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The 10,000 Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
It is uncommon to identify with a novel character in a way that causes similar circumstances in your own lives to elicit empathy. There are enough similarities that can be found that it nearly seems as though the book were written with your existence in mind. Although I haven’t read a lot of portal fantasy, I’ve always had a sense of suffocated repression that has stifled my desire to explore. Instead, they were first made known to me through books and stories when I was a young child, and they have remained with me ever since. The 10,000 Doors of January by Alix Harrow, a brilliant and enduring debut novel, beautifully and vividly depicts this experience of discovering oneself via the stories we exchange. It is an exquisitely written and painstakingly built journey about the power of love, the value of stories, and the enduring influence of words.
I’ll give a brief summary of the plot; the less information you know going in, the better. The novel takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. January Scaller, a young ward of an unfathomably wealthy benefactor, travels the world with him as her father serves as his employee. As January’s youth draws to a close, she reflects on her earlier carefree years and wonders if she’ll ever be able to recover that sense of freedom and wanderlust. And then a book enters her life that could end up being the turning point.
Within the opening few pages of the story, Harrow’s talent for writing sentences is readily apparent. The prose is clear, insightful, funny, and approachable. Stories inside stories offer the chance to dance around various character voices, and the cast comes across as real and lifelike after only a little period of time spent getting to know them.
Warning: There is a commitment that January makes in a letter to a longtime friend toward the end of the novel. It finishes with the words “So will I,” and you will break down in tears as you repeat those words to yourself over a tissue box.
At the risk of repeating myself, this is a fantastic book that I intend to read again. I can confidently suggest this unusual fantasy book to my friends and family who don’t typically read the genre. Before the foreseeable Hollywood movie is created, read this book. It deserves to be truly felt from the inside out.
The Review
The 10,000 Doors of January
9 Score
What an amazing read! It took me some time before I could write this review. I wanted to give this book the proper praise, I feel, it deserved. The magical realism took me on an adventure I did not anticipate! Through the many reviews I've read of various books, I find people always say that when you can guess ahead of the story, it ruins it for them.
PROS
- A beautiful story about the love of stories.
- Strange, Magical, and Wonderful.
- Truly Incredible Read.
- Magical World of Doors.
CONS
- Where are all the doors?!?
- This doesn't make sense.
- Would not suggest this as a good read.
- Poorly written drivel with racist undertones.
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