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A review by theinquisitxor
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
5.0
What do I say about this beautiful, beautiful, heart-wrenching story? I'm not so sure.
Let's start at the beginning: Portal Fantasy is my favorite trope/genre of fantasy. I heard about this book when it first came out, and I saw a couple of mixed reviews that put me off from reading it right away. I have a bit of a goal to read every portal fantasy out there, and I did just recently buy this. I don't have many books on my physical tbr left, and after reading an 800+ page space opera, I wanted something a little shorter and lighter.
One review I read said that this book is very light on the portal theme, and that it was less portal fantasy and that it was mainly just about January in the Locke house, etc. I don't know what book that person read, because I found this a great mix of portals, exploration and character growth. This book weaves beautiful worlds, and a system of portal magic that makes sense and is not just totally random and unexplained.
I loved, loved the characters. January's character development and growth has been some of the best I've seen in a long time. Who she is at the beginning of the story verses the end is quite remarkable and Alix E Harrow does character development right. I also loved the parental side of this story. How much her parents love and care and never give up. (there is a case of insta-love here, and while I don't like insta-love at all, it was tolerable in this story)
The ending is really beautiful and fitting, and I wish I could just step through the pages of this book and accompany January wherever and goes, and to whatever worlds she visits.
Let's start at the beginning: Portal Fantasy is my favorite trope/genre of fantasy. I heard about this book when it first came out, and I saw a couple of mixed reviews that put me off from reading it right away. I have a bit of a goal to read every portal fantasy out there, and I did just recently buy this. I don't have many books on my physical tbr left, and after reading an 800+ page space opera, I wanted something a little shorter and lighter.
One review I read said that this book is very light on the portal theme, and that it was less portal fantasy and that it was mainly just about January in the Locke house, etc. I don't know what book that person read, because I found this a great mix of portals, exploration and character growth. This book weaves beautiful worlds, and a system of portal magic that makes sense and is not just totally random and unexplained.
I loved, loved the characters. January's character development and growth has been some of the best I've seen in a long time. Who she is at the beginning of the story verses the end is quite remarkable and Alix E Harrow does character development right. I also loved the parental side of this story. How much her parents love and care and never give up. (there is a case of insta-love here, and while I don't like insta-love at all, it was tolerable in this story)
The ending is really beautiful and fitting, and I wish I could just step through the pages of this book and accompany January wherever and goes, and to whatever worlds she visits.