I think this happens to all of us bookworms. You buy a book you're dying to read, bring it home, put it on your shelf, and there it sits gathering dust for ages. You just can't seem to find the right moment to crack it open, especially when shiny new releases keep catching your eye. I have to admit, that's exactly what happened with Alix E. Harrow's *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* for me.So, what kept me from reading *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* for so long? Honestly, it was all the o...

World-class writing in service to an excellent story leaves me with no complaints. Alix E. Harrow has written a portal fantasy where the focus is on the portals more than where they lead to. She twists a family tale through various of these doors, a couple of romance threads, a modicum of danger and threat, and a smattering of Americana. It's all good. My love of great prose means that my main delight was in the power of the language used, the deft capture of feelings or people or places in jus...

I enjoyed Alix E. Harrow's writing style and the adventurous concept of "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" – it's fun to imagine all the different worlds you could escape to, especially ones that are more accepting of POC than our own. I appreciate the choice to make the protagonists people of color and imbue them with a feeling of "not belonging," adding another layer to their desire to escape to other worlds. However, I struggled to connect with the characters on a deeper level. The "book wit...

“It is at the moments when the doors open, when the things flow between the worlds, that stories happen.”Ten thousand doors? More like ten thousand reasons to say no. Twenty thousand doorways? Twenty thousand times no way.Sometimes I shamelessly fall for those hyped bestsellers, but most often I cannot stand them. Funnily enough, I loved what most people hate about The Ten Thousand Doors of January: the flowery, flowing prose. I admired Alix E. Harrow's writing style so much that I wanted to rat...

If there’s a part of you that has always felt magic exists in the world, ever since childhood, despite voices telling you otherwise, and you have a penchant for the whimsical, then Alix Harrow has written the perfect novel for you. *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* is a story of doors—portals, if you will—existing in places of particular resonance, stepping through the void into fables, folklore, adventure, love, and sanctuary, and the infinite power of words and stories. In 1901, at the age o...

Five thousand stars to start, first for the absolutely stunning illustration on the cover, and then another five thousand stars for the rest of this heart-throbbing, incredibly creative, vibrant, and joyful journey through more imaginary portals than you could ever dream of visiting!FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT, OPEN YOUR EYES, GET READY TO COUNT TO TEN THOUSAND!This is an amazing combination of McGuire’s *Wayward Children* series and Stephen King’s *Dark Tower* series! If you love portal fantasies, yo...

((me: prepares for awkward silence due to unpopular opinion))((confirmed: sound of crickets))I'm sorry, everyone, but I have to be honest. I did not enjoy Alix E. Harrow's *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* at all.I really wanted to, I was so hyped for it. I saw early reviews coming in and they were fantastic. I couldn't wait to get started.My initial impression was that although the writing style was a little quirky, my interest was still high. Then it seemed to go nowhere. I wasn't feeling an...

All the stars! Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature (along with my co-reviewer Marion's excellent review):The Ten Thousand Doors of January sits right at the top of the pile of portal fantasies I've ever read. Alix E. Harrow sets it apart with her intelligent and truly gorgeous writing, unique characters ― including real friends and a fiercely loyal dog ― and a complex, twisty plot. She also thoughtfully considers racial and class prejudice, powerful men who make rules to benefit the...

I almost didn’t write this review. I felt that to speak of Alix E. Harrow's *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* would be to contain what it did to *me*, to diminish it somehow. And I didn’t want to do that. *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* is almost less a novel than an experience: never have I felt more like I was part of things, moved by the same current, like my soul had disconnected from my body and drifted among fictional souls in a mist somewhere between fantasy and reality. It seemed h...

Ooh, *The Ten Thousand Doors of January* is a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for BEST FANTASY *AND* BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2019! What's going to happen?I mean, it’s a perfect book. That should be the alpha and the omega of this book review because you’ve probably already read the synopsis. If it takes more than that to convince you of this book’s desirability, I’m sure I don’t have the words to do it. Seriously, just go read this fantasy book!If you like Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series,...