Early Review – The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Redhook
Release Date: September 10, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-0316421997
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC from Amazon Vine
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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.”

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and to be honest I was pretty disappointed. I know I am going to be in the minority on this one, but while I thought this book was okay, I didn’t love it. It starts very slow and takes a long time to get going.

The story jumps between January’s day to day life and a book she is reading “The Ten Thousand Doors”. January is being kept fairly secluded in the mansion of Mr. Locke, who serves as her caretaker while her father is out collecting treasures for him. January eventually finds a book called “The Ten Thousand Doors” in an old trunk, what she reads in there makes her set out on an adventure unlike anything she could have imagined.

This book is slow, especially in the beginning. Eventually things do come together and the story gets more exciting and engaging. However, this isn’t really an action-packed book and I never really engaged with the characters. It is full of some beautiful prose and description but I found jumping between the two stories to be a bit jarring.

For some reason this just wasn’t as beautiful, as creative, or as magical as I had been hoping for. I think I was hoping for something more on the level of Catherynne Valente’s beautifully written “The Girl Who” series or something more creative and engaging like Seanan McGuire’s “Wayward Children” series. I just expected something…well…more.

What I got was a story about doorways in between realities that felt like something I’ve read before. I kept feeling like I’ve seen pieces of this story in other books and movies. It just was too slow moving and not cohesive enough.

I almost set this aside about 150 pages in, but decided to forge ahead. It does get better about a third of the way in. There is a bit more adventure and magic at that point. However, I found this to be somewhat disappointing overall…it’s not awful…it’s just not the amazing read I felt like I was promised.

Overall this was one of my most disappointing reads for the year. I went in expecting a lot and felt like not much was delivered.