BOOK REVIEW: THE TEN THOSAND DOORS OF JANAURY

 THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

Author: ALIX E. HARROW
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy

A letter to imagination, adventure, the written word, and the power of different kinds of love

The Summary

In this intriguing and poetic debut, a young woman seeks for her place in the world after discovering a mysterious book in the early 1900s.

January Scaller is a curiosity in a large mansion packed with odd items. As the affluent Mr. Locke's ward, she feels similar to the relics that fill the halls: scrupulously maintained, generally overlooked, and completely out of place. Then she comes across an odd book. A book with the aroma of other worlds that tells the story of secret doors, love, adventure, and peril. With each page flip, January finds unimaginable truths about the universe, and her personal tale becomes inextricably interwoven.

Review

This novel drew me in right away. The first chapter quickly transported me to this odd and imaginative world where you can travel between planets, and it's just the type of book I wanted to read to escape.

I'm going to keep this review brief because I don't want to give anything away! This novel does a fantastic job at keeping you guessing. I spent a lot of time speculating and wondering what would happen next and how things would end out.

In this book, the narrator, January, searches for her own sense of herself, her family, and a place where she may truly belong. When she's a child, she walks through a "Door" (a portal to another realm). She then spends several years suppressing the recollection until she comes upon a curious book that links to that incident.

That's all I'll say about the plot... It's too wonderful to give away any specifics! There's adventure, love, fantasy, and a unique coming-of-age story. The writing was excellent, the characters were mostly fascinating and sympathetic, and everything simply clicked for me.