This is a portal fantasy about January, who discovered a door. "You know the kind of door–they lead to Faerie, to Valhalla, to Atlantis, to all the places never found on a map"
January began to forget the elsewhere and is raised by her guardian on his estate, until she happens upon a strange book. This book is full of doors, the scent of the otherworld and how the doors lead to adventure, love and intrigue. With discovering this, she remembers the past door of elsewhere. This leads to an extraordinary adventure and looking for her father.
I was honestly so excited to be approved for an ARC of this, I was not really expecting to because this was so highly anticipated. It lived up to the anticipation that I had for this. I absolutely loved it. Portal fantasies get me every time. The idea of doors leading to another world has fascinated me since I was a child.
I liked January has a protagonist. She was intelligent and was likeable. I also love when they use month names for Fantasy protagonists. January had a strong, distinct voice and made a great narrator. It dealt with family separation in a way that felt fresh.
The writing is beautiful and honestly doesn't feel like a debut. It is poetical and flows beautifully. It helps you get absorbed in the story and I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. I liked how it was written alternating between the now and the text of The Ten Thousand Doors, which I personally thought was an unique way to do it. Both the text and January's chapters had their own tone, voice and after reading so many books that fail at this (looking at you Spinning Silver), it was so refreshing to see this done so well.
My one issue is that Mr. Locke's character arc was somewhat predictable.
5/5
I love this book. I'd recommend it to everyone, but particularly fans of "The Wayward Children" series by Seanan McGuire. They both have a similar tone and are somewhat whimsical but still feeling grounded in reality.

Once upon a time magic filled the air and there were dragons and wizards and all matter of fell beast sailing through he air. But, the creak and groan of modern civilization has tamed even the darkest most remote places and nothing is left unexplored, unmapped, unwritten. And those that insist on seeing magic when there is none will be hailed as crazy and perhaps locked away.

Magic and fantasy has returned with a vengeance. Don't believe those reports that say it's all been seen and observed. There are ten thousand doorways to other worlds, each one stranger than the last.

Told in a narrative from a precocious child who finds wonder in an amazing world, abandoned by her traveling father who sends her trinkets, and given the special name of January, she has her mother's wanderlust and a great big monster of a dog to protect her, more John Carter's faithful beast than Dorothy's mutt toto.

The prose is like candy in your mouth, like everlasting gobstoppers. The writing takes you back to another century where proper British kids flew off to Neverland. There's good guys and bad guys and the chase is on, but this story is complex. Completely unlike anything I would normally read, but such a treat to read.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

Review#46. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow and reading for Netgalley. I decided to step outside my genre once again and delve into something with a bit more fantasy and am so glad I did! Sometimes a book within a book, doors to other worlds, a very loyal dog, life lessons...this book has it all. Very eloquently written and a book that you can't put down! I will be following this author closely and wouldnt be surprised if this book wins several awards! I wish I could give it more , but ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Five stars +

There's a line in a song from Hamilton: "You built me palaces out of paragraphs, you built cathedrals." This book? This book is a cathedral.

It's a little difficult to summarize the plot: January Scaller is a girl whose father travels the world as an archaeologist. She's the ward of a wealthy man who, when her father is away on trips (which is almost always), forces her to behave like a "good girl." Her sole act of rebellion is adopting a large and somewhat-inclined-to-biting dog. As a child, she finds a fascinating Door between her world and another, but the wealthy man effectively convinces her that it wasn't real. She finds a book in a chest in the attic that confirms her childhood suspicions. Half of the story from that part onward is January, and about half is the book she finds.

But, although the plot is great, it's not the best part of this book. The best part is the writing. I rarely refer to anything I read as lyrical or exquisite, but The Ten Thousand Doors of January is both. It's so powerfully written with such a distinctive, beautiful style. I cried occasionally just from how perfectly put together this book was. There were so many lines in this one that I wanted to save and look back at. There were a few that broke my heart, and a few that made me cheer out loud.

I loved January from the start, and the supporting cast is incredible - Julian, Ade, Jane, Bad, Samuel... everyone was so perfectly crafted. This doesn't fall into the typical YA fantasy trap of having a perfect, all powerful heroine. (Although I would absolutely argue that the dog is perfect.) It's a story about family, both the one you're born into and the one you make as you go through life.

This was a masterpiece. I would absolutely give it more than five stars if I could.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

Just from reading other reviews I don't know what more there is to say about January and her ten thousand doors. This is a beautifully written book. It goes through January's life as she discovers who she really is and has thrilling adventures along the way. I really enjoyed this book and I will continue to recommend it.

Add me to the list of people who thought this was a beautifully written captivating book. The premise sounded interesting and the actual story lived up to that promise. It was a well flowing, extremely well written otherworldly tale. Alix did a fantastic job of narrating this story, starting with January when she was young. I initially requested this book because I love historical fantasies, but this turned out to be so much better than expected. Highly recommended!

I was surprised by this book. I requested SOLELY bc every bookstagrammer and booktuber was talking about it. I wasn't sure I was going to like (like...I seriously though I was going to hate it). So when I say I ate my words..its true. It was very well-written and just a beautifully told story.

Summer of 1901- seven year old January Scaller is forced to go on a business trip with her billionaire guardian Mr. W.C. Locke in Kentucky. Left to her own devices, and being the temerarious girl that she is, she explores the city alone and stumbles upon a Door... a magical passage that leads to another world and the discovery of who she really is.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a beautifully and cleverly written fantasy novel about a young "in-between" girl who doesn't fit into the wealthy, white, and lonely world in which she finds herself. Her father travels around the world gathering items to add to Mr. Locke's collection of oddities while she is left in his care. Dreaming of adventure she discovers Doors, but dismisses them as fantasy until she finds an unusual book about these portals and a young woman who found adventure and love by traveling through them. January soon discovers that nothing is what it seems and there is more to her than the color of her skin and her fate as Mr. Locke's ward. Fantastic Characters, beautiful world building, and exciting adventures are all portrayed in this exciting new YA novel. A must read for 2019!

What a beautiful, hard-to-put-down, story. January is the kind of character you can't help but feel a connection with. I cried with her, rooted for her, and even silently yelled at her a few times. I absolutely loved everything about this book and have already recommended friends to add it to their TBR pile!

5 thousand stars first for wonderful, amazing illustration on the cover and five thousand stars go for rest of the heart throbbing, one of the most creative, colorful, joyful journeys to many different imaginary portals you can never imagine to visit!

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT, OPEN YOUR EYES, READY TO COUNT TO 10 THOUSAND!
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This is amazing combination of McGuire’s Wayward Children Series and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series!

BLURB: Seven years old January’s revelation of finding a door opens to Faerie, Atlantis, Valhalla, and the places never found on a map. Of course I’m intrigued and wanted to learn more!

HEROINE: January is definitely; brave, witty, sarcastic, loyal, gifted, young heroine. It’s enjoyable how she compares herself with regular book heroines with her great sense of humor!

FAVORITE CHARACTERS: Of course the badass, loyal, brave dog!

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: Mr. Locke, blood freezing, teeth grinding, nerve bending villain who deserves to be putted on a dart chart so you can be more concentrated to hit the target!

Jane is memorable Amazon woman! Straightforward, tough, protector.

Samuel: sweet, loyal, romantic, impossible not to love and care for!

And January’s parents and their love story are definitely heartbreaking! I sighed so many times when I’m reading their parts!

WRITING STYLE: Pacing was not fast but not too slow! It keeps your attention alert and hooked you from the first page, you don’t want to stop, want to learn more and more till your head starts to turn because you passed your sleep time five hours ago and you start to see the sunrise and you realize it’s too late to go to the bed so you’d better finish the book!

ENDING: When I close a book and see my smile like Cheshire cat cover my face all night, it means I’m so satisfied with the ending. So yes! It’s the best emotional, joyful, smart ending to this unconventional, creative, well-crafted, remarkable story!

FANTASY LOVERS, GOOD STORY CHASERS, PORTAL TRAVELLERS : this book is highly recommended for you!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I absolutely adored The Ten Thousand Doors of January! The prose was amazing, the pacing was entertaining, the characters were phenomenal, and oh my gosh the story! I read this while I was sick, with a steaming warm mug of tea with honey, and I think honestly the story did more for me than the tea. It was beautiful and whimsical in all the right ways. I cannot say enough about this one. It is a new favorite for me.

This book is beautifully written and whimsical. It’s full of beautiful ideas and tells both wonderful and awful truths. Sadly, it also just wasn’t for me. The characters are fully formed and came to life right on the page and the world was also very well-described and made me feel like I was there. It’s just soo dense, and I very much did not fly through the pages. I read the first half solidly, but I’ll admit that I skimmed the latter half. I’m sure I’m in the minority on this one because it’s absolutely beautiful, but I guess it just isn’t for me.

In a lot of ways I was reminded of The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Jodi Lynn Anderson’s books, and Alice in Wonderland. I absolutely love all but Alice, and this falls more with the latter. Still, it’s a beautifully written, romantic story about a girl coming into herself which I love. I hope that other readers love this one more than I was able to!

Thank you Net Galley for this one. Truly appreciated. This is first time in a while I reverted to social media to let people know of the wonderful book I was reading before I finished reading it. Before starting 10,000 Doors I had just finished a book that I didn’t enjoy and was hoping for something different (and at the very least a good story). I scrolled through the ratings on Goodreads and saw this was pretty high on the list so I tackled this book like a kid absorbing a chocolate shake after done eating some funky veggies. I now join in the appreciation for the high ratings. This is beyond a good story; it’s an amazing story. So the main feature in the early part of Ten Thousand Doors is not only a story of a young lady, the narrator, with an absentee father who is off on adventures; but also a story within the story (i.e., a book that is being read/narrated by the main character about an adventurer). Thus you get a contrast between the adventure of the story within the story vs. the controlled measured life that the narrator is being coerced to live. What could possibly be the connection, if any? The author hardly disappoints as the reader is taken into different parts of the world and different worlds as the narrator (who is now a young lady as years go by) goes searching for her missing father. The author’s writing style is so captivating. Every word perfectly placed, none more than absolutely necessary to allow the reader to bring you into the various worlds. A discussion on the symbolism of doors would go beyond the scope of this review. But anyone who can appreciate the open door as a way to a fresh and/or new start will thoroughly enjoy the book. Danger abounds as always, and you may want to consider who may be preventing a person from accessing these magical doors, and why. If there is one critique, I would say that the ending arrived a little bit too quickly. I would have enjoyed another 30-50 pages until it was time to end the journey and imagine the end credits scrolling.

An intriguing tale of mysteries and otherworldly thrills. I stayed up all night reading it. Vivid writing paired with intricate characterization make for a gripping read. I highly recommend!

The premise will surely have appeal to those who enjoy traditional fantasy. And the writing? Beautiful.

I cannot stress this enough: The Ten Thousand Doors of January is one of the BEST novels I have read this year. I literally cannot believe that this is a debut.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a wonderful, dark and incredibly rich history fantasy novel; so well built and fast paced that I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building/plot never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind. What a fantastic read!

I really enjoyed this fantasy as evidenced by how quickly I read it. It’s definitely fantasy but also historical and I would classify it as YA as well. There is some amazing YA out there right now and I’m pleased to say that this one is among the good ones.

I won’t go into too much detail but if you were ever the kid who desperately wanted to fall down a rabbit whole or be carried away by a tornado then this book is absolutely for you no matter what age you are.

Highly recommend!

*disclaimer time: NetGalley did give me an eARC of this, however I read and reviewed it first from an ARC I got in a trade so... TL:DR, this is an honest unbiased review*

Agh! This book, my heart! This was devastatingly well written, and, to be quite honest, completely crushing to read on Father's Day when I am alone and familyless.

It's a tale of family, loss, searching, journeys, and ten thousand doors to home. It's heartbreaking and wonderful and features a very good dog named Bad.

Our main character, January, has to deal with a lot of things. Firstly, she's POC in the 1900s. She's also the ward of a very wealthy man, so from the start she is aware that she lives between worlds (though she is not aware how literal that is). Her dad works for the rich man, finding rare artifacts and bringing them back, so January spends most of her time in the manor house, trying to be a good girl (and somewhat succeeding). And then she finds a book.

This book, left just for her in a special box, tells the story of Doors. Doors to other worlds, that is. The information in the book turns January's world inside out (as all good books must do), and she had to go through a lot to make it right again. Traveling through worlds, with mysterious companions, on the run from very bad men.

I really love how this book is narrated. It opens with young January finding a Door, then skips to older January, but the entire thing is written like, well, it's being written (by January, that is). It's her older self jotting down her story, and her POV is so well written and heart breaking at times. She's relatable (in uncommon situations), and she really speaks to the soul inside the reader who longs for adventure, who longs to stumble into other worlds. Her use of imagery, not just to describe the scene, but to portray her words and imaginations and when she tries to bring her readers into her shoes, is quite spectacular (that's why imagery is, you say. Well, this is MORE. She tells her story not just to the eyes, but to the soul and the mind. It strikes a chord within you even if it doesn't make the most sense).

Deep down (and on the surface), this is the story of family. How one is made, lost, and found again. It's going to make you cry and ache (and perhaps increase your heart a few sizes). I adored it, and you will too.

“Sometimes I feel like there are doors lurking in the creases of every sentence, with periods for knobs and verbs for hinges.”

Imagine being a child again, running through an overgrown field beneath a blue sky. Letting your hands trail through the tops of the wild grains when suddenly
you notice a raggedy blue door standing in the open. Would you open it?

That is exactly how The Ten Thousand Doors of January begins. In the early 1900s following a young deeply imaginative girl named January who mostly lives with Mr. Locke, a billionaire Archeologist. You see, her father works for him but is constantly traveling so January doesn’t see him often which leads to a lot of mischief and exploring. Well as much exploring as she can.

Mr. Lockes mansion is like a labyrinth. A red stone castle at the edge of a lake full of artifacts and mysteries. One day, January stumbles upon a book called The Ten Thousand Doors. A book that states bending physical laws of the universe... is possible.

PORTALS. MAGICAL DOORS. MULTI UNIVERSE. That’s right!

It took ONE PAGE to make me realize that this book was going to steal every bit of my spare time until I devoured it all. It explores the idea that Doors (See how I capitalized it? That’s important) are portals between one world and another. It’s fascinating and unique. I know you’re going to say “but Holly, that’s been done so many times.”

True, BUT NO.

This books stands out so much because the way Alix E. Harrow handled it. The writing gives this odd sense of familiarity. It’s eerie. You so badly want to unravel what in the world is happening. I literally felt myself leaning desperately toward the pages.

The magic in this book was spot on for me and realistic. It delves into the origins of storytelling, using the foundation of history to tell a story that is once familiar and comforting as well as subversive and progressive.

And extremely beautiful.

I can’t praise this book highly enough. I’m desperately trying to string together a combination of words to make YOU pick this up. I just hope I’m successful because it was a life changing experience.

Reader, this book was amazing. I’m not sure this review is going to come out to be anything remotely coherent. It may end up just be me sitting here spouting rainbows and glitter, but I’ll try my best!

This is the story of January Scaller, who is a girl living in Vermont, on the large estate of Cornelius Locke, her guardian, more or less, while her father travels the world to find rare artifacts and collectibles for him.

One day, when she was young, January found a Door, and was sure that it lead to somewhere fantastic, but ended up forgetting about it until she was much older and found a book called The Ten Thousand Doors which tells her that Doors are, in fact, real, and do lead to other worlds. It tells all about the Doors around the world, and some of the other worlds that they lead to, and about the adventures of a girl called Adelaide.

Meanwhile, a group of bad, bad men are going around the world closing those doors for good. And for some reason, they are now after January. Dun Dun Dunnnnn. Shenanigans ensue! Run run run!

This was a phenomenally written tale, that felt a little like falling into a door to a different world itself! It admittedly took me longer than I’d have liked to read it, due to work, and more work, and real life coming to call on me with… actual work, but every time I sat down to read it, it was like escaping into the world of January and her grand adventure.

Part of this book is a kind of book-within-a-book and you’d think that would be a little confusing, but it never is, at all. It was a wonderful piece of writing, getting to experience January reading this book as she read it. As things all started coming together, and were revealed, it was a bit exciting. I had been guessing at things since the beginning, and as they were revealed, if I had guessed something right it wasn’t like ‘oh, I guessed right’ like a disappointing mystery novel that you guess the whodunnit at the beginning, but it was more of a ‘EEEEE! CALLED IT!’ feeling. Exciting! That said, there were still twists that surprised me by coming out of nowhere. This book definitely poked me in the feels a good number of times as well. Sometimes in a good way, and sometimes in a more sad way. But all the same, when books make me emote about make believe people, we’re probably looking at a good book. ^_^

The last chapter/Epilogue had me doing some #AwkwardWorkplaceSobbing that I had to explain to the boss. You’ll have to read it to find out for yourself whether it was the good kind or the sad kind. ^_^

So, all told, this was a fantastic novel that I definitely think that I’ll reread (probably via audiobook – this one is narrated by someone actually named January!) in a couple of years to see if I can recapture that feeling of falling into a new world via a book. I opened the door, and inside of it was January!~

Thanks to the author, as well as Redhook/Orbit for the review copy!