Thank you NetGalley and Orbit books for a copy of The Ten Thousand doors of January. I heard good things about this book, so I was so happy I was accepted for a copy.
Set in 1901, January Scaller is the ward of Mr H Locke an archaeologist, in a mansion full of artefacts. While her father scours the world looking for more. Although she cares for Mr Locke, she is quite frightened of him and she thinks that he cares for her. But she is ignored by him whilst he goes on his day to day duties and the parties he holds at the mansion. January with her cedar colour skin, thinks that she doesn’t fit in the world.
One day, January stumbles over a book that has been left by her father. About doors which are portals to other worlds. Worlds of magic and legends. But when Mr Locke hears about this her life then changes. Her father is assumed missing feared dead and Mr Locke’s attitude changes towards her.
This is a beautifully written, magical mystical story that everyone will love. I loved everything about this, the story, the characters and such a beautiful cover. I just wanted to keep on reading and now that I finished reading it. I feel a bit lost. If, there is any productions teams out there, this would make a great film. 5 stars from me.

This book snuck up on me. Reminiscent of all the good things about The Golden Compass and The Binding I was transported through a literary door into a rich magical world.
It’s extremely well written and even at first when there is only a glimpse of what is to come it drew me in.
I fell in love with the idea of doors, the idea of other worlds that help us change and progress.
The characters too were engaging, strong and fundamentally human. Each had flaws but were still likeable. I loved the fact that the women were kickass, capable of saving themselves and going on adventures.
I am trilled I got to read this book early, it’s more than I ever expected it to be. It exceeded my expectations and I am sad I have finished it.
The storytelling was suburb.

I really do not know how to rate or review this book. This has taken me over a month to read which is unheard of. For at least the first 50% I could have put this down and never picked it up again. The whole thing seemed really disjointed and i could not get into it. Going backwards and forwards between January's story and her fathers book was off-putting and really took me completely out of the story. Although i pushed forward and the last 20% had me intrigued and was enjoyable i cannot give this a high rating.

I felt no connection to January and her character rubbed me up the wrong way from the start. It was not until the end that this changed.

If rated by me the first half was a DNF the second half would be a 3.5 possible 4 for the ending. As a whole i am going for 2.5 but will round up to 3.

I really wanted to love this and i am sad that this was not the case. I am unsure if this is a me problem though as i can see early reviews are good so perhaps this is just not for me.

This was a little tricky to review as I alternated from open mouthed adoration for the beautiful writing to getting bored and starting skipping.
There’s no doubt that the author can write - some parts are stunning, moving, poetic, profound, funny and meaningful.
But it is also an exhausting read, the main character is often over-analysing and over-commenting on the events, and painfully slow to get started. I liked the two converging time lines and the world building, I just wish it wasn’t quite so clever all the time and a bit more fun.
With a little tighter editing, especially in the first third, this would have been an absolute stunner of a book - it is still highly original, quirky, fresh, magical and largely well written, but I feel there’s a shorter and more entertaining book hidden within.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing and eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.


I am not going to explain the plot of this book in my review, because I believe stories like this one need to be approached with little to no knowledge about what happens in them. Only then are they really enjoyable.

I am going to give you a few buzzwords, for a lack of a better word, to make you interested, though, because I believe you should be interested and pick up this book.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January has:

- approachable magic - I think even if you're not a fan of magic or find it hard to understand some magic systems, this one is quite simple. Simple is definitely a compliment in this scenario; simple, as in easy to follow, but not lacking richness.
- multidimensional characters - there are layers upon layers to every single character, especially the main character, January. And POC representation. And don't get me started on all the relationships in it!
- whimsical atmosphere - it is not a spoiler, because it's in the title... there are Doors that lead to different worlds. (Shoutout to all of you Wayward Children series fans - here's something for you)
- beautiful writing!

It would've nearly gotten 5 stars from me if I wasn't so confused at the start, which I blame on myself more than I blame it on the book.

I loved the dynamic and pacing of this book. It was full of action, and only the very start of it was somewhat slow, but I understand it was done to set up the story. January is a great heroine to read from. I enjoyed her point of view. The struggles she encounters on a daily basis as a POC in early 1900s were described in what I thought was an authentic way (although I can't now that, being white myself).

I would recommend this book to fans of Seanan McGuire and Laini Taylor, or just people who enjoy good books! And to pretty cover enthusiasts.
4.5/5 stars

I love this story. It is what every child holds deep in their imagination. What every inner child sat inside an adult screams for. Imagine doors, just random doors in the middle of nowhere, somewhere and even here. Doors that lead to other places, countries and people. Doors driven by the invisible magic in the world, but only visible to a few.

There’s a moment in the story when Harrow balances the readers on the precipice of whether what January is experiencing is real or fiction. A fictional narrative drummed up by the trauma of grief and the pain of neglect. A young girl who has had episodes of delusions over the years or is that what Locke would have us believe.

It all seems too far-fetched to be true. Doors in the middle of fields that lead to other places. A book that tells the story of a young girl who happens upon the opening of a door at the right time and then spends years trying to reestablish a connection made within moments. Moments that haunt her and set her on an incredible path to discover the truth.

This book has incredible depth and beauty. It’s the kind of story that inspires both the young and old, and creates readers. It allows readers to step further than they believed – one page at a time. Magic of old and blood magic of new.

It’s YA fantasy, but I would recommend it for younger readers too. Fantasy melded with historical fiction with an essence of literary fiction.

This is a lovely story, it’s about love, deep enduring love, both parental and between two humans, it’s about greed and selfishness, and it’s about keeping going when all the odds are against you. Oh, and a little bit of magic?

I enjoyed this, it would be a good holiday read.

My thanks to Netgalley and Orbit Books

This was one of my most anticipated novels of 2019 and I practically jumped for joy when my ARC request got accepted on Netgalley.

Wow. This was not what I was expecting. It started off perfectly well, the writing style actually blew me away. Harrow has a beautiful way of writing that flows so well and really drew me in, in the beginning.

So we meet January as a child and she discovers a magical door into a new world. Great! I'm thinking this is just the start, she doesn't stay in the world for more than about 30 seconds but then we start to read about her adolescent years and I am assuming that first door was just the start!
How wrong I was. January finds a book about magical doors and we spend the next 6 chapters learning about someone else, that she doesn't know, going through doors whilst we slowly follow her everyday life. I kept thinking to myself eventually the book within the book and Januarys story will join up, which they kind of do? But not in any amazing or interesting sense. I DNF at 48% after reading some similar reviews and I realised there was no major point to this story.
There is no excuse for being half way through book and the main point hasn't even been hinted at yet????!!

I'm going to give this 3 stars because the writing style is possibly the most beautiful I have read in a long time, but it also has no actual plot so yeah....

TW/CW : racism, self harm (in order to do magic), animal cruelty, bad parenting, a lot of colonialism,

Probably 2.5 / 5 stars

There's a few tropes I hate in this book, so it really didn't help :
- A story within a story
- Instalove (even instaTrueLove lol, help) - though thank god it's only a side plot in the story
- The villain monologue explaining everything at the end

Also, it's not a trope but it had hints of fabulism (/Magical realism) and I really dislike fabulism, it's just not for me.

Short version : you might like this book if you enjoy the writing until the very end, unlike me. If you like it, then you will probably be carried away with the story and really enjoy it. If it annoys you like it did me then you'll probably just look at it from the sidelines and see everything that is wrong with it, all the little inconsistencies and annoying bits.

First, a word on colonialism
The book opens with a couple of colonialist (and racist) comments about other countries to make us understand what year this is. So this is the summer of 1901 yada yada yada and then it goes :

Those unruly Boxers had been subdued in China and Cuba had been tucked neatly beneath America's civilized wing


A lot of people just see this as sarcasm and so it's fine. I guess it's supposed to be but there's nothing on page that shows explicitly that it's sarcasm and this is like page 2 and unless you follow the author and stuff and know that she can't possibly think those lines then how would you know ? Also, even if everyone gets that this is sarcasm (I didn't really) it's basically the same as doing a racist joke, just because it's among people who are "not racist" (how would you know none of your readers will be racists though) then it's ok to say literally the same thing as racists do.
Guess what ? It's not okay.

There's also 2 instance of talking about a human zoo in London, without any criticism of it. The first time, a character just says that London in general is a human zoo, another time the MC sees a bunch of different people (black, brown, white, asian etc) who look a little ragged and compares them in her head to the London human zoo.

I was left quite unconformable with those different comments that never got challenged. And yes, the rest of the story is about rich white men in the US/Europe stealing art and cultural objects from other countries and yes that got challenged but it's just not the same thing and the racism/colonialism should also have clear comments against them imo.

The writing

It was... a lot. A lot of metaphors and similes. Especially TONS of similes and some of them were WILD.

See the unfurled curve of that [letter] J, like a rope dangling out of a prison window ?

There were a lot of sentences like that around capitalized first letters and let me tell you it got very old very quickly.

He shriveled like something left on a windowsill too long


The house smelled of goats on warm afternoons


lol, so it stunk. But like, do goats really have different smells during the day though ?

[the boat] smells of sunsets on strange horizons, of nameless constellations and spinning compass needles and the forgotten borderlands at the edge of the world

or MAYBE you shouldn't have used the word "smell" because this is just ridiculous. Maybe it "felt" like this but it definitely didn't "smell" like it. (I just have something in general against the "writing trope" of saying ridiculous stuff about things and especially people smells. No, this guy didn't smell like grass after the rain and your mother's food, come on)

Also I get that putting adjectives everywhere is FUN but they should at least make sense :

into the lazy sunlight of a summer afternoon

Well, in a summer afternoon the sunlight is usually everything but lazy ? Like, it's the hottest time of the day and of the year. I do not understand what this is supposed to mean.


Am I nitpicking on some of those ? Maybe. A lot of you will read them and actually think this is a beautiful writing and now you want to read this book and it's fine, you do you ! At first I was into it too, but now that I've read 380 pages of it ? not so much. I mostly think the author is trying too hard and that it should have all been edited a ton. To make a simile : it's like candies, at first you really like them but if you eat an entire box it in one go then you just get nauseous.


The Characters
We mostly get to know January but I never got attached to her in any way, I think the writing has something to do with it, I like the idea of her but I don't really care and won't remember about her in a couple of days. Also, during the second half of the book she does the DUMBEST THINGS. It was truly mesmerizing to see the stupid stuff she pulled. I can't tell you what exactly as it would be spoilery of course but let me tell you : HOW DUMB CAN YOU GET JANUARY ?? It's basically all about going to dangerous places alone when you could have backup, deciding their fates for other people without letting them the chance to have a say, basically spelling out where you're going to a bad guy because you think you're smart when sometimes YOU'RE REALLY NOT...

Also, as I said in the trigger warnings be careful if you're triggered by this because she self-mutilate in order to do magic at one point. But it's completely dumb too because in my opinion she could have just written on the wall, she didn't need to write ON HERSELF. But that's just more dramatic I guess...

Everyone in January's family is also very selfish and self-centered and it got on my nerve. There's a few things that also happen after the midway point that made me really dislike her dad especially..But again, I can't explain more because spoilers.

There was in this story a lot of importance given to LOVE, not as in the love story being an important part, because it wasn't, but there was a lot of quotes about love and TRUE LOVE and how love enable you do do things, and also how you need someone with you in your life to be happy and it also got on my nerves. Like this quote :

Freedom isn't worth a solitary shit if it isn't shared


and yeah in the context it does mean shared as in as a couple and ew, I'll be alone and free if I want to, thank you very much.

I think my favorite character was Jane, but really she was under-used and was treated like shit. First, the "deal" she made with January's father was shit and we could have got so much more of her, it makes me sad. And then there's something that is linked to January's magic, and I'll talk about that bellow.

The Magic system
I hate fabulism because I need stuff to be explained and if that's not entirely fabulism it's still too close to it. We don't know why January can do what she does, when asked to do something (by Jane) she will say that she can't, like if she KNEW the limits of her powers when... ? As far as we know, she doesn't. So she just refuses to help Jane, but then later when she needs to do what Jane asked her for HERSELF she does it without thinking and wow look, it actually worked ! That just goes with the whole "those characters are selfish" thing I talked about earlier. They will just do things for their own gain. She could have at least tried doing the thing for Jane but she just flat out said no.
And aside from that thing with Jane, I personally need more in my magic system, but that's a personal thing. I don't link magic that just happen to work one way or the other when it seems to fit the plot.

One last thing before I wrap this up : would a poor black woman from Kenya, a grocery boy and a young lady know how to swim in the freaking Atlantic ocean in 1910 ? (The answer should be no, or at least they should have difficulties, but hey, that's inconvenient to the plot I guess).

So anyway I get why this is loved (so far, as it's not out yet, but it's really loved by people who got ARCs) if you like the writing and don't ever get tired of it (I couldn't stand it anymore by 50%) then you might not notice all the little inconsistencies and stupidities that I did. By the 30% mark I wanted to DNF this but decided to stick to it (I probably shouldn't have) but then I noticed a lot of little things that you probably don't notice when you are enthralled by a story. It all really depend on your reading tastes because except for the little things on colonization that I was uncomfortable about there's nothing actually bad with this story, and this is why I'm still giving it a 3 with the star system (that doesn't accept half stars), even though for me it's not more than a 2.5

I absolutely adored this beautiful new book.

You know when you read a book then struggle to find the words to do it justice in a review? When you finish a book feeling bereft that its over and all you really want to do is hug the Author and say a heartfelt Thank You.

Well, this is one such novel. I am one VERY fortunate person to have early access to this book and as such, I feel like a privileged explorer who has visited a world where few people have ever trodden.

From page one, I was spellbound with this wonderful debut novel, rapt in the story and utterly invested in the main character, January. The book is possibly best described as a young adult/ coming of age fantasy for ALL ages (I'm 63 and loved it) and as soon as I started it, I slipped into a world where Doors to other worlds exist. The storytelling is so convincing it had me looking behind every tree and at every old building with new eyes just in case it was hiding a Door (with a capital D)

Set around the turn of the century, in a world which is our world but with a few idiosyncrasies which include a touch of magic and a lot of legends. The first third of the book really just sets the scene, we get to know January, who at first is a little girl and we watch her grow up as we share her life. It is a sheltered and pretty strange life. She lives with her Guardian, William Locke in a large and rambling old Mansion filled with his collection of dubiously acquired, antiquities and curiosities, of which January herself feels like she is one, kept hidden away and only taken out on occasion to be observed and stared at. She doesn't quite fit into stuffy 1900's Vermont, where little girls, she is told, should be seen and not heard, obedient and unquestioning and to be acceptable in polite society, they should also, like her guardian, be white. Yes, racism is rife in the good ole' US of A in the early 1900s and Januarys skin, like her dear Papa's is darker than most. Not that she meets many people to compare. She is a lonely little girl. Her beloved father is away on his travels, off around the world tracking down and gathering artefacts for Mr Locke's collection whilst he leaves his daughter to be cared for by the obsessive Mr Locke, who is the Chairman of the enigmatic Archaeological society.

Her childhood companions are a strict nanny, whom she despises and infrequent but longed for interludes of companionship and surreptitious games with her one true friend, Samuel Zappia a merchants boy who delivers goods to the house and befriends her. He is to provide the one thing which sustains January throughout her solitary childhood, the surprise gift of a dog, who she names Sinbad, abbreviated to Bad, who comes to be her devoted and most loyal companion.

As she grows older Mr Locke occasionally allows her to accompany him on an occasional "business" trip, these are exciting events for a youngster, whos only adventures so far have been in the books she loves to read and she grabs every chance to escape and explore.

On one such trip, to Kentucky, she catches a glimpse of something which she can't really understand, a fleeting glimpse of another world which holds the promise of adventure and spawns a longing in her, to escape, to discover and to travel.

One day a breath of fresh air enters her life in the form of an unusual new nanny sent by her father to protect January and into the stuffy mansion comes Jane, bringing with her a whiff of her native Amazonian jungle and a brusque form of affection and around the same time January begins to read a new book entitled The Ten Thousand Doors, a handwritten and lengthy journal a love story and adventure about two people Adelaide (Ade) and Julian (Yule Ian), which is about to completely change her life.

It is in the remaining 2/3 of our book where the story gathers pace, we begin to realise the enormity of January's discoveries and to journey with her into strange and wonderous places as she sets out to uncover the truth of her own past, build her own future and break apart the myths and mysteries of the enigmatic couple in her book as she works out whether the ten thousand doors contained within the pages are much more real than any fiction she has read.

This is when everything becomes satisfyingly complex, spellbindingly mysterious and evolves into a gripping adventure, which created in me the deep inner joy which I used to feel when I read magical books when I was a child.

Evocative and mesmerising, this fable is threaded with possibilities and woven with a magical lyrical astuteness which I feel is going to earn it a place alongside such timeless classics as His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (and January is most definitely a heroine to equal Lyra), the Abhorsen books by Garth Nix and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, if you enjoyed any of these, I'm certain you will love The Ten Thousand doors of January.

It explores grief, loss, love, acceptance and prejudice and will resonate deeply with anyone who has ever felt they don't fit in. It is entrancing and emotional, I won't deny I shed a tear. Stunning.

A very strange yet engaging story. At first I didn't like the voice the story was set in but as I read on the young voice matured and I got used to it.
I very much enjoyed the mixed narrative and like the way the hook bounced from Adelades story to Yule Ians to Januarys. I also liked the hints of other stories such as Ink Heart and a few others I can recall.
I will definitely be recommending this book to others looking for a bit of an adventure.

I was utterly transfixed by this novel. The Ten Thousand Doors of January made me long to dive and live inside its pages. I loved everything about this novel and it reminded me of the stories I used to long for as a child.

There was great representation in this novel and I liked how persons of color were featured in this novel as realistic and also a main focus of the novel.. As a wonderful historical fiction novel set in a world filled with so many different worlds and Doors with possibility, the main character, January is a character I greatly enjoyed reading about with her upbringing with an almost foster-father and her experiences growing up.

This book is a true treasure of a novel, and its story of magic and wonder is one that will live on through the ages.

The ten thousand doors of January is a magical story that will be unlike anything you've ever read before.
An usual, historical, captivating tale of hidden doors, other worlds, secrets and fantasy. It gave me the escapism I love within its pages.
Perfect summer read.
5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read in return for an honest review.

I feel really sad as I had to dnf(didnotfinish) this book. I really wanted to love this book as I mean look at the cover it's Beautiful! But sadly I couldn't get into the story.
I'd recommend it to others as I'm sure it will be the perfect book for them but it's not my mind of story I don't think- maybe I will try and come back to it.

Thank you for allowing me to have the chance to try and read this .

In this magical Literary Fiction, a young woman searches for her true self, fantastical worlds intertwine with each other through the magical Doors, and two people discover the power of love.

January Scaller that we meet at the beginning of the book is my favorite version of January Scaller. Don’t get confused! There is only one January, and I will talk more about my issues with characterization below, but January that I started to like, at first, was this brave young girl, witty and bright, trying to discover the hidden powers within herself.

January Scaller is one of a kind. She is a unique specimen, and when she was seven, she found a Door. Not any ordinary door to the neighbor’s house or to the broom closet, no. She’s found a Door to another world.

You don’t even know my name (it’s January Scaller; so now I suppose you do know a little something about me and I’ve ruined my point).


Reading the story from January’s point of view was a true delight, and from very first chapters I expected to fall deeper and deeper in love with her and her story. That, unfortunately, didn’t happen.

The existence of Doors to other worlds is a splendid idea that got me so excited to read this book. And the beautiful cover design, of course. Look at that cover! Even though I loved the concept behind this book, the execution wasn’t what I expected. I wanted adventures in different worlds, I wished for a big quest for the main character, I desired to learn more about what lay behind those doors. But my wishes went unanswered.

Almost every single review of this book mentions the beautiful writing style. And, of course, Alix E. Harrow is a very talented author. Hence why I highlighted so many passages. But these passages combined together created this emotional barrier that I couldn’t overcome. All elements of the story were described to me in a way that I felt very distant from the characters and not engaged in the actual events.

I also had some troubles with characterization. More often than not characters would act out of their element. In «Ten Thousand Doors of January» my first impressions of the characters would always turn out to be wrong. I’d imagine Yule to be a quiet scholar, and he’d act brash and recklessly. I’d imagine January as this brave, selfless young lady, and something would happen to turn my whole image of her upside down.

Another big complaint is the pacing. I loved the beginning and January’s story, but as soon as I started to read the book inside the book I needed to push myself through the story, not really caring about Yule and Adelaide. While also interrupting my connection with January as I waited for the next chapter to bring me back to the “real” world.

The disconnection that I felt made me consider to DNF this book multiple times, but instead, I pushed myself to read 50% of the book, and when I realized that it wasn’t getting better I skimmed the rest 50%, sometimes skipping entire paged. But you know what? I don’t feel like I missed anything.

2.5 stars

My main problem with this book was the pacing. It was so slow and nothing happened for much of the book. It suits the lyrical style of the book, but it meant it didn't feel like a book with a plot, rather a set of vignettes loosely tied together in a biographical way.

January didn't appear to have a goal, a desire - or anything to work towards. She simply reacted to the world around her, in a rather passive way. Until half way through, there felt like there was no threat beyond a disapproving guardian. Even after this action point, it still took until two-thirds until the plot really picked up, and it felt like something was happening (though she could have been less passive).

Without a goal or real opposition, there was no reason to root for the main character - nothing for her to do, so no need to want her to succeed.

Also, the villain actually monologues - backstory and motivation. I was really struggling to read that part, to keep from rolling my eyes and telling her just to end it rather than listen.

After a few chapters, once she's found the book, there's a sudden POV change as we read the book alongside January. It was so jarring. At first it was written like a monograph then an actual story, with a parallel set of chapter numbers. We alternate between the book and January for much of the story. There's a very different POV, and the tone is so different. The tone within the book itself isn't consistent. It's supposed to represent a change in the author and the revelation of the book, I guess, but it was so hard to follow as it didn't feel like the same book - but just yet another shift in POV.

While the book does expand on a crucial plot point, give the backstory and (at points) a more interesting story line to follow, it's so obviously an exposition dump of the world, its magic system and the backstory.

There are also footnotes in the book. I find footnotes a little gimmicky and detracting from a story in physical form. I didn't bother with them in the ebook, because I'd have to hyperlink jump to the footnotes at the end of the book, then find my way back.

The story of a young girl who grows up in a world where doors can take you to other worlds intertwined with the story of how two young lovers met and were separated.

Unlike anything I have read before, I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend for fantasy lovers.

Thanks to net galley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A thoughtful and original portal fantasy, it references the kind of adventure stories I loved as a teenager and honestly, I would love to travel back in time and give this book to my teenaged self. I think she'd have loved it, too. January is a fantastic heroine: I love how she struggles with her relationship with Mr Locke, and how her mixed lover-sadness-and-anger with her father is shown from her perspective and, later, from his. The way Harrow nests his narrative inside hers is particularly well done.

My only criticism is that the end feels a little bit rushed (everything from Arcadia onwards seems to move pretty fast), and I would have appreciated a slower pace as this part of the book is when January really starts to come into an understanding of herself. Overall, though, it was a wonderful read and I enjoyed it very much.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is book in a book, letter in a letter. It’s a father daughter story. It’s a story about doors, doors between worlds, doors that some want to close and others want to open. It’s a coming of age story and a love story. Here are malevolent people and greedy people. its politically correct story about bigotry of the XX century. There is adventure and travel and WRITING.

It’s a wonderful story told in an unusual way.

Wow wow wow!! I absolutely loved this book! Part historical fiction, part otherworldly adventure, this was right up my street and I devoured it. I loved the idea of hidden doors between our world and others and the idea that folk tales are clues to doors whereabouts was genius!
I don't want to post spoilers but I really think there's something for everyone in this book - history, mystery, magic, adventure, fantasy and an epic love story interwoven.
"She accumulated the dust of other worlds on her skin like ten thousand perfumes."
Every word was perfect. Of the hundreds of books I've read this was the first time I've EVER highlighted quotes because of how gorgeously crafted they were!
Cannot recommend enough, the best book I've read this year and maybe even since The Night Circus.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in return for a fair review.