I have put this review off because I still don't know what I think about this book.  The beginning was so slow moving that I almost put it aside.  Then the story picked up - only to have vampires appear out of nowhere!  I still don't know WTH was up with that storyline.  I loved the story of her mother and father's romance.  I loved the friendship between January and Samuel ... and Bad, of course.  I loved the ending.  I just don't get the damned vampires ... obviously, I missed something.

(NetGalley ebook -  I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Beautiful story of a girl name January who is trying to find her past, present and the future. Very well written historical fiction with magic and secrets.

I received a digital copy of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was unique in how it used time travel to tell the story of January. She finds a Door one day that leads to a different time and a different wirld and decides to pursue finding more as a way to deal with her father's constant absence and the death of her mother. January grows up with a rich benefactor who is her father's employer and even though on the surface he seems like a great guy, January doesn't tell him about the Door or the book she found about Doors. There are characters that are clearly the bad guys but I enjoy how Mr. Locke., January's guardian, is walking a thin line between a greedy bad guy and a parent who was too overprotective and misguided. January's own father was not honest with her either and it drives a wedge between her dad and her. Overall, this book was beautifully written and the characters well developed. The on thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars is the ending felt a little confusing and I'll definitely have to read the book again to properly understand how Locke became Locke and his motives for closing Doors but other than that, I loved it. I could see there being a 2nd part,perhaps a prequel to delve into Locke and if so I'd read it.

This book was a beautiful, winding adventure. Fans of Erin Morgenstern's "The Starless Sea" will likely adore January and her quest for doors as well. As I neared the end of the book I became a bit concerned that it was going to be an awful cliffhanger leading me into an unexpected series, but ending was actually quite satisfying and just bittersweet enough to not gag on sugary predictability.
The book primarily follows the early life of Ms. January Scaller and those stories that intersect her own. The heroes and villains are all complicated - the biggest among them neither all good or bad. It's told in a warped mix of first and third person that occasionally breaks the fourth wall (which normally drives me mad but I didn't mind so much here).
I would recommend for anyone who has ever longed for a Door to somewhere else, or felt as though they might have fallen through one by accident - as though they don't fit into their own world quite perfectly. Find comfort in January and her doors.

This book broke me. As in I had a serious book hangover for WEEKS! I might still be suffering the side effects of reading "January." No book has called to me in the following weeks since finishing "January." I follow the author on Twitter just to see "January" updates. My physical copy of "January" sits by my bed in case I wake up in the middle of the night and need something to read.

I need more books like "January" in my life. Hell, I need more January in my life. Now, please excuse me while I go re-read it.

(FYI, the audiobook is JUST has magical as the physical copy. Seriously. It is fan-flipping-tastic.)

The description for Alix E. Harrow’s recently released The Ten Thousand Doors of January checked so many of the boxes for stories I love. It’s a story about stories. It’s slightly fantastical. There are historic fiction elements to it. It speaks to issues of identity, power, community… So, of course it immediately went on my ‘To Read’ short list. And, while I found it difficult to get into initially, it did ultimately deliver on pretty much all of the expectations I developed based on that description, even if it wasn’t to the degree I would have liked in some cases.

January Scaller has primarily grown up in the care of her father’s employer, Mr. Locke, while her father has been traveling the world searching for rare and unusual objects to send back for Mr. Locke’s collection. Mr. Locke’s wealth and prestige protect January from many of the threats posed to her as a young, interracial woman growing up in early 20th century America. But she longs for more than the sheltered life she’s been given. Though she escaped as much as she could physically as a child—running off every chance she got and playing with the son of a local grocer who snuck her adventure stories—it was ultimately into books that she found refuge. Books and her theories about Doors between her world and others. Theories that, as she gets older, she learns might actually be more real than everything she thought she knew about herself.

While the approach of having January narrate events in the first person is a very deliberate choice that makes a lot of sense by the end of the novel, I found it really difficult to get into those first few chapters of the story. And throughout, I found the chapters in her voice to be tougher to get through than the chapters from the text-within-a-text excerpts of The Ten Thousand Doors. I waver between finding the way January writes about words (especially their appearance) charming and annoying. Again, it all fits the story well as the truth unfolds, but it’s just not something that works for me consistently.

The concept of the Doors themselves, I love, and the way they tie into the themes of chaos and order, of vulnerability and power, work beautifully for me. And it is really in the themes of the story that this book works best for me. The way that power dynamics and personal identity play out through the story and how they’re finally brought together at the end, were a joy to see explored. Given the historic setting and the racial factors at play, they were unavoidable topics, but that doesn’t always mean they’re handled with care, especially when fantastical elements are added to the mix.

The area where the story was weakest for me was the characters. Except for Ade and Yule Ian, they didn’t really come to life in a compelling way for me. But I think that ties back to the January-as-first-person-narrator approach I mentioned earlier (first-person narration is often hit or miss for me). It really wasn’t until about halfway through (as the pieces of the puzzle came together and the larger picture became clear) that I cared about what was happening. So, while I don’t think I’d want another tale told by January, I would definitely be interested in a book about her father’s travels for Mr. Locke or something more along those lines.

The writing style was magical, and I highlighted a number of passages for their lyricism. I enjoyed the premise of magical doorways, the world of Written, and the representation with the diverse cast of characters. However, something about the characterization felt a little too forced or wooden for my tastes. Plot-wise, not much happens across the book compared to other books I read around the same time. I enjoyed Harrow's short story that won a Hugo, which has a similar premise and writing style, but it felt more satisfying to me. At times, I think the writer overuses metaphors and similes, and that's the primary reason this book took a long time for me to read; I looked forward to finishing it more than I did reading the continuation of the story. I would recommend it to fans of "A Wrinkle in Time" and "His Dark Materials," series beloved by children and adults alike that I have not personally enjoyed. I think this book will have a strong audience, nonetheless.

4.5 stars! This book was amazing! The book within a book plot element was delightful and January is a great character. The beginning was a little slow but it really picked up halfway in and the the writing style was very enjoyable. The ending was definitely the best part and I'm so glad I didn't let the beginning deter me.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January isn't a story to read in one sitting, but one to enjoy slowly. It's a tale of a girl and her dog and her journey to find herself in ten thousand Doors to ten thousand worlds. It's both literary and fantastical, a love story and one of self-discovery. I absolutely adored it!

A very unique reading journey! I enjoyed this book with a touch of magic and a view into other worlds. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley. My opinion is my own.

January, is a young girl who is a ward of a rich powerful man who is her real Father's employer. He wants her to conform to 19th century rules and she has a hard time fitting in to the confines of what is expected of her as a young girl in a rich household with many rules . She is a free spirit from a young age and wants to experience life outside the confines of her current life. When she is 7 she finds a magical book that takes her on a journey through hidden doors into other worlds. In search of her family and of herself, January tries to put together the narrative of her life, her real family and find a world she can fit into to.

This is beautifully written and so enjoyable. I loved the well crafted magical world and the descriptions so richly drawn of that world. Very well done and highly recommended.

This book was wayyyyyyyy more than anything I had expected going into reading this book. In the best way possible! I kept loving this book more and more as I continued to immerse myself in the story. I saw one of the major plot twists from a mile away, but when I got there I was still so enthralled. Highly recommend!

As much as I wanted to love this book I could not get into it. I’m always open to read diverse genres and I tried to keep in mind that this was more of young adult read. Even with that in mind I just could not push myself to finish it. It became boring and I found myself skipping through. However, all the credit to the cover art because is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

Gorgeous cover. Lovely writing with a fair bit of good twists. I liked that January is a diverse character.

There was something about this book that I just couldn’t fully connect with- I think it may have been the writing style. Overall, I liked it but didn’t find myself getting lost in the universe of the book, which is what I look for in fantasy

While this book is very hard to categorize, I thoroughly enjoyed it. From January's story to the story of the adventuress that January discovers, I had a very hard time putting this book down. This book was about journeys, and each journey, whether it was literal or figurative, was meaningful, interesting, and valuable. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy, coming-of-age stories, magical realism, YA, science fiction, or historical novels. It was a great book and deserves a second reading.

A fantastic book! I loved January as a character and I'm a sucker for portal fantasy so this book was perfect for that!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

So I thought I was ready to read this book, and then realized I wasn't and had to set it aside until my mood was right, the prose so beautiful I wanted to give it a chance when I wasn't slammed at work. Reader, I'm so glad I did. Immersive and exquisitely written, January's tale sucked me in from the start, and immediately I wished I could reach into the book to give the girl a hug. Her loneliness is palpable, and it's no wonder she clings to the strange book that inspires her to make a change. The power of fiction, of words, of the escapism we feel every time we open a book. Yep. Felt that all over this one. And the love story, just entrancing. Have I mentioned how much I loved the prose? Good.

Thank you so much Orbit for handing out this book at BEA.

I cannot properly articulate the exquisiteness of this book. This is not a story for young adults (although it could be for the more mature ones – upper classmen perhaps) as it is not a typical story that follows common YA tropes (even though it does have coming of age and love interest). The plot development is purposely slow as it, almost poetically, captures the mood of January’s life while living under Mr. Locke’s (get it?) home: mundane, restrictive, and unchanging. The plot quickens when she escapes and attempts to find her father, again the pace acting as a parallel to January’s life. January herself is an interesting character who, in the 1900s, must adhere to strict societal rules that limit who she is; of course, this is just a tiny glimpse into who she truly is as a character. In fact, the whole story deals with escapism, new chapters, new opportunities, hope for a better life, and the need to avoid status quo and focus on improvements instead – all metaphorically portrayed via doors to other worlds, through magic, through books, through one’s own belief in change. I seriously cannot find words to properly express how beautiful this story is, and how important it is for others (all genders) to read. Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for thiseARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

An amazing portal fantasy with wonderful moments and characters. This is a story for lovers of books, stories, and fantastical worlds.

The premise of this story is an interesting and compelling one that entices many readers right away. What reader can resist the pull of a story about books? Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for my taste. I didn't dislike it completely, there were aspects of it that I found enjoyable. For instance, I liked the idea of having the direction of the tale stem from books. I think my issue really stemmed from the historical fiction aspect of this. I wanted it to have the feel of a fantasy/sci-fi, which it did, somewhat, but by weaving in the historical aspects, it just fell a little short for my liking. I do think it shows great promise for this author and future works.
This may be more a problem of me not being the intended audience.

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