Thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this book in return for an honest review. In the case of this book however I really wanted to be reading a hard copy so I could flip backwards and forwards with January through her doors rather than reading in a straight electronic line. January of the title starts the book as a child under the guardianship of the wealthy Mr Locke, a collector of interesting artefacts from around the world. He employs January's father to travel the globe searching out the rare and intriguing. This aspect of the story alone raises issues of theft from other cultures by the privileged class, along with questions of parenting, love and loyalty. This is only one aspect of this intriguing book. Initially I wasn't sure where the tale was going but I was soon gripped as January started to find doors to other worlds and to question everything she had hitherto taken for granted. This book abounds with strong female characters and a fabulously faithful canine companion. I look forward to rereading in hard copy and will certainly recommend this widely.

Let us address the elephant in the room first: this book’s design is incredibly beautiful and I’m so thrilled to be able to say that the contents, in my opinion, match the exterior. Alix E. Harrow’s debut is beautiful, adventurous, and compelling; there was an undefinable, spell-binding quality that had me practically inhaling this book, it was only the fact I was on holiday with family that stopped me from consuming it greedily in one sitting, to be honest. Set in New England, at the turn of the twentieth century, The Ten Thousand Doors of January tells the story of January Scaller, a plucky child and later strong young woman with an insatiable curiosity for doors, books, and the adventures lurking behind both. January’s father is forever off on far-flung adventures on behalf of his employer, Mr Locke, the mysterious and wealthy man who acts as January’s guardian in his absence, giving her a comfortable home in his sprawling house and introducing her to the sort of society that surrounds a man of his stature.

I didn’t quite expect this book to have such a serious socio-political message underneath it all. As well as pointing to heavy topics of migration, belonging, and not quite fitting into the culture which you are inhabiting (January is biracial and experiences the discrimination associated to her skin colour whilst also being afforded the privileges of status that being Mr Locke’s ward brings) the book also addresses the idea of colonialism and imperialism and the tendency of imperial nations (or figures) to conquer and then claim artefacts and treasures as their own. At several moments in this story, January’s guardian, Mr Locke, collects rare antiques (of a sort) and the novel doesn’t shy away from discussing the problematic aspects to this sort of “acquisition” which was historically undertaken by very wealthy men who wanted rare objects for their own collections which were then used as a marker of their desired social status. The society of such gentlemen that Mr Locke is part of also seems to treat January herself as something of a curiosity, and her upbringing and education is figured as something of a “civilising experiment” by such men. I appreciated that the novel grappled with this historical undercurrent because I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to explore such issues and found myself pleasantly surprised that it took the time to do so in such a brutally honest way.

As well as having swashbuckling adventure and moments of tension, the story also had a really genuine heart underneath it all and a soft humour that had be smiling throughout. The narrative voice was witty and easily likeable and it certainly helps readers to immediately empathise with, and root for, the protagonist, the eponymous January Scaller. January is built in the familiar moulds of adventurous heroines from childhood stories, she’s Alice searching for Wonderland, she’s Lucy discovering Narnia, she’s Lyra clambering over the rooftops of Jordan College, and this element not only made me feel strangely nostalgic for all of those stories I loved when I was younger but also made me feel as though I knew January already. As she grows and matures and sees more of the world (both the good and the bad), a reader can’t help but go along her journey with her, especially as her own story and the story contained within the mysterious book The Ten Thousand Doors intertwine.

In conclusion, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is absolutely a book lover’s dream – it is a love letter to magical doors, to unexpected adventure, to the power of words, to the way storytelling can transport you in time and place to far-flung lands and experiences both so foreign to (and yet somehow still rooted in) your own life. For anyone who still hopes to find a little bit of the fantastical in everyday life, for the dreamers who always wanted to stumble into Narnia, this book will be a pure delight.

I loved the opening chapters and was convinced this was about to become an all time favourite, then it started to slow and i got about halfway and moved on to something else. I may go back to it and i definitely love the magically inclined, playful descriptive style, but it just sagged a bit in the middle for me.

January Scaller finds her first Door when she’s seven years old. It leads to somewhere far from her cosseted life as the foster daughter of a rich man. Little girls grow up and learn not to believe in the impossible. But then a strange book appears, just as January’s real father vanishes, and January sets out to discover the truth about Doors. One of the best fantasy books of 2019, this is a must for fans of Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman.

I am not a fan of purple prose, language so flowery that it takes a paragraph to describe what can be said in a sentence. I wanted to enjoy this book the premise is amazing and the interlinked stories are incredibly clever. Just not for me but please if you can bear the writing pick this up.

I really really wanted to love this book, mainly because it has the most stunning cover I’ve seen this year! From the synopsis it sounds like a beautiful novel that I honestly couldn’t wait to try. I spent a week trying, and failing to be interested in the characters and I really struggled with the ‘book in a book’ format.

So unfortunately I didn’t finish this one. I got to halfway or should I say I pushed to halfway as I’d read a couple of comments about this being a slow start but I didn’t feel that it had picked up by this point.

This is nothing against the writing, I think Harrow is a lover of words and that really shows in her descriptive text but sometimes beautiful language doesn’t make up for a whimsy storyline.

I will say that I might go back to this one. Maybe my mind isn’t in the right place so I’ll have a break, read some fantasy magical books and come back to it at a later date.

It’s taken me an unforgivably long time to write a full review this book because every time I began, I would panic that I would not be able to find sufficient words to convey the extent of my love for this beautiful, luminous story. It is, hands down, the best thing I’ve read this year and I want to run around pressing copies of it into the hands of everyone I know.

From the first page I knew we were on to something good. You know how some writers hit that sweet spot for you? That place where their tone of voice, their style, their essential writing quality just so perfectly melds with the way you like a story to be told? That happened immediately and I was charmed. This is all the more remarkable because the narrative structure is tricky- there’s a whole story within a story, which takes careful telling. And the underlying premise here of characters jumping through Door (with a capital D) portals into other worlds could have, in less able hands, come across as trite or cheesy. Not so here. The author Alix E. Harrow skilfully builds both world and the protagonist, January Scaller is multi-faceted, intriguing and unique. She is, as the author describes her, something “in-between” and as it turns out, that is both literal in the world-jumping sense and in terms of her character and appearance. But here’s the thing- despite being something quite different to the norm and regardless of any special latent talents in navigating Doors, January is no special snowflake. Her struggles seem real and her outcomes feel earned. It’s true that there are points in the story when she does do some completely idiotic things but in Harrow’s tale this feels more like character progression than simple plot device.

In addition there’s a wonderful – and at times heart wrenching- love story running through the book. I won’t say too much about this in order not to spoil it but I just loved these two characters and the challenges they faced. Again this side plot is managed without being too heavy handed and as it unfolded I was genuinely surprised at how various strands of the overall story were explained and how it all came together.

One thing I must mention is that there is an incident briefly involving violence/abuse of an animal, which some might find upsetting. This is my only criticism- I read all manner of disturbing stuff without being too shocked but in this case I feel it was somewhat unnecessary and it detracted rather than added to the story. Apart from that there are some wonderfully creepy villains and a few chilling moments of thrilling peril and dread.

Finally I give a special nod to the ending- so many authors deliver a wonderful tale for so many pages and then fail to stick the landing. I thought the conclusion of the book was perfect and I felt completely satisfied afterwards. I won’t ask for a sequel because I feel the resolution was solid just as it was but it’s fair to say I am now a massive fan of Alix E. Harrow and would happily read anything else she may write.

Es innegable una tendencia actual en la fantasía a algo que podríamos llamar «literatura de portales». Me parece que esta tendencia empezó hace unos años con la trilogía The Magicians de Lev Grossman y sus viajes a Fillory, pero seguramente alguien con más conocimientos que yo podría indicar otro inicio. El caso es que los portales han vuelto a nuestras vidas y parece que para quedarse. Ahí tenemos a Seanan McGuire y su exitosa serie Wayward Child o la propia autora de esta novela, Alix E. Harrow, ganadora del premio Hugo por otro relato de puertas mágicas.


The Ten Thousand Doors of January tiene un gusto a fantasía clásica que resulta muy agradable para el lector más veterano, que se encuentra con lugares que no conoce pero que le recuerdan a otros por los que si ha transitado. En este sentido, la autora es muy hábil dejándonos entrever otros mundos pero sin definirlos apenas, solo dando unas pequeñas pinceladas de lo que podríamos encontrarnos allí. En los mundos en los que se va desarrollando la historia sí que hay más descripciones y ahí es donde la autora saca a relucir todo su arsenal de comparaciones y estilos. Me ha fascinado la prosa que utiliza, capaz de decir mucho con pocas palabras. Creo que este es uno de los puntos más destacables de la obra, el placer estético de la lectura.

El hecho de que la protagonista sea una persona de color también es importante, en parte por el desarrollo de la historia en sí, pero principalmente como alegato antirracista. El momento temporal en que se sitúa, a principios del siglo XX, también ayuda a que este factor incremente su importancia, y cubre de un velo misterioso las investigaciones que se llevan a cabo para encontrar nuevas puertas, porque en aquella época el mundo no estaba tan precisamente cartografiado como ahora. Un acierto, otro más, de la autora.

Creo que la historia de amor que se va descubriendo a través de cartas y otras referencias también es un pilar importante en la novela. Un amor que ocurre casi por casualidad pero que es capaz de afrontar las más terribles adversidades y complots para llegar a buen puerto también es algo que quedará en nuestra memoria tras haber leído el libro.

Quizá el punto más flojo del libro sean los enemigos, que parecen terribles en primera instancia pero que acaban deshaciéndose con una facilidad pasmosa para lo que se podría esperar de los miembros de una sociedad secreta dedicados a la conservación del status quo.

Creo que The Ten Thousand Doors of January es un libro del que se va a hablar mucho a lo largo de los próximos meses y no me extrañaría verlo en alguna lista de nominados para el año próximo.

January Schaller is a rather lonely little girl who loves to explore her guardian's large house while waiting for her father to come home from his worldly adventures. January's life changes when one day she finds a door, and discovers that there are secret pathways to different worlds. But her discovery soon turns to a life and death journey as a terrible society determined to destroy the doors come after January and everything she holds dear.

This book is a really weird, yet lovely, mix between Every Heart a Doorway, the Chronicles of Narnia and the doors from Monsters Inc. I really wanted to love it, and there were parts of it I definitely did. I also am not 100% sure what age range this book falls into, I thought YA at first but there were parts that read more adult.

The writing in this was definitely really good, and I definitely felt like Alix E Harrow knew the world she was writing, and she knew her characters. I loved that January was a biracial character, and though she grew up in luxury she was not immune to the treatment she received sometimes just because of her skin colour. And I appreciated that she saw the other side of the class divide as well when she was journeying without her riches and the protection of Mr Locke.

I'm not sure what it was with me with this book, but it took me a lot longer than I thought for me to really start getting into the story and feeling anyway a connection with any of the characters. It even, shock, gasp, horror, took me a while to love Bad! The dog!

I really wish we saw a bit more of some of the side characters in this book - Samuel and particularly Jane were both interesting but I felt they were at times, forgotten about. I loved Jane's story and would honestly love a novella or even a novel just about her and her land of leopard women, so cool. January's parents were both the tropey sad, slightly pathetic figures and I honestly didn't much care for them that much.

When it came to January reading the story, I kept finding myself really uninterested in it. Obviously everything comes together eventually, and I saw why the story was so important but it just took a while to get there - which seemed to be the theme of this book. I felt like everything only started to really happen about 70% in.

I really loved the ideas in this book, and the magic of the doors. The story itself just took too long to get going for me, and I felt like there was too much build up before any actual action.

I’ll admit that I was rather torn by this one. The comparison that came immediately to mind as I began to read was The Shadow of the Wind – and if I add the fact that Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s book is on my all-time favourites list, that gave it a particularly high benchmark to live up to.

At the beginning I was mesmerised – I really loved the whole feel of the book, the well-described quirky characters, and January’s clear and engaging voice and personality. I loved it until a third of the way in – the whole concept of the doors, the other lives, the way January’s life continued in the present with its many twists and turns, and the clever device introduced to frame the story.

The author’s style is compelling: the way she captures January’s day-to-day life with its edge of the strange and fantastical is superb, and I was immensely impressed by the sustained clarity of her voice. I also enjoyed the vivid and detailed descriptions creating January’s world – particularly Mr Locke’s home filled with curiosities – and the way her character grew and matured, facing the challenges with which she’s presented and the lessons learned along the way. And the book’s whole structure is highly original and very well-handled – I’m in awe at the author’s imagination and creativity.

But I’m sorry, my personal enchantment didn’t continue – the repeated departures from life’s reality left me behind, and that has far more to do with my own reading preferences than the book itself. While I can happily give it four stars in all the places that matter, I can only apologise that it was a book I just couldn’t love – but I do hope that the reviews of others might convince you to try it.

(Copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

This is not a novel to be skimmed, scanned or to fly through.  It's a indulgent story that should be read and digested with the utmost joy and the attention that it deserves.  From the stunning cover until the very end, every word should be savored.  It's also a novel that is just so brilliant that finding the words to describe it without revealing too much is difficult but here's my attempt. 

The writing is so vivid and it doesn't take long before the reader is fully merged with the story and it's wonderful characters.  Using a first person perspective works really well for this novel as it brings a child-like voice to the whole narrative and really helps to see the events through a younger set of eyes.

The world building and weaving  of characters and plot are extremely intricate and cleverly put together and the whole story is just spellbinding. 

For me personally, the key elements of the story were the undertones, subtly threaded through the main narrative but highlighting important aspects of life.  To begin with there is the question of January's heritage and how people perceive her.  Seeing the reactions of people around her, through her eyes really provokes thought about how others read us.  This theme is written typically of the time era of the book and really brings home how life was.  Another theme that was really heartbreaking was that of loss and the unknown for a child.  Having no mother and not knowing if her dad is alive or just working really is an issue that is still highly prevalent in many children's lives today.  My absolute favourite aspect of January was how unique and quirky she was in a time when this was much less acceptable.  These themes are tackled through the places she visits and the people that she meets. 

I cannot put into words how beautiful and eye opening this novel is to read.  Beautiful!

Thank you, NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for a review!

I was expecting this book to be better than it actually is, but it is not as bad as I heard others assume it was. For me, it was a good read. It had the perfect element that tangles all the reader together - the desire to escape.
The doors felt like a metaphor for everyone who tries to escape reality through reading.
I dearly appreciated that!

There are times when you love a book, and rather than explain you just want to put copies into the hands of the right readers and insist that they stop whatever they might have been doing and read.

I say the right reader because this isn’t a book that will be universally adored, and it isn’t quite perfect, but I know that those right readers will love it dearly.

It isn’t the kind of book that I read often, but I picked it up at exactly the right moment, when I needed an escape from the turbulence of the world that I live in.

The story opens in America, early in the 20th century.

January Scaller has grown up in the mansion of her guardian, Mr Locke, a wealthy collector of rare and rare and beautiful objects. This had come about because her mother – a white woman – had been missing for so long that it could only be presumed she was dead; and her father – a black man – was employed to travel as far and as wide as he could in search of new treasures for Mr Locke’s collection.

JanuaryShe knows that she has had a privileged upbringing, that she has been lucky in many ways, but she can’t help feeling that she is just another piece in the collection, prized by her guardian and the members of his scientific society for her cedar-wood coloured skin and her usual and exotic heritage.

As she grows up things that will change January’s worlds begin to happen.

She makes friends with a boy named Samuel, a delivery boy who often comes to the mansion.

He gives her a dog who she names Sinbad, and he becomes her devoted friend and protector.

Her father sends her a formidable black woman named Jane Irimu, who he hopes will be her companion and her guide.

And then two quite extraordinary things happen.

She finds a door, out in the country where no door should be, she finds that stepping through that door takes her into a different, and her head fills with questions about what that might mean, and about her own family history and situation.

Not long after that, she finds an old book. She had always loved books, and she knew straight away that the book she held in her hands was special.

<i>This one smelled unlike any book I’d ever held. Cinnamon and coal smoke, catacombs and loam. Damp seaside evenings and sweat-slick noon times beneath palm fronds. It smelled as if it had been in the mail for longer than any one parcel could be, circling the world for years and accumulating layers of smells like a tramp wearing too many clothes. It smelled like adventure itself had been harvested in the wild, distilled to a fine wine, and splashed across each page …</i>

The faded gold letters on the book’s spine read The Ten Thousand Doors, its opening pages presented it as a monograph on portals between worlds, but as January turned more pages she found that she herself reading a compelling story of the life and adventures of a young woman who had found doors just like the one she had found.

That was just the beginning of January’s own extraordinary adventure. I was enchanted by her voice from the very start, and it was lovely to follow her as she learned so much and discovered that though there were many who were eager to open doors and to learn and explore, there were others who wanted to exploit those things and to close and control doors.

Her story was written in lovely prose, that could be rich and evocative, that could move the story along at times of high drama, and that could build worlds wonderfully, wonderfully well. And that prose was threaded though with wonderful ideas, about words and books, about discovering the past and stepping into the future, about the big things and the small things that make a life.

<i>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 simply something that simply is and always has been. One does not fall in love; one discovers it …</i>

January’s own story was every bit as special as the one in the book that she found, and the the two stories worked together beautifully.

The plot became a little predictable as the book went on, and I think the setting up of the story was stronger that the playing out; but my care and concern for January and her friends and the themes and ideas that enriched the story were more than enough to hold me.

There is a timeless quality to this story, and it sits well in its era while speaking about things that are very significant today.

I appreciated that it acknowledged its influences.

<i>Worlds were never meant to be prisons, locked suffocating and safe. Worlds were 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 …</i>

And I found that this book was wonderfully readable, that it gave me much to think about, that it pulled me right out of my world ….

January Scaller lives as the ward of Mr Locke, a wealthy collector of fantastic items from other cultures, while her father roams the world in search of these objects. She’s not unhappy, exactly, but on the other hand her life is as restricted as one of the items in Locke’s collection: she is a singular oddity, reddish skinned, out of place wherever she goes.

One day, January finds a book entitled The Ten Thousand Doors. Instantly appealing to her huge imagination, it’s not long before she starts to wonder… what if this isn’t fiction?

Usually when a book comes with as much hype as this, I’d tend to shy away thinking it could only disappoint. But, the lure of the portal fantasy is strong, and I am so glad I went for this!

First, the few things I didn’t like: given the period setting (turn of the previous century), the treatment of women and those of colour is not good. I know it’s a big part of the plot, but I was actually tempted to abandon everything at the point where January’s autonomy is so utterly removed from her – apparently a bit of a trigger for me. But, stick with it.

And now the good: absolutely everything else! First the language: it’s got a poetry, but without being flowerly. I wanted to capture so many little quotes, just perfect turns of phrases and lovely descriptions. The period is captured very well, alongside all the more fantastical elements. The world building is excellent – who wouldn’t want to live in a world with Doors, all those possibilities and wonders and magic? And the story itself is enthralling: believably nasty baddies, a fierce heroine, strong supporting characters.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a rare beast: a book for adults that’s full of the wonder usually reserved for children, which catches you up in a whirl of story and possibility. All in all, a sheer joy to read – and very recommended!

What a great story! The Ten Thousand Doors of January transports you into different worlds on a trail of finding.

Love, being unloved, lost, trapped and despair, to optimism, searching, digging deep, finding strength, finding and coming home.

January Scaller learns the true story of her life, and her power to cross worlds through opening doors. With a dog as her sidekick, and what become two friends, January fends off a cult of Archeological Secret Society members who want to shut off and keep closed her family story, her life, and the opening of secret doorways forever.

A wonderful “Wordworker,” Alix E. Harrow provides descriptive warmth in her writing of worlds unknown, dark portrayals of harder times and trying to escape, and a longing search lead by love and longing.

Have I thought about stumbling upon a door to a different world more times than once? YES! That is what this book will do to you. It will make you dream of fictional worlds and not just Hogwarts, but every kind of world you have ever wanted to be a part of. I have felt involved and lost (in a good way), and my kinship with January Scaller runs deeper than any other character I have stumbled upon (at least in the recent past). This bundle of gorgeousness and magic lives up to the hype.

January Scallar, an odd colored girl is being raised by her benefactor Mr. Locke, a collector of antique objects and member of an Archeological society with hidden agendas and powerful secrets. Her father is employed by Mr. Locke in exchange for money and lodgings, his job is to travel to far off lands and collect expensive and one-of-a-kind objects for his boss. As a child, January found a door that opened to the land of seas but the door was promptly burnt down by her benefactor. Years later, she finds a book titled ‘The Ten Thousand Doors’, a journal of sorts that talks about these mysterious doors that connect different and diverse worlds, an escape of sorts but each door with a story to tell.

As January finds out more about these doors and their location, one outburst at the wrong place sends her to a mental asylum. The goal is to keep her away from all the information she isn’t supposed to know. But January soon learns that she is the child of two people inhabiting different worlds. Their story is beautiful and painful at the same time.

It takes a while to understand the concept of the book, even with an elaborate blurb. But as it starts making sense, it feels like a giant puzzle being solved inside your head. The author writes two stories, one within the other and each of them is full of adventure and dangers of its own. There are very few characters in this story and that is why I felt more involved. The protagonist and the antagonist emerge through their own story and it all converges at the end.

‘The Ten Thousand Doors of January’ is not an action-packed story. There are no battle scenes or strange magic being crafted, neither is the protagonist ‘the chosen one’. She is an ordinary girl, a reader like you and me who stumbles upon a secret and decides to reunite with her family by setting things right and facing the demons (not literally) she has been kept safe from. There are a lot of ‘reader’ references that filled my heart with joy. As readers we consider books to be an escape of sorts and the author combines this idea with the presence of actual doors waiting to be opened and newer worlds waiting to be explored.

Definitely recommended!

I’ve been utterly hyped to for MONTHS to be able to read The Ten Thousand Doors of January, even before the reviews started to pop up. There was something in the blurb that got to me. Also the beautiful cover, though, to be honest I’m not one for flowery designs. Then finally my time had come and I could finally sit down and give all of my attention to January and her Doors. I can say the hype is real, and while I absolutely enjoyed reading it, somehow it failed to completely enchant me. I’m not quite sure why yet, but I’m hoping to figure it out by the end I finish writing this review.

The story is set in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, in the relative calm between two storms – that is the rebellions of nations for freedom and the first World War (I wish historical background played a significant role in the story). January lives a sheltered life – as much as a young coloured woman can live such a life – in Locke House, under the wings of a wealthy man. With her mother dead and her father being away all the time to do Locke’s bidding by uncovering treasures and interesting artefacts, she is a pretty lonely child. She drives her nursemaids crazy, her best friend is the son of the owner of the grocery shop – and later Sindbad or Bad, the huge dog – and loves books.

“It smelled like adventre itself had been harvested in the wild, distilled to a fine wine, and splashed across each page.”

On the surface she has everything – nice clothes, a roof above her head, a huge house to roam freely in which is filled with artefacts from all over the world like a museum, she has education and she travelled to a lot of places thanks to Mr. Locke’s business trips. But in reality she doesn’t have much besides the postcards sent by his absent father, Bad and the few gifts she finds in a box. She isn’t a slave, but she isn’t part of the society either, no matter what pretty clothes Locke dresses her in. He mostly dismisses her, but shows her around whenever he helds a party as one of his collectibles.

Things start to change when one day January finds a book in her box. A book about ten thousand doors. It tells the story of two starcrossed lovers and January is fascinated by it. Also, the presence of Jane, sent by January’s father to take care of her. They soon become friends and they find companionship in each other. But of course things start to go downhill from there. January has to learn how to stand up to herself and for others, how to come over hardships, what happened to her parents and what the Doors had to do with it.

“Doors, he told her, are change, and change is a dangerous necessity. Doors are revolutions and upheavals, uncertainties and mysteries, axis points around which entire worlds can be turned. They are the beginnings and endings of every true story, the passages between that lead to adventures and madness and – here he smiled – even love. Without doors the worlds would grow stagnant, calcified, storyless.”

At first it took me some time to adjust to the story within the story – when January started to read the book – becuase it felt a bit disjointed I guess, parly thanks to it being written in different POVs. January writes her own story in first person, while we learn about Yule Ian and Ade’s story in third person. About half way into the book we get a revelation, and it got me a bit worried if there will be enough room for a bit more build up to keep up the interest until the end. Fortunately there was still enough things going on for that, but I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. It’s maybe because most plotlines were pretty predictable in general. Sure, there were a few small surprises here and there – Locke’s history for example – but nothing that left me thinking “Now, I didn’t see that coming.”

Many reviews praised the prose of Alix E. Harrow, and there I have to agree, she really does have a pretty prose and some great ideas. I liked the different worlds, and I’m a bit sad we didn’t get more of them. The focus was more on the characters rather than worldbuilding, however, I still found myself not caring about them too much. Sure, I was rooting for them to find each other or the answers they seeked, but didn’t feel as involved as I would have liked. I think the balance was a bit off between the love story, the Doors and January’s journey.

“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.”

Even though I didn’t fell in love as much with The Ten Thousand Doors, I still recommend it for those who are looking for a heartwarming story about love, about never giving up and taking your life into your own hands. Harrow’s debut novel is absolutely worths the attention and I’m pretty sure she’ll be opening many Doors in the literary world in the coming years.

What would you do if you stumbled across a Door? Not a door, you understand. A Door. A portal to another place, another world, another time. That’s what happens to January. She’s young, adventurous, and a bit mischievous. But when Mr. Locke, her warden, hears of her Door, he warns her to be a good young lady, or face the consequences. So she does as she’s told.

Until one day a letter arrives. Her father is missing, presumed dead, and January’s need to find more Doors becomes a desperate need and desire. If she can find the right door, she may just find her father and unlock the secrets of her past.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is an interesting take on a book within a book but also Doors within books. You move gracefully between times, places, worlds, and people. With that, Harrow explores attitudes towards race, as January is treated by Mr. Locke as some sort of novelty to be shown off to his peers.

There are some components of this book that I really enjoyed, particularly when January becomes an inconvenience to her warden and is carted off to an asylum so she can ‘rest’ for an undefined period of time. This was very much a reality for many women who maybe just did not fit in with their society’s expectations of them.

This is an ideal book for people who enjoy fantasy and books about books, as well as those who maybe looking for a book to curl up with on a rainy Autumn day.

I ended up DNFing this at 44%.
I was excited to read this. A book about Doors leading to different worlds? Sign me up. However this didn't work for me. For some reason the writing didn't click with me. Which was a surprise as so many people seemed to love the writing.
I expected a magical and atmospheric world. But I got neither. It was very slow paced. Which sometimes I love a slow build, this was not one of those times.
I was expecting January to go through Doors. Exploring magical worlds. I wasn't expecting to barely get doors and instead see January read a book about someone else and Doors.
I didn't want to DNF this but at around halfway it felt like a chore. I didn't care about any of the time periods. I didn't care for the characters. Waiting and carrying on in hope for some magical action with the doors wasn't worth it. Maybe I'll try again one day. Maybe audiobook is better. Who knows. I just know this left me disappointed.

January is the ward of the powerful Mr. Locke and remains largely his responsibility as her father travels around the world collecting (by whatever means necessary) exclusive items for their benefactor’s collection of artefacts and curiosities. She remains the well behaved, crown jewel of his collection until she discovers something that turns her world on its head.

This is a beautifully written, languidly paced story within a story. It is a slow burn, it isn’t a rapid page turner but it is a story that I sank into like a warm bath (with less sweat, dizzy spells, boredom and wet-book-anxiety). The characters are well realised, the magic and adventure feeds on that enduring, childlike desire to unearth some secret magic that’s all too common among us bookworms, there’s strong POC representation and it doesn’t shy away from the topics of race and colonialism (all too familiar in turn-of-the-century settings of this kind). There’s also a dog which earns any book immediate bonus points.

I loved it and if you, like me, still quietly (or not so quietly) long to receive that letter from Hogwarts, to slip unintentionally into another world or discover some secret magic to the universe... I think you might just love it too.