Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

RATING: 4.5/5

SYNOPSIS

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding debut–step inside and discover its magic.

REVIEW

“Books are Doors and I wanted out.”

There’s too much hype surrounding this book and I just had to pick this up right away so that I don’t feel left out. And I think this book deserves the hype!

I think this has been said a lot of times by other book reviewers out there: Alix E. Harrow’s writing is so so beautiful! Its so lyrical to an extent that I thought I am reading some literary fiction rather than a fantasy story. We follow the story of January Scaller where her adventure starts when she finds a book titled The Ten Thousand Doors which introduces her to passages and portals (or called as “Doors”) between worlds. With the book, January finds out the secret of her family as well as the powers that she possessed. I love the concept of “a story within a story” as embarked by Harrow in this book. It was done in perfection and all the character arcs of the characters were perfectly woven together.

With such creativity, I think this may be the best debut novel that I have read in 2019. The only problem to me is that the pacing of the story (in particular the first 100 ++ pages of this book) is very slow and to an extent I am not sure where is this story going. But I’m glad that I did not give up on this book as there are so many surprising elements and revelations at the second half of the story.

“Books can smell of cheap thrills or painstaking scholarship, of literary weight or unsolved mysteries. This one smelled unlike any book I’d ever held… It smelled like adventure itself had been harvested in the wild, distilled to a fine wine, and splashed across each page.”

As a reader, I definitely agree that every book is an adventure on its own. This book introduced me to a very unique adventure and I enjoyed the journey. A strong 4.5/5 star read for me!