Book Review | The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Author: Alix E. Harrow

Publisher: Orbit

Published: September 2019

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

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.

Lush and richly imagined, a tale of impossible journeys, unforgettable love, and the enduring power of stories awaits in Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding debut–step inside and discover its magic. -Goodreads

My thanks to Orbit books for sending me a proof copy of this novel before the paperback release to review.

I had heard a lot of good things about this book, quite a few people who’s opinion I trust had it in their top books of 2019 list, so I was quite excited to get into it. I am so glad to say that this book did not disappoint!

This is a beautiful and compelling book about a girl called January who finds a mysterious book which introduces her to the idea of Doors which allow you to travel to other worlds. It is a very clever and magical world which I loved being totally absorbed by.

January, our main character is great. The novel is told half from her point of view and half from the writings of the book which January is reading. This split narrative worked very well in the novel, it allowed us to discover more about the world without being subjected to any info-dumps and made the world seem even more absorbing.

January is a very smart and sarcastic 17 year old, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of her witty and sharp responses she gave to the other characters, especially the male characters who saw themselves as better than her.

The novel features an excellent collection of minor characters, both heroes and villains, which were all well-developed and helped to add to the overall magic of this novel!

My favourite part of the novel was definitely Harrow’s writing style. Her use of language is beautiful, so descriptive and emotive and it was a pleasure to read every single sentence in this book. Every page was perfectly curated and I cannot compliment it enough!

Overall I absolutely adored this book, it was a fascinating and magical book, and every page was beautiful to read, and totally absorbing. I would highly recommend this novel, if you are a fan of fantastical novels, novels about magic and novels about the power of love.

You can buy the book from Waterstones here (affiliate link)