The Ten Thousand Doors of January

High expectations were the downfall of this one for me. The reviews painted a gorgeous story full of depth and spectacle, and a well-earned permanent spot on my bookshelf. Instead, it read like a middle school YA fantasy that, while endearing, ultimately felt lacking in a lot of ways. 

I went in knowing I’d need to suspend my disbelief -- after all, it's a story about a girl who learns there are Doors (or portals) that lead to other worlds -- but that suspension can only hold for so long.

I can accept reality where magical things exist. But then you want me to add cartoonish human behavior to that pile? No, ma’am. There has to be something rooted in reality for me to feel like the events unfolding, even in a world where magic exists, are still possible. Bring on the animal-human hybrids, monsters, people with superpowers, etc. I'll take it. What I won't take are regular humans acting like borderline parodies of other character tropes. That goes for the villains too, who seemed to have no qualms with sharing their plans openly. It took me out of the story at times. 

The novel is like a love letter to people who love words with the writing being flowery and verbose. This may not be everyone's thing but I didn't mind it.

The tenses do jump around a lot because we're reading the book, plus the book within the book. So we have the first person perspective from our protagonist January Scaller; plus the perspective of the writer of the book she is reading, which jumps between first and third. There were a lot of interesting choices made with this story. 

I do appreciate the exploration of real world issues like racism, classism, and trauma, but unfortunately don't feel the author stuck the landing overall. 

January, a biracial girl growing up in a predominantly white society in the early 1900s, has a lot of emotional neglect and trauma inflicted on her as a child. The girl is in functional freeze mode. Some of her decisions and reactions, while infuriating, are still understandable when remembering that context. 

But then when it came to scenes depicting the discrimination she faces or observes, it felt so obviously heavy-handed and like watching an after-school special.

There are enjoyable chapters, and ones that lag. The premise is interesting but doesn't take off the way I would have hoped. I think it's a novel better recommended for younger readers rather than adults. 

Okay, so I think if you're into historical fantasy that leans heavy into historical, I think you'll love this. I think I would also like this a lot more if I hadn't read really similar books within the past couple of months.

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I loved the colliding of worlds and characters as the different puzzle pieces clicked into place.

I love this book.

In full disclosure, if you ask me if I recommend this book, I would have to say I'm not sure. Literally, it would be a case by case nature depending on who asks.

45 pages in, I was confused and not certain what the meat of the story was.
100 pages in, I start seeing some potential.
130 pages in, I finally think I'm understanding what the plot is and I'm very much invested.
160 pages in, I was in love.
Last 100 pages, I couldn't put this book down.

I will read this book again. And I know that I will love it more each time I read this story. It is written in a style that I had a little bit of a disconnect with, but I am so glad that I powered through. It's a story that requires full attention, at least it was to me, and sometimes I had to stop reading for a while just so I could mull over what I had read.

More here! https://youtu.be/GUz0fJH62Tc

Another book where the concept sounds great but I'm just not feelin it. I wasn't really drawn in at all. I wanted to be, the idea of jumping from door to door going on magical adventures sounds great. But the main character isn't going on the adventures, she's just reading about them in a book. Then just write that book. Why put a more interesting book within the actual book I'm reading? That's dumb.

It's like two half stories are stuck together and trying to pass itself off as a whole story. Also, how stupid can January be to not realize that Locke is the bad guy. He's literally been horrible to her, her ENTIRE life. His whole existence in the book is evil. January is an idiot. It's not really a surprise ending if it's obvious from first chapter.


The cover is pretty though.