Wow...not sure How to describe how absolutely fabulous this story is!
January is a young child currently in the care of the very rich and influential mr Locke who employs her father to travel the world hunting out artefacts. One day January finds a notebook that marks the beginning of her adventure. Doors that portal into other worlds and friendships that keep her going along the way. Loved every page 💕

I really loved this. It's a rollercoaster read, with brains - gripping and clever. The idea of multiple worlds isn't new but it's done so well here and I really felt the anguish of trying to find your way home to the right world. This book was touching, magical, inventive and romantic. Highly recommend it.

This book feels like a classic in the making. Set in the early 1900s and following a girl called January who doesn't really know who she is or where she belongs. Her guardian is a powerful man who collects rare artefacts & specimens and he treats her the same -crushing her natural personality & inquisitiveness. We follow January as she learns who she is as she desperately tries to reunite with her missing father. The layers of story gradually reveal themselves and we learn that there is more both more darkness and more wonders in the world.
Exquisite writing and evocative language that will have you looking for your own doorways to elsewhere - hoping to catch the scent of a far away sea.

Wow. Just, WOW. Hands down my favorite read of the year (so far) and one of my all-time faves. The Ten Thousand Doors of January is the perfect blend of historical fiction, fairy tale, fantasy and mystery. Though slow-paced, I was hooked from the very beginning. The pace and tone (whimsical and dark) suits the story perfectly, all the characters, particularly January, are engaging and the writing is one of the most beautiful and lyrical I’ve read in a long time (and all that without entering the realm of the purple prose). I rarely annotate a book while reading it and here I lost count of the number of passages I highlighted.

As soon as I finished it I ordered a physical copy so I guess that means something :)

I don’t remember when “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” first appeared on the peripheral because Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel has been exploding across social media from the get-go. It is rare I get excited about a new writer but I was so hyped to read this I actively quested for a means to do so and would like to extend my thanks Orbit UK for giving me the opportunity to write this review.

The story follows January Scaller, a wild and adventurous girl who quickly begins to suffocate within her gilded cage as she grows. Raised at arm’s length by her father’s employer, she slowly begins to question her place in a world that has no place for her. Weighted by both tragedy and betrayal, January soon discovers this is less of a problem for her than most - bound within a secret book is the door to her past.

And somewhere in the great wide world is the key to her future.

This book will draw you in immediately. Seldom in genre fiction do you find such stylistic mastery; Harrow’s syntax continuously provokes that wondrous literary pause that pulls you from the story in the best possible way, where you simply have to stop and gawk at a turn of phrase for the unadulterated enjoyment of it. Each chapter strikes a balance between propulsion and suspense, a duality that has you scavenging for answers whilst enabling an innate sense of dread. I imagine book readers will watch in fear as the pages dwindle, halfway to horror and yet thrilled to have followed January on her epic journey.

The titular character is both fierce and vulnerable. Her position in the early twentieth century is a difficult one, first because she is female and secondly because she is mixed-race. I found the latter aspect fell a little short for me (though January does experience some race discrimination); her powerlessness stems very poignantly from being a woman. That being said, you will like January. Watching her grow into herself, or revert into herself as it may be, is a joyful experience. Each of her companions is equally well thought out and equipped with their own motivations. I found the villain deeply satisfying, though you will no doubt see the twist long before it happens.

There is a trope in fantasy that I despise and it contributed to the only part of this novel I didn’t like (or understand, if I am honest, because it seemed very out of character). That is the only thing that makes this a 4.5 star instead of 5. However, “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” will burst effortlessly across the literary spectrum when it is finally released in September. It is gateway fantasy - strange and wonderful yet highly relatable.

I am excited for you to open the door.

This book was definitely one of the most unique stories that i've ever read. It was written beautifully. The story was really slow paced and it took me while got into the story. I cried couple of times. It was definitely worth to read. I am really happy that i got an arc.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC of Alix Harrows beautiful novel. I was sucked in from the first page and was sucked through the door to a world full of steam trains, evil societies, and tragic love stories.
I read Harrow's short story and enjoyed her writing style and her tragic tale between two women who cannot be together. And although I adored the Ten Thousand Doors of January I felt it was missing the queer aspect that I adored in her short story, which is why for me this is a 4-star review.

However, this book was fast-paced and beautifully written with a plot that was wonderfully thought out, Overall a beautifully put together novel that captured the fantasy as well as the historical of a changing world.

An amazing story, I love how it emphasises the power storytelling and books can hold. The writing is so beautiful, almost lyrical in its style, it’s fantasy, romance, adventure, it’s all kinds of tales wrapped in one amazing book. This was one of my most anticipated reads and I was not disappointed at all, I love the fact it still exceeded my anticipation.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This is a fantastic story about the power of storytelling. It crystallises everything that readers love about writing; escapism, layered world building, fantasy, fully realised and flawed characters. This is a grown up homage to all those tales that we read as children about portals into other worlds. Not a wardrobe or flying carpet here but a battered book; the most wonderful gateway of all.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

5 Stars

It's the early 1900s and January Scaller, young ward of curiosity collector Mr Locke, has just happened upon a door that leads to another world...

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a beautifully lyrical historical fantasy story that, like all the best historical novels, has as much to say about today as it does the period it takes place in. Why do some people want to keep doors open and others want to lock them shut and throw away the key? Why might one find refuge behind a door, but then want to keep others from finding that same refuge? What power do words and stories have over doors - and, in a way, are they doors in themselves?

Basically, I adored this book. It encapsulates everything I love about fiction - the kind of fairytale-esque fantasy that stokes childlike wonder in your heart, characters you can't help but love, a riveting mystery that remains just as compelling even if you've already worked out the twists, and an underlying social commentary that is more hopeful than despairing. It can be bleak at times, but also humorous - I love Bad the dog with all my heart!

Simply the perfect book to get lost in.

A supremely impressive and accomplished debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow is magical in every sense of the word. Initially I was drawn to the book by that gorgeous cover, it is so striking and beautiful, and having read the book, it is perfectly suited to the story being told.
That story is a magical coming of age tale, and our heroine is the titular January Scaller. In the early 1900's January is growing up as the ward of the wealthy Mr Locke, a man who lives for his collection of the rare and unusual, and at times she feels more like another object in his collection rather than someone of worth in her own right. Her mother died long ago, and her father spends most of his time hunting down rare artifacts for Mr Locke , leading to January feeling alone and abandoned. One day she finds a strange book, one that draws her in to the story of a woman by the name of Adelaide who finds a mysterious doorway into another world ,and from there goes on a quest that will lead to danger, adventure , love and heartbreak. As January becomes more engrossed in the story she finds that the only danger may not be between the covers, and as she discovers just how closely her life is entwined with the story within the blue book she cherishes, she embarks on a quest as dangerous and adventurous as any she could have imagined.
Books about portals to distant worlds are always fascinating , and this is no different, The author has done an incredible job of creating a story filled with magic and wonder, with more than a hint of danger and intrigue. The historical setting works well, and added an extra dimension of interest to the story, particularly given January's heritage and experience as a person of colour. Aside from January, there is a wonderful cast of supporting characters, my favourite being Jane, the acerbic Amazonian protector sent by January's father , whose history is revealed in some of the more dramatic passages of the book.
The writing in this book is simply glorious, there are so many passages that I found myself highlighting on my Kindle , her turn of phrase is incredibly polished. This is clearly a book written by someone who loves words and reading, and that love shines through in so many places.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

“Perhaps one cannot walk through a door and back out again without changing the world.”

This was a book within a book, worlds within a world, dream come true. I was enchanted and mesmerised from the very beginning. My heart is full of hope and possibilities, and my imagination is so happy and fulfilled, yet because you can never have enough magical portals in your life, I’m left yearning for more.

I want to tell you everything about this book but don’t want to ruin it for you so I’ll only tell you this:

January Scaller finds a Door when she’s seven but, because she’s so eager to please, she focuses her attention on becoming the “good girl” she’s expected to be.

“I spent the years after the blue Door doing what most willful, temerarious girls must do: becoming less so.”

Years later, the memory of that Door resurfaces when she finds a life changing book.

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

I believed in the worlds behind these Doors without hesitation. Perhaps some of my belief can be explained away by the fact that I’ve casually sought my own door since first reading ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and more fervently since ‘Every Heart a Doorway’ but it’s really because this book was just that good!

Whenever I read a book that mentions another book I always investigate further. Does that book exist in my world? Do I need to add it to my ever expanding to be read list? If it doesn’t exist in my world, will the author ever write it? I was thrilled that the primary book January reads in this book actually exists and its chapters are included within this book! This is one of my dreams come true! Of course, the book within the book had references to other books, which don’t exist (yet - I checked), but I was so excited to be reading an actual book within a book and it was perfect!

‘The Ten Thousand Doors of January’ explores the power of words, the nature of power and the price of freedom. January experiences abandonment and loss, and I ached for her as she longed for acceptance and belonging. I empathised with the feeling of being pressured to conform to others’ expectations of you even when they diminish you and the courage it takes to live beyond your labels, learning to follow your own truth.

January’s Doors take her to places, physically and internally, that compelled me to want to follow in her footsteps. This book took a lot longer than I had planned to read due to illness, but each time I picked it up I was immersed in January’s story again within a paragraph.

I learned of Alix E. Harrow’s brilliance when I read ‘A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies’ during my (ongoing) 2019 Hugo Awards readathon. My love of this short story resulted in my unceremoniously moving ‘The Ten Thousand Doors of January’ to the top of my reading queue.

I highlighted so many passages as I read this book; there were so many beautiful sentences I know I’ll need to revisit. January is a bookworm, so a kindred spirit of mine, and often spoke of books and reading in ways that felt like she was reaching into my own soul:

“There’s only one way to run away from your own story, and that’s to sneak into someone else’s.”

Some of the sentences I highlighted tell you nothing of the story but said plenty to me about the talent of its author. This is someone who can transform the ordinary into something memorable.

“His hair clung to his skull in a white scimitar, as if the heat of his working mind had burned it away from the top of his head.”

“She shrugged again; I began to see them as practical gestures, designed to shed the weight of resentment threatening to settle on her shoulders.”

While I greedily want a sequel I mostly hope there isn’t one. This book ends so perfectly that I want the exquisite agony of needing more to linger. I knew there was something special about this author when I read and reread ‘A Witch’s Guide to Escape’ but after going through the Doors with January I’m certain of it. I don’t care what Alix writes about next; I’ll be reading it no matter what.

Content warnings include racism, xenophobia, assault on beloved dog and actions that could be described as self harm, except the intention is different than what I would consider true self harm behaviour.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group (UK), for the opportunity to fall in love with this book early. I want everyone to read it!

A beautifully written, enchanting and quirky book. It is a love story, an adventure and so much more. The characters are wonderful, especially the heroine, January Scaller. The conversational tone of the narrator's writing draws the reader in and befriends her instantly.
There is so much going on in this book besides the main plot line. There are multiple worlds, the telling of stories and the collecting of curiosities. The beautiful metaphorical use of Doors is so well done. The book is about the power of words, writing, possibilities, open-mindedness and living your own life.
I loved it. I read it quickly, unable to leave it alone, and now having finished it, I want to read it again, slowly, to savour all the nuances.
Book clubs will love this book, there is so much to discuss.

En fantasía, el tropo de las puertas mágicas está bastante extendido: leones y armarios, conejos y reinas malvadas; cualquier cosa puede salir por una de esas Puertas. Un ejemplo reciente y conocido es el de la saga The Wayward Children, de Seanan McGuire, en la que les niñes con suerte encuentran puertas mágicas hacia sus mundos ideales, donde serán felices para siempre… hasta que el mundo los expulse. Aunque he leído a McGuire y adoro esas novelas cortas, ha sido con The Ten Thousand Doors of January, de Alix E. Harrow, cuando me he enamorado completamente de las puertas mágicas.

La protagonista de esta novela es January, a quien vemos crecer a lo largo de las primeras páginas. January vive con el señor Locke, un rico de Nueva Inglaterra que ejerce como una especie de padre suplente. Locke, en realidad, no le ofrece demasiado cariño paterno, solo disciplina amistosa y todos los libros que una niña pueda desear. El padre biológico de January recorre el mundo mientras tanto buscando reliquias incalculables para el señor Locke. La madre de January murió cuando ella era pequeña.

Sin embargo, como suele ocurrir, nada es lo que parece.

La vida de January cambia drásticamente cuando un día encuentra en un baúl misterioso un libro titulado The Ten Thousand Doors. En él, el autor narra la vida de Adelaide Lee Larson, una muchacha que se pasó media vida buscando y encontrando las Puertas mágicas que hay por toda la faz de la Tierra. Puertas como la que encontró January un día cuando era pequeña. Puertas de mar, sangre y marfil.

La búsqueda de Adelaide se convertirá en la búsqueda de January. Será, en última instancia, la búsqueda de la libertad, el amor y los orígenes de nuestra protagonista.

I have to be honest and say I wasn't sure about this one when I started, it took a while to get going but I was intrigued enough to stick with and I am so glad I did.
The characterisation is good and the story unfolds with just enough pace to keep you interested, it is well written and the author draws you into a magical and mysterious world that at times you are loathe to leave.

January Scaller has always felt out of place.  She tries her hardest to be the quiet, well mannered girl her guardian wants her to be, but she feels like she is nothing more than another curiosity amongst the eccentric Mr Locke's vast collection.  When January finds a book hidden in an old chest she soon becomes absorbed in the story, an epic adventure telling of secret doors, of love and danger.  As she reads more the story becomes further entangled with her own, and January begins to realise some impossible truths about the world.

This is the second book I've read recently that tells a tale of secret doors into mysterious worlds.  Although they share a similar magic and both celebrate the importance of stories and storytelling, they are vastly different books, and both immensely enjoyable in their own way.

If I'm being totally honest this one was a bit of a slow start for me, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it.  The first couple of chapters introduce us to January and give us the backstory to set up the main part of the book. Much as I say it was a slow start it was necessary to explain January's story and give us an understanding of her life so far.

For me things begin to get really interesting when January finds a book (The Ten Thousand Doors) and for a time we have a book within a book.  I really enjoyed each section of that book within the book, and the story of January herself really started to take off at this point too.

I liked January as a character.  She was stubborn and resilient, and I liked how she battled with herself between being wilful and adventurous or being well mannered and reserved and pleasing Mr Locke. 

The story unfolds well.  We learn gradually about January's family history, and also about the various doors between our world and other worlds.  We only really experienced one of the other worlds in any detail, and that was the world of wordworkers, where Yule Ian comes from.  I loved the idea of words having so much power, and would have liked to read more about how things worked in that world.
That's the only negative I really have for this book to be honest, I would have liked to spend more time learning about the other worlds, or reading about the following of stories to find the doors.

Overall I enjoyed reading this, and definitely recommend it to anyone who likes books with adventures and other worlds.

Thanks to NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for an arc in exchange for an honest review

I honestly don't know where to begin. Perhaps I should start this review by telling you that 50 pages in, I knew this would become one of my all-time favourites--in the hopes that you'll carry on reading this review and be convinced to read this amazing book too! The Ten Thousand Doors of January is wondrous, exciting, heart-wrenching, and enthralling.

In the story, January is a girl of colour living in a mansion as a ward to a not-quite-billionaire who collects interesting objects from far-flung places, and is part of a mysterious society. January finds a strange book, a strange door leading to a strange world, and discovers a strange gift. It's a story full of adventure.

I would describe this book as a sort of mix between Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Event's Series, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series; which just happen to be some of my favourite books. The similarities being the themes of secret societies, hidden worlds, and questionable parental figures. Having said that, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is uniquely wondrous in its own right, and for a more mature audience. Which is actually something I really loved about this book; it still invoked that kind of childhood excitement in me despite that. Additionally, I thought the book handled the more serious theme of racism at the time quite well. I think sometimes with fantasy, common inequalities in our reality and their effect can be overlooked, but that wasn't an issue here at all.

I can honestly say that there wasn't a moment reading this where I wasn't hooked. The writing was so beautiful, the characters well written, and the plot so original. I think my only criticism would be that there was a romance in the book with the main character that feels sort of out of place and unneeded. But that really didn't affect my enjoyment that much at all, and I can honestly say this book has been firmly placed in my list of top 10 books ever.

I'll finish on a few quotes that I really liked whilst reading:

'"Hearts aren't chessboards, they don't play by the rules"

'There was no room, it turned out, for little girls who wandered off the edge of the map and told the truth about the mad, impossible things they found there.'

'“Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite,” I assured her. Well, he didn’t bite often, and the way I saw it the people he bit were probably secretly untrustworthy and had it coming to them.'

What are you still here for? Go and read this book!!

I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book for review.

The simplest thing I can say about this book is I knew it would become one of my favourites within a few pages.
The prose immediately drew me in and I fell in love so quickly. Ask Sam, who I was with when I started it - I just couldn’t stop reading it aloud. Harrow’s writing style is beautiful. It’s enchanting, magical and lyrical, but never like she’s trying too hard. It resonated with me so quickly and the copy on my kindle is filled with so many highlights. The writing just fit the book.
I also think I’m a sucker for a book about stories and this book had stories aplenty. Stories are a central part of the book. It’s all about how ten thousand doors lead to ten thousand worlds, each with ten thousand stories to tell. It just. Ahh. Makes my little bookwormish heart happy. Especially because it’s not just about stories but about how stories are important, how they can change the world. It’s just. *hugs book to chest*
This isn’t a book filled with action, so don’t look here if you want battle scenes at every turn of the page, but there’s always something happening. There’s always something that encourages you to turn the page. I mean, look at me - I was at 50% at midnight and I somehow finished it today, even though I wasn’t only reading.
Another thing Harrow does really well in this book is write good characters. I loved January: her love of stories, her quiet determination and her undoubting trust. Although this trust was sometimes her downfall (see other well written characters you just couldn’t tell if they were good or bad), it made for another strong part of the book. Family and friendship are a vital part of January’s story, and the two often merge into one.
One final thing that I won’t go into detail here because there’s just *so much* to say on this topic, but Harrow touches on a lot of quite dark subjects. There’s being coloured or “in between” in America in the early 20th century, but also being a woman in a world where one false step could get you labelled “hysterical” or “mad” and carted off to an asylum. She handles them so well and they’re so interesting to read about.

I want to write, and so you will see, a more coherent, better organised review for this. It will feature all the things I know I missed in this review, but it’ll also cover these things better. Keep your eyes open for it in a couple of weeks time.
Until then, go buy this book.
Because I will. And I’ll be using it to write my own story.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I was happy to receive this book as the description sounded so good and I'm pleased to say I was not let down. I thought this was brilliantly written, the author has a real skill and I look forward to seeing more. I was hooked into this book from the first chapter. I loved the main character and her name, January. I don't think I have ever read a book like this, I felt like I could picture everything in my mind. I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for an escape. You will certainly get one this with this.

Fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy and Esi Edugyan's Washington Black will love this book about a young woman who breaks free from her sheltered and stifling upbringing, and sets out on a fantastical journey.

I love books about the power of stories, which is an idea that Harrow's novel explores in depth, and takes in an unexpected direction. When the protagonist, January, is at her lowest moments during the novel she desperately seizes on to the magical aspect of reading- to allow the reader to escape from their reality for a little while. I loved how the fantasy elements of the novel worked to enhance this very real and relatable experience of taking a break from the outside world inside a book, and took it to a new level..

Despite the fantastical elements, this book is also rooted in the real world and reflects the reality of life in the early 1900s. January is a priviliged character to some extent, despite definitely not being white, she's the ward of a wealthy white man and is thus largely shielded from racist violence and the effects of poverty for her early life. However, she exists in an isolated state due to her 'in-between' status, under unspoken obligation to be docile and quiet to repay her benefactor by not confirming the stereotypes of white society about people of colour, and put up with being treated like a pet or a precious object. This is a psychological violence, dehumanising and degrading, which crosses the intersections of how 'good' minorities are treated as well as women during a time when they couldn't own property or vote and having an identity outside the role of 'wife' was frowned upon. The book conveys the insidious nature of this kind of internalised racism and sexist well, using interesting fantastical devices to illustrate the power of this false narrative that society pushes on individuals.

This is also a deeply romantic book, in the tragic and lovely sense, which avoids becoming sickly or boring as the feelings inform the adventure-filled plot, and the main character is interesting and three-dimensional, and grows and changes over the course of the novel. I have to say, I felt more invested in one of the romances than the other, which I felt was less necessary.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a beautifully written, lyrical story that I absolutely loved, and immediately want a physical copy of because the cover looks gorgeous too.