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A review by midici
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
4.0
*4.5
This book reminds me very strongly of The Starless Sea. But, for reasons I can't quite explain, it took me about 80 pages to really get into this book. Part of it might have been the narration - the book begins with January speaking directly to the reader and it didn't quite work for me, especially at first. It wasn't until Adelaide's story starts that I really got invested.
All worlds carry Doors - places where one world crosses to another. In this world, our world, a secret society works to find as many of these doors as they can, steal powerful items from them, and then close the Doors for good.
January is a girl who exists at a cross-roads. She doesn't quite fit into her life at Locke manor, the dark-skinned girl living in a rich manor at the indulgence of an eccentric white man who employs her father to hunt worlds for him. She's at the cusp of adult-hood in this book, at 17. She craves adventure, but spends much of her time being obedient, trying to be worthy of Mr. Locke's kindness.
There are different kinds of power. Mr. Locke is powerful due to his skin colour, his money, his associates and his reputation; and he and his Society feel free to plunder what they want, destroy what they don't like, and make the world the way they want it to be. January, with her inexperience, her dark skin, and her lack of family or money doesn't have anything - until she discovers her own power.
The terrible pseudo-father-daughter relationship between the two of them really does make Mr. Locke stand out in a book full of villains, though Havemeyer is a creepy, close second.
The book within the story is Ten Thousand Doors and it is through this book that January comes to understand the story of her parents, and how she came to be a child of two worlds. It is also how she discovers the lengths her father has fallen in trying to reunite with his lost love, with January - and dozens of worlds - bearing the cost.
I wanted so badly to fall into a story when I was little, and in a lot of ways that hasn't changed. Stories like this, where the world holds mysteries just out of reach if you know where to look, is a necessary, painful indulgence. It hurts in the best way. This book was beautifully written, with a lovely ending - it hurt in just the right way.
This book reminds me very strongly of The Starless Sea. But, for reasons I can't quite explain, it took me about 80 pages to really get into this book. Part of it might have been the narration - the book begins with January speaking directly to the reader and it didn't quite work for me, especially at first. It wasn't until Adelaide's story starts that I really got invested.
All worlds carry Doors - places where one world crosses to another. In this world, our world, a secret society works to find as many of these doors as they can, steal powerful items from them, and then close the Doors for good.
January is a girl who exists at a cross-roads. She doesn't quite fit into her life at Locke manor, the dark-skinned girl living in a rich manor at the indulgence of an eccentric white man who employs her father to hunt worlds for him. She's at the cusp of adult-hood in this book, at 17. She craves adventure, but spends much of her time being obedient, trying to be worthy of Mr. Locke's kindness.
There are different kinds of power. Mr. Locke is powerful due to his skin colour, his money, his associates and his reputation; and he and his Society feel free to plunder what they want, destroy what they don't like, and make the world the way they want it to be. January, with her inexperience, her dark skin, and her lack of family or money doesn't have anything - until she discovers her own power.
The terrible pseudo-father-daughter relationship between the two of them really does make Mr. Locke stand out in a book full of villains, though Havemeyer is a creepy, close second.
The book within the story is Ten Thousand Doors and it is through this book that January comes to understand the story of her parents, and how she came to be a child of two worlds. It is also how she discovers the lengths her father has fallen in trying to reunite with his lost love, with January - and dozens of worlds - bearing the cost.
I wanted so badly to fall into a story when I was little, and in a lot of ways that hasn't changed. Stories like this, where the world holds mysteries just out of reach if you know where to look, is a necessary, painful indulgence. It hurts in the best way. This book was beautifully written, with a lovely ending - it hurt in just the right way.