check CWs, but know that the dog doesn't die in this one.
As with most novels that folks fawn over, this one was a solid slightly above middle of the line novel for me, but didn't entirely wow me.
A portal fantasy with a unique twist, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is about a young woman coming of age in the early 20th century, a father who is mostly absent working for their benefactor/to whom she becomes a ward, and a mother who she has never known. It turns out her father, from an entirely different world, is seeking treasures from other worlds while searching for a way back to his own, which January only learns as an adolescent after she is told her father is dead.
Characters are fairly well-developed, dialogue and actions are believable, the villains of the story are, appropriately, wealthy white men/"men" who contrive to control access to other worlds, prevent whimsy and magic from leaking into the world as we know it and to allow for the ongoing expansion of empire in an "orderly" fashion.
Sindbad/Bad the dog, January, Jane (originally from east Africa, and who has lived in another world herself, escaping during the expansion of the British empire in east Africa), Samuel, and January's parents loom large on the page as their yarn unwinds.
Check CWs, but know that the dog doesn't die in this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Blood, Abandonment
Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy
Alix Harrow's stunning coming of age tale follows our heroine, January, as she grows up as a ward to Mr. Locke, a wealthy man; January sees her father only rarely, when he returns from expeditions abroad. She comes to discover that her mysterious past (and skin color) suggest a magical and strange ancestry, and when she finds a door to another world, she also finds the potential path to her own freedom.
A few thoughts:
- Mr. Locke and his associates are particularly believable and menacing, and the world itself teems with dangers both extra-worldly (tentacles and monsters from other dimensions) and home-grown (viz the subtle racism of the UK and the overt racism of the US).
- Harrow does a great job cultivating our allegiance for January's team -- her dog, the boy from town, the mentor his father hired for him.
- Narrator January LaVoy brings life to a variety of characters in the novel. I particularly like her characterization of Jane, the mysterious African woman January's father sent to safeguard and mentor our protagonist. (Also, what fun that the narrator shares her name with the main character!)
- Best, perhaps, is the fully-realized multiverse at the heart of the story. The story lets the extraordinary seep in, opening like an ever-increasing map. Really great.
Check this one out!
A few thoughts:
- Mr. Locke and his associates are particularly believable and menacing, and the world itself teems with dangers both extra-worldly (tentacles and monsters from other dimensions) and home-grown (viz the subtle racism of the UK and the overt racism of the US).
- Harrow does a great job cultivating our allegiance for January's team -- her dog, the boy from town, the mentor his father hired for him.
- Narrator January LaVoy brings life to a variety of characters in the novel. I particularly like her characterization of Jane, the mysterious African woman January's father sent to safeguard and mentor our protagonist. (Also, what fun that the narrator shares her name with the main character!)
- Best, perhaps, is the fully-realized multiverse at the heart of the story. The story lets the extraordinary seep in, opening like an ever-increasing map. Really great.
Check this one out!
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated