A vividly imagined, gorgeously magical story.

I’ve seen a lot of Night Circus comps for this, but I’d liken it more to The Explorers Guild in spirit.

The magical system isn’t really anything new (the concept of the doors is a fantasy trope we’ve all seen before in various iterations), but it still feels clever and the richly-imagined world makes up in likability and atmosphere what it lacks in complete originality.

Our heroine is also a familiar type, but you’ll love her anyway, and most of the secondary characters are compelling in their own right, especially Bad and Samuel.

The structure felt a little jumpy because of the manner in which January’s story and the story in the book within a book shift back and forth, but they come together satisfyingly in the end.

In all, this was less moving and emotionally evocative than I expected, but it’s fun and clever and the ending will put a bounce in your step and a smile on your face.

This was an absolutely fascinating read. A story within a story within a story. I couldn't put this book down. Excellently written, with beautifully described and deep characters. I found myself all I get to the story not wanting to get out. It truly is way different than any book I've ever read and I look forward to reading more from this author. I cannot recommend it enough!

I would like to thank the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

A lovely book that packs a potent final act, "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" marks the advent of a remarkable new voice in fantasy. If it begins a bit slowly, well, that's not so much a weakness as it is a sign that Harrow does not take the direct and easy route to meddling with readers' emotions; she's comfortable with the slow burn and the relentless build of subtle emotional pressure, bursting into full flood and flower only when one has finally been lulled into the satisfied slumber of the reader who thinks they've read this story before—a story of oddball girls and doors portaling into green woods and onto salt sands. We've all stepped through the wardrobe. We've all unlocked the gate to Moria. Readers of contemporary fiction will probably also have struck matches off the woodwork alongside Seanan McGuire's wayward ones. How can an author possibly reinvent the wheel?

Without spoiling the magic underlying this winsome-throughout, surprising-at-the-last voyage into imagination, I can only tell you to hold your children close and make sure they know you love them, for there's a world full of hurt just waiting to close doors on them. The love of parents for their children and the yearning of children for their (emotionally or physically) absent parents sinks its fingers deep into the heartwood of this book, and it never lets go. The book also ticks other boxes, including A) side conversations about race and class issues in America, B) the gaslighting of trauma victims and the weaponization of mental healthcare infrastructure against those who really need it, C) an important LGBTQIA+ side character with a delightfully scrappy personality, and D) an ownership of all its tropes. This is not a book that shimmies around the margins of its own toolkit; Harrow knows what she's up to, and she isn't shy about tackling time-worn tropes and techniques to transport her readers. Just like January herself, Harrow looks her readers straight in the eyes and says: "Are you with me?"

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is not like an fantasy I have read. I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. It was a refreshing and charming read. Alix E. Harrow writes an intelligent book with a unique and endearing characters. With a too precious dog (Bad) I'm a sucker for animals in books especially spunky ones. the Ten Thousand Doors of January isn't just a magical book filled with fairy tales it also highlights racial and social discrepancy in society and the oh so prominent powerful white men will do anything to get what they want.

Overall The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a lyrical thoughtful book filled with unique characters, fairy tales and that also tackle some tough subjects. Highly recommend.

.I can’t say enough about this book! An imaginative storyline coupled with a touch of magic, family, love and beautiful pros. I couldn’t put it down and I was thinking about it all day while I was too busy to read!

Thank you for this complimentary copy!

I received this book for review from Netgalley and Redhook books (Thank you!).


It's hard for me to put this book into words for some reason. Basically, this is a story about a girl who found a Door and then all hell broke loose.

January is under the care of a Mr. Locke while her father hunts treasure for a mysterious orginaztion that Locke is part of. This seems like a good deal, but it does nothing, but rip January and her father apart.
January finds a Door and Mr. Locke loses his mind. He then tried to mold her I to the perfect societal specimen effectively dousing her imagination and belief in the Doors.
Some terrible things happen to January during this book and looking back she realizes that she didn't really handle it as well.as she could have. But at least we have growth in the end.
In the midst of all these things, January finds out just how extraordinary she is and just like the Doors that bring change, January will bring a little change of her own.

This book belongs, in my mind, in the highest echelons of beloved portal fantasy stories. Right up there with the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, up there with Narnia. The world building is absolutely top-notch, the characters are unforgettable. I loved this book deeply and have plans to buy it for many of my reading buddies. If you have ever ached to walk through an ordinary door to another world, this book is for you.

The portal tale has been a staple of fantasy for decades. In this subgenre, a character– usually a young person– in the ordinary world opens a strange door, walks through it, and finds themself in a different and much stranger world. They have adventures there but they tend to return home in the end to discover that they are very different from when they left. In her debut novel, Hugo Award-winning author Alix E. Harrow* turns the standard portal fantasy askew, weaving a beautiful tale of two girls coming of age in different times and how their separate discoveries of strange doors changes their lives forever.

January Scaller lives in a sprawling mansion filled with antiquities from around the world. Though she is well-cared for and given everything she needs, January longs for a different life where she can see the world and meet people more interesting than the strict governess who oversees her education. One day she finds a strange book that smells of sea air and tells a story of magical doors, an undying love, and an adventure spanning this world and others. As she delves deeper into the book, she realizes that the world she knows is stranger than she ever imagined and that sinister forces are closer than she thinks. But January is not helpless. She is a clever girl who believes in herself, and with her beloved dog at her side and a pair of erstwhile allies, she sets out to discover the truth about Doors- and about herself.

“Now, I didn’t know about Doors at the time, and wouldn’t have believed you even if you’d handed me an annotated three-volume collection of eyewitness reports. but when I saw that raggedy blue door standing so lonesome in the field, I wanted it to lead someplace else. Someplace other than Ninley, Kentucky, someplace new and unseen and so vast I would never come to the end of it.”

With sumptuous prose that unfolds at a leisurely pace, Harrow builds her turn of the Twentieth-century world in such a way that everything seems so very ordinary. As a child visiting rural Kentucky with her guardian, Mr. Locke, January finds an odd door in a meadow. She opens it with the hope that she will find a different world behind it, but all she sees is more of the same old meadow. Disappointed and frightened by a subsequent encounter with a strange woman, January runs away and when Mr. Locke finds her again, he tells her he understands and that he wishes she would be a good girl. And so January spends the next ten years being the best little girl she can be until a strange book appears. The ideas it contains suggests that January’s childhood hopes were not unfounded, and this pushes her to start believing in herself again.

Mr. Locke is not the only man January looks up to. Her father, Julian Scaller, is Mr. Locke’s employee. He has spent most of January’s life traveling the world to find artifacts for Locke and his explorer’s club, some of which they sell and some of which they keep for themselves. The immorality of ransacking historical sites for profit is lost on January at first, though as she starts thinking for herself, she develops a moral ambiguity towards her guardian’s associates which grows into anger as she learns more about herself and the Doors she learns about in the book.

“… my long years of research have taught me that all stories, even the meanest folktales, matter. They are artifacts and palimpsests, riddles and histories. They are the red threads that we may follow out of the labyrinth.”

Harrow’s story is not a typical portal fantasy wherein the story’s hero goes through a door and emerges into an amazing adventure. While January finds Doors and discovers her own strengths and abilities, her adventure is an inner one. She must look inward to discover the woman she can be, and while secondary characters like Jane and Samuel have their own stories and help her as much as they can, January must draw upon her own strength to find her own path. This fact shows Harrow’s skill as a storyteller, given that she doesn’t take the obvious path. We all must find our own strengths and define our own stories before we can become the people we were meant to be. No one could have blamed Harrow for writing the obvious, but that would have made January and her story that much smaller. Instead, Harrow gives us a rich tale that encourages us to look beyond the ordinary and find a way to become the authors of our own stories.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my review.

Four days have passed since I read this book and I still can't stop thinking about it.

January Scaller is a living curiosity in early 20th century America. She's not quite white in a country who abhors colors. She's wild, independent, willful, and fails to fit the narrow mold her wealthy benefactor wishes for her. January knows she's not like other girls her age -- she hates the parties and sitting pretty like one of Mr. Locke's treasures. Instead she dives into books wishing she was part of their swashbuckling adventures in far away places. One day she comes across a door in a field. It's not like any other door. It's a Door. With a capital D. This Door isn't connected to a house or any building, and when January steps through it, little does she know her adventure is just beginning.

The only complaint I have is that the book ended. I wasn't ready for it. Please write more! There's still so much left to explore!

What immediately pulled me into The Ten Thousand Doors of January was Alix E. Harrow's lyrical writing. It's beautiful. She could describe a piece of paper and make it seem magical. The story was original and the use of tropes minimal. I liked that the character was of mixed heritage and found the discussion of being colored and foreign in 20th century America an important piece to this story. I hope others find this value too.

This book is both fantasy and historical fiction. The Ten Thousand Doors of January explores themes like color, belonging, self-discovery, and empowerment. And is perfect for adults, teens, and anyone seeking adventure. ;)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is easily one of my most favorite books of the year.

Wow!!! I am not sure if this is my favorite YA book of 2019 or just my overall favorite book hands-down! I absolutely adored this lushly written novel from start to finish. I even attempted to savor it at first because I was loving the writing style so much. I tried taking breaks from reading just to prolong my reading experience... but this didn't last long and soon I couldn't be wrested away from it at all. I bawled my eyes out, I laughed, and now that I have finished, I feel emotionally wrung out!!

I wish that this book had been written 25 years ago - but at the same time, I am just glad that I read it because there were so many parts of this book that made it feel like Harrow had written it just for me! This idea of Doors is something that I grew up playing, and her relationship with Bad... all compounded with the perfect writing~ I am already looking forward to re-reading this one and I hope that the rumors are true that this will be a September Book of the Month Club pick! It is great! I absolutely loved everything about this book!!

I sincerely hope that Harrow writes more novels set in this richly detailed and described world. And if not, I am still looking forward to reading any and everything that she writes! Her writing style reminds me of all of my very favorite authors and I just loved this. I can't wait to read this again!!

4.5 stars.

'"The trouble with you people," I observed, "is that you believe in permanence. An orderly world will remain so; a closed door will remain closed." I shook my head, reaching for the door. "It's very ... limiting."'

If you like to get lost in stories that take you to other worlds and have adventures and wonderful characters, this book will be worth every delicious minute you spend with it. Just the fact that it has a kid and doors, made me think about The Wayward Children series but about halfway through the book, I realized I loved it for the same reason I love Laini Taylor's books. Even though the imagery in her books is unparalleled, this book was the closest I have ever come to that type of feeling. This is one of the highest pieces of compliments I can give a book. It's rare for me to come upon a book that's unusual and this one managed to surprise me, keep me engaged, make me mad, sad and happy all at once.

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

This book started slow for me. It was interesting from the very beginning but not super-engaging, for me. Just as I was getting sucked into January's story, the book started alternating chapters between the two books and that didn't work for me. I was invested in January now and did not want to be distracted by the other story. Even though it all came together, of course, and by midpoint I was fully engaged and fully invested, it took me a while to get there.

"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."

At its core this book is about love, identity, belonging, and family. It's such a fantastical and beautiful story and it's a joy to get lost in its pages. Each of the characters is memorable in its own way and you get enough of each of the backstories to see their perspective of the story, to understand their motivations, even if you don't agree with them.

"Because the place you are born isn't necessarily the place you belong."

The love that binds this whole story together was wholly believable to me. I could feel the joy, the sorrow, the longing coming off the pages. That coupled with the visual and magical nature of the story makes this a pure pleasure to read.

"It depends which weighs more: a life, or a soul."

There's so much in this gem of a book and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to netgalley and redhook books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to get approved for The Ten Thousand Doors of January because it sounded so good and needless to say, it did not disappoint whatsoever.

At age 7, January Scaller is sent to live as a ward to the mysterious but wealthy Mr. Locke while her father travels around the world, acquiring unusual artifacts and trinkets for Locke's odd and vast collection. Although surrounded by oddities and wealth, January has never fit in due to her red skin color and headstrong personality- both traits of which were not widely accepted during the early 1900s. But most importantly, January has a big imagination and independent spirit despite efforts by Mr. Locke and her nursemaids to tame her into submission. A strange book leads January into the discovery of doorways to other realms and possibilities as well as the answer to her unknown origins and grave danger, hunted by a shadowy society that wants to obtain the knowledge she possesses.

I was immediately hooked from the first page. The Ten Thousand Doors of January was the perfect combination of fantasy and historical fiction with a bit of contemporary thrown in the mix. While there was plenty of magic and adventure, there was also commentary on 1900s society particularly the grim realities of racism and challenging traditional gender roles for that time period. The writing was absolutely phenomenal with lyrical storytelling reminiscent of Traci Chee's The Sea of Ink and Gold trilogy. The characters were well-written and even the romance, which I typically have little interest in, was nicely developed.

This was easily one of the best books I've read this year. Highly recommended.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books publishers for providing a free ARC

4.5. I will never look at a door the same way after finishing this stunning book of secret societies, portals to other worlds, magic and a plucky young girl living with a mysterious guardian on the shores of Lake Champlain. It's an amazing debut effort for Alex Harrow. Beautiful writing, immersive storyline, and gorgeous cover art make The Ten Thousand Doors of January time well spent. Readers who enjoy Erin Morgenstern will want to add this book to their reading list.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine a world where Doors in random locations can transport you to another place, another time. Imagine being a seventeen year old girl whose father has disappeared and left behind only a notebook with a story that seems fantastical but turns out to be true. Imagine being that girl, being Black in the early 1900s, under the care of a wealthy white guardian with ties to a shady global organization that smuggles priceless artifacts around the world. And imagine searching the world for your father while being on the run from this organization. It's a fascinating, exciting premise, and at first glance, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is exactly the kind of fantasy novel I'd eat up.

Unfortunately, I was bored for most of the book, and kept going only because I'd requested it for review. I should preface that by saying that the writing is good; Harrow has a languid, lyrical narration style that reminds me of classic children's stories. She also has beautiful, vivid descriptions. I can imagine other readers falling under the spell of her writing and being completely captivated by this story.

I found it too slow, and too much in love with far too many details. The story begins with a meditation on the nature of Doors, and linked to that, the beauty of words and the letters that make up words. It's a love letter of sorts to language, and it ends up fitting with what we later learn of how Doors work, but it went on far too long for me. And while I can imagine some readers being charmed by the passage that goes into detail on the aesthetics of a single letter, I just wanted to get on with the plot. 

The nature of Doors opening up to other worlds and other times offers many wonderful opportunities to explore beyond the more mundane world January grew up in, but I think there were just too many diversions, and too little of a connecting thread for me. There was a section about a place where the birds release only one feather a day and it's such a valued item that residents chase the birds for the privilege of receiving that single feather for the day. It's a lovely passage, and fits in beautifully with the fantastical nature of the setting, but it just didn't move me. I think it's partly because the settings aren't quite fantastical enough to fully take me out of reality (like Narnia might have), yet not quite grounded enough to make me care on a rational level. 

I do like the way January has to figure out how to navigate the world as a Black girl within a primarily white, wealthy community. I like how the author shows the pity and condescension her guardian and his friends subject her to, all within a veneer of politeness and affection. 

I also really like the story written in the book January's father left her. I love the romance between the Black scholar and the wealthy white adventuress, and I especially love how their relationship developed over time. I found myself hooked by that story far more than by January's, and I wish it could have gone on a bit longer than it did.

The subplot about January's father travelling the world had promise, especially with how it linked up to the shady group of wealthy men who want to steal valuable artifacts from around the world for their own collections. We see a bit of this group with how they chase after January, but honestly, I wanted to read a lot more about their operations, and any of the various external forces who are surely trying to take them down.

Overall, Ten Thousand Doors has an intriguing premise, and will likely charm many readers, but it just wasn't for me. I think I would have preferred a swashbuckling romance adventure from Yule the scholar's perspective, or an international crime-busting thriller on the smuggling organization, or perhaps a more fully fantastical, magical narrative. 

TW: animal cruelty (I almost DNF'd the book after that scene)

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Thank you to Redhook Books for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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This review will go live on my blog Aug 26, 8 am ET.
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Pre-reading bookstagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B08kpBrgmZn/

3.5 Stars

So I did like this! It’s a remarkable debut with gorgeous prose and thought-provoking ideas. My main quibble is that I figured out the plot/big reveal fairly early on and nothing really surprised me. Every time a Shocking Revelation was made, I nodded and was glad that it confirmed my suspicions from half a book ago. So while I think good foreshadowing should allow readers to predict the truth, I was frustrated that /nothing/ came as a surprise.

I also found the first half to be far stronger than the second half even though the beginning was slowly-paced; the message about colonization and closing doors also became a bit muddled toward the end. And for a portal fantasy book, I was a little disappointed that we don’t actually spend that much time in the fantasy worlds. The book is primarily about the pathway between worlds, not actually visiting other worlds. So that was a slight letdown for me because I was anticipating a portal fantasy.

Basically: I liked reading it and will definitely read the author’s future books, even if I was semi-frustrated by the predictability.

5 Stars

*A exquisite and poignant standalone debut novel with magic, adventure, and the joy of reading*

I knew as soon as I heard about The Ten Thousand Doors of January that I absolutely had to read it. The title, that gorgeous cover, the awed whispers about the story all combined into a rhythm that pulsed out, “read me, read me, read me,” in a hypnotizing tattoo. Although hyped-up books frequently disappoint me (almost always, in fact), I had a good feeling about this book. I was lucky enough to get an ARC from Netgalley for which I am so grateful! And I’m ever more pleased to report that this book completely lived up to my expectations!

The story is a combination of Historical Fiction and Fantasy. In the early 1900’s America, young January Scaller finds a door to another world. After a too-brief glimpse of the great beyond, January is yanked back to the normal world and told to be a proper, good little girl and not talk about fanciful nonsense anymore.

But January never quite forgot that there was more out there than her cloistered, little world. As she puts it, she is something in-between. Raised in a wealthy household but the daughter of an employee. Biracial in a world of white privilege. Never quite fitting in anywhere, she longs for something different even if she doesn’t know exactly what.

The author stated that this is not a Young Adult story. I would probably classify it as New Adult. The writing certainly has more depth and intelligence than most YA stories. But the main character is a teenager, and this is a coming of age story. There is some violence (both towards people and animals) and discussion of tougher subjects (including racism, classism, sexism, and mental health), but this story will be fine for older teens. The story itself should appeal to adults as well. Although it does deal with many of the typical themes of coming of age stories, this book is definitely not limited in its relevance to a broader and/or more mature audience. Especially to anyone who loves books.

This is the story of a young woman being hammered into the mold of society. This is also the story of finding the strength to break free, to seek joy and fulfillment and uniqueness. This is a story of empowerment. This is a story that will haunt me… not with ghosts and sadness; rather, it will haunt me with that siren call for adventure and self-discovery.

This is a story with depth. I love when stories have layers, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January fits the bill! There is the beautiful writing covering the surface of the story with gossamer threads. Then there is the story itself, full of emotion and adventure and tantalizing dreams. And winding throughout all of that is insight into human nature. But it is all handled in a beautiful and seemingly effortless way. This story is philosophical without being pretentious. It is profound without being verbose. It is complex without being convoluted. There is also a story within the story, mimicking the way that book lovers live: we live the lives we were born to while simultaneously living the lives of every book into which we escape.

Harrow understands how delicate language is. How something as simple as capitalizing certain words can draw the right attention. It is so amazing that this is her first novel. The writing style is gorgeous! This story is vivid and compelling. I experienced that wonderful joy that reading brings. This story felt excitingly new and comfortingly familiar at the same time.

Doors and keys are common symbology in literature. They are certainly things that I strongly associate with potential for adventure. Harrow uses them both symbolically and literally. There are doors into other worlds. There are portals in the books we read. Doors take us places. They can divide. Or they can open. They can foster imagination and change and any number of wondrous things.

If there is one thing someone might complain about this book, it might be the pacing. Don’t go into this book expecting epic magical fights from page one. The story does take a while to build up and focuses on character building – particularly in the beginning of the story. But I was totally engrossed by the world and the characters, so I was never bored. And Harrow’s writing is truly stunning! I marked so many quotes in this book that it is extremely hard to pick which ones to feature in my review. The writing is lyrical and evocative. This is the type of story that reminds me why I love reading so much! The only tiny critique I have is that the foreshadowing was a bit heavy at times. But that was inconsequential compared to how much I enjoyed this book!

Alix E. Harrow, you may not know it yet, but you are going to be a roaring success. And I hope you will continue to bring such powerful and beautiful words into the world. This is one of the best debuts I have read. I can’t wait to see what you do next.

Magic and romance laces through The Ten Thousand Doors of January like the very adventurers written on the pages weave through worlds and lands, following their hearts. Author Alix E. Harrow provides a rich and lurid fable that is sweet as honey and filled with hope. It floats like memories of long forgotten summers, painting across the mind and searing into the folds as if these wondrous journeys of January, Adelaide and Julian are ones the reader themselves experienced.

Vividly painting the scenes, the Doors, the magic of what can be found, what should be left undiscovered, and the ability to find magic in all things, Harrow crafts a story like no other. Absolutely, brilliantly wonderful, it is a book that calls to mind the dark fantasy of worlds and guttural emotions felt as my mother read stories to me, while tucked safely under covers. Both adult and childish, both a warning and an incentive, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a masterpiece and a classic. It should be devoured eagerly, and slowly digested in equal measure.

Being the type of book that comes to an end, only demanding one start all over back at the beginning, it is so engrossing that when one tumbles out of the pages, it’s like coming to from a vivid and wildly evocative dream. The prose is perfectly poetic, endearing in it’s telling, dreadfully honest and brutal when need be, but sweet as summer rain in turn. Harrow has written a cast of characters that tread the lines of grey, neither black nor white, with no clear villain (as she explains within her book, ‘villain with a capital V’.) Following both January as she steals wildly and unprepared into the story of her beginnings, we are left in the grasp of what did happen? What will happen? While we following along too, with the scholarly book on Doors, learning of a past, of love found in the blink of the prairie sun, that ties directly back to our eloquently written January Scaller.

A novel to be adored and cherished, to have worn pages, broken spines, taped edges, plenty of stains and probably the sort of book that will require reoccurring purchases over time, The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a most heartfelt novel by a splendidly unique writer.

A young girl whose father works for a wealthy white man who collects artifacts of interest is left with this man as his ward. She is used when it benefits the man to show off his benevolence just like he shows off his artifacts. One day she wanders off and finds a door abandoned in a field . Through the door she encounters a young man and through him discovers another world on the other side of the door. She spends her time trying to find her way to that world again. Each door leads to another world and another experience. Truly wonderful escapist literature. This is a leisurely read, to be enjoyed and explored.

It's the start of the 20th century and January Scaller is a lonely, half-orphaned girl who doesn't feel as if she belongs anywhere. She chafes at the restrictions placed on her life and longs for the freedom to explore and express herself. Two discoveries change her world: that there are doors to other worlds and that she has the power to transform reality around her.

The story follows two timelines, one being January's story, and the other being a scholar's narrative account of two people's experiences in finding magic doors. Don't think the latter is some dry, clinical account, though--the scholar's tale is a love story about two people trying to find their way to each other from across different worlds. January's tale, on the other hand, is a coming of age story as she wrestles with others' expectations for her and her own dreams and learns to stand up for herself.

Reading this novel is a richly sensory experience, evoking scent and memory alongside all the other wonderful imagery that tends to appear in fantasy novels. It's the perfect novel to read while curled up in a warm blanket with a mug of tea on a rainy day. It's an immersive and moving light read and I highly recommend it.

5 STARS

CW: racism, colonialism, loss of a loved one, smoking, underage drinking, implied animal death, self-harm, gore, gun violence

Back in April, I handed in my senior thesis, and it centered on the relationship between portal fantasy and utopian thought, stretching back to classical antiquity.

And this means that The Ten Thousand Doors of January hit me like a ton of bricks, but in the best of ways. Split into a frame narrative, one following January Scaller in the wake of her father's disappearance, the other centered on a woman named Adelaide Lee Larson who traveled the world in search of Doors, this book is portal fantasy at its finest. It combines the desire for escape with the possibility of a better life just beyond the next door, and all of it is told in stunning prose. The metaphors in The Ten Thousand Doors of January are a particular strong point, each one working with perfect clarity, sometimes in unusually effective ways.

Taking all this into account, I almost forgot to take notes while I was reading, so forgive me if this review becomes scattered. In my eyes, though, that's what a good book should do; I want to get so lost in it that it doesn't occur to me that I have other things to pay attention to. Even when this book got somewhat predictable, I was still completely absorbed in it, because the how of the plot twists were more important than what they were, and the path to a conclusion can still be suspenseful even when the conclusion is obvious.

I will say, though, that it's possible this won't be a story for everyone. It has something of literary fiction about it, and as I see it, it's not YA, even with a young protagonist. The pacing is deliberate and patient, which some folks may not enjoy, even if the payoff is worth it.

But if you like stories about escape and family (especially family that isn't perfect, family that makes entirely human mistakes), about making sense of your place in the world and discovering things you'd never known existed, then I highly encourage you to give The Ten Thousand Doors of January a try. It struck a chord with me not only because of the research I closed my college career with, but for its themes and for the way its characters seem poised on the edge of some great adventure that we may never get to see (an odd but pleasing conclusion in itself). I hope that once this book releases, it gets the attention it deserves.

If you think The Ten Thousand Doors of January might be for you, then you still have time to place a pre-order or submit a library request. It releases on September 10th, a little over two weeks from now, and it's well worth that short wait. 💛

[This review is scheduled to go live on The Words Gremlin on 8/23/19 at approx. 10 am EST.]