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The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Alix E. Harrow

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Fantasy

Why we're reading this: Featured Buddy Read - October 2019
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What Members Thought

May 26, 2020 Nataliya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-reads, hugo-nebula-nominees-and-winners

“You see, doors are many things: fissures and cracks, ways between, mysteries and borders. But more than anything else, doors are change. When things slip through them, no matter how small or brief, change trails them like porpoises following a ship’s wake.”

This is a story about the desire for unknown, the longing for change. It is a story of the dangers of complacency, blind obedience, unquestioning submission to those who proclaim they are the strong ones. This is a story of the need to take action, to rise above what has been determined for you and do what you have to do regardless of the obstacles in your path. It is a story of growing up while holding on to curiosity and adventure which do not need to give way to propriety and stuffiness. It’s a story of family and abandonment. It is a story of how it feels to be the “other”, “an in-between sort of thing.”

This is also a story about the power of words.

“If one follows the stories, one will nearly always find a doorway buried at their roots.”

“Worlds were never meant to be prisons, locked and suffocating and safe. Worlds were supposed to be great rambling houses with all the windows thrown open and the wind and summer rain rushing through them, with magic passages in their closets and secret treasure chests in their attics. […]
I was so very tired of locked doors.”

There are doors in the world — or Doors, really — that appear in the places where boundaries between worlds are thin and that can take you through to places that are different and strange. They allow for things unusual and new to flow between worlds, changing status quo, bringing fresh beginning with them.

But those Doors are closing now. Or rather, someone has been closing them.

In 1901, January Scaller is seven. An “oddly colored” reddish-skinned girl, she is a ward of Cornelius Locke, a rich man, a no-nonsense member of an archaeological society and her father’s employer. January has no mother, and her father is always away on Ms. Locke’s archaeological expeditions, returning from time to time with a wealth of strange things that go straight in Mr. Locke’s vast collections. January is lonely, and resentful of her mostly absent father, and works really hard to earn approval and love from the replacement father figure, her guardian Mr. Locke who buys her things and takes her on long travels — and in return expects her to grow into a respectable young lady with certainly no penchants for imaginary things and wanderlust.

But then, at age seven, January walks through a blue Door standing in an empty field and sees a different world - one full of smell of ocean and blue water, one that calls to her. And eventually she notes that writing some things down when she really believes them makes them happen. But that is certainly nonsense, and no proper young ladies should be given to such flights of fancy.

“There was no room, it turned out, for little girls who wandered off the edge of the map and told the truth about the mad, impossible things they found there.”

Then, at the age of seventeen, January runs afoul of those in power who view her either as a nuisance or an irritation to be swatted away. Those who look at her and see a weak colored girl of no consequence — unless she has something that they want. And January, sheltered and naive, raised to be quiet and pliable and proper, has a rude and abrupt awakening.

“The truth is that the powerful come for the weak, whenever and wherever they like. Always have, always will.”

This book made me quite angry at times — angry at blatant power imbalances, at the injustice, at imperialism and prejudice - and at January herself — at her questionable choices and desperate desire to cling to normalcy, as abnormal as that normalcy can be. (view spoiler) And anger is often what fuels change. And change, while not always good or bad, is what fuels and sustains life, even if it is inconvenient to the ones happy with status quo.

“The will to be polite, to maintain civility and normalcy, is fearfully strong. I wonder sometimes how much evil is permitted to run unchecked simply because it would be rude to interrupt it.”

It is a well-written book, full of wondrous and magical things and told in a crisp well-crafted prose, with excellent plot and well-crafted characters, and enough worldbuilding to sustain sequels (although in this world of never-ending series I’m very happy with stand-alone novels). Its magical yet grounded, charming yet tough. It allows for a bit of moral ambiguity in the characters, with no one (view spoiler) coming out of this smelling like roses. For a debut especially, it’s very strong; it reads as though written by a seasoned author, which bodes quite well for Harrow’s future works. Those Hugo and Nebula nominations are well-earned.

“I hope you will find the cracks in the world and wedge them wider, so the light of other suns shines through; I hope you will keep the world unruly, messy, full of strange magics; I hope you will run through every open Door and tell stories when you return.”

4.5 ~~stars~~ keys to all the locked Doors.
———————

My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ...more

150 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 2019-shelf, worldbuilding-sf

Like the cover to this book, the innards are lush, romantic, and adventuresome. Beautiful prose, much better story, and ten thousand open doors to other realms awaiting us.

Eventually. The first part reads mostly like a Secret Garden type story, complete with the right time period. This may be a bonus to a lot of you, but to me, it was quite simply okay.

When we get word of her father's demise, however, everything picks up pace. I particularly loved how vast swaths of plot were wrapped up in neat ...more

112 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2020 Trish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It all started last year with a short story about a librarian with a magical ability. Well, all true librarians have magical abilities, but this one even more so. After that wondrous journey through the shelves, I let the author take me to a Wild-West-ish world with a tracker who also had a magical ability.

Now, I've plunged into the depths of parallel worlds that are connected by doors. January is a young girl whose mother apparently died when she was a baby. Her father was luckily employed by a It all started last year with a short story about a librarian with a magical ability. Well, all true librarians have magical abilities, but this one even more so. After that wondrous journey through the shelves, I let the author take me to a Wild-West-ish world with a tracker who also had a magical ability.

Now, I've plunged into the depths of parallel worlds that are connected by doors. January is a young girl whose mother apparently died when she was a baby. Her father was luckily employed by a rich man who agreed to take care of the girl while the father went on expeditions. She grows up in a white society dominated by men as a girl with copper skin and unruly hair. And yet, she gets everything she could ever ask for - but at what cost.
Eventually, as was bound to happen, we learn that there is more to her parents' story than meets the eye and after her father vanishes and is presumed dead, she finally breaks the bonds shackling her to "her rightful place" and stopps being "a good girl".
This coincides with her gift manifesting ever more strongly: she does not only know about the doors between worlds, she can also write doors into being! Naturally, her warden as well as his mysterious associates don't like that and try ever more forcefully to control her.

In part, this is a story of self-discovery. If you've been told who you are, what to be, how to behave and what your place in the world is, you often end up believing it and thus need some time to get (re-)acquainted with yourself.
Then there are the people January holds dear and who are actual companions so the book is also about blossoming relationships and true bonds vs. fake concern, true love vs. harmful influences.
Moreover, it's about family and the difference between love and control. And man, while there usually was no actual cruelty involved (view spoiler), it was casual cruelty of the sneaking kind - you know, when people pretend to mean well while being prepared to absolutely crush you in order to subdue you to their will!
Therefore, there were some moments (as can be seen from my status updates *lol*) when I was yelling in frustration or trembling from anger. But there were also some heartwarming "aaawww" moments.

And, of course, the book is about doors. But not like many children's stories about the same topic; this one is darker (I won't say "more grown up").
It's about imagination and willpower, other worlds and how they can be even worse than ours or much much better. As such, these other worlds show us how good we often have it or what we're doing wrong. Along with those doors and worlds comes homesickness - often for places you've never been to before. Fernweh. Wanderlust. That ache and need for something more.
January stilled the ache by reading books much like most readers of this book probably do ... until she learns how to open doors in a more literal way than we do.

What I absolutely adore about this author is that she combines her wonderful sense for highly magical places and people with incredible prose. You can see it in some of the quotes I've highlighted and believe me when I say that those are but a few examples. Apart from the actual plot and characterizations, there are musings on humanity, the human heart, time and much more, all wrapped in words like silk ribbons. Rich imagery, powerful characters, some breathtaking developments and a gorgeous writing style. Simply beautiful.

Thus, I don't think I'll even bother to read the next book's blurp - it'll be an instant must-have for me and I hope she'll write a few more short stories that will eventually be collected in one book so I can put that on my shelf as well. ...more

67 likes · Like · see review

Aug 27, 2020 Lyn rated it liked it

Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore sit in a café in Los Angeles and discuss Alix Harrow’s 2019 Hugo Award nominated novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

Jim: It was really great, kind of a Light my Fire kind of book.

Ray: Ah! Good one, Jim. Yes, Ms. Harrow is very talented and I was initially impressed with her writing ability, her use of language, how she structured her narrative, all very original and entertaining.

Robbie: I also liked the setting, turn of the centur ...more

66 likes · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2019 Lata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, auth-f, x2019-read, library-book-club, x2021-read, favourites

2021-08: I enjoyed this book all over again. I also found myself gnashing my teeth, again, at how annoying the treatment of rich young women was during the early 1900s, as I had to keep reminding myself that many of January's poor decisions came out of naivete and knowing really nothing outside of her carefully circumscribed life. And I loved where and what she was doing by the book's end.
I loved Bad all over again, also. What a terrific name for that dog.
I also noticed this time how evocative t ...more

42 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2019 Emma rated it it was amazing

“Run away with me toward the glimmering, mad horizon. Dance through this eternal green orchard, where ten thousand worlds hang ripe and red for the plucking; wander with me between the trees, tending them, clearing away the weeds, letting in the air. Opening the Doors.”

A wonderful story. From the very first paragraph I strongly suspected I was heading for a 5 star read.

31 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2019 Lindsay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

An impressive debut novel that's a portal fantasy and an epic love story with a commentary on power and who gets access to it.

January Scaller has been brought up in the house of Mr Locke, her father's employer, while her father searches the world for rare items for Mr Locke's enormous collection. January has a wild nature that Locke tries to repress, but clues from a mysterious blue chest, and her own nature, lead her to the existence of doors between worlds. From the blue chest also comes a boo ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2023 DivaDiane SM rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, sffbc-book-shelf, ebook, a-z-midyear-challenge, diane-s-meager-effort, sffbc-tbr-cleanup

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I started reading it when I was locked out of my house and this was the only book I had on my phone (strangely). I only read 2 or 3 chapters and then went back to the book I had been reading, and since then, I have no idea why, I never managed to get back to this. I’ve put it on various challenges the past 2 years to give myself extra motivation and it was now finally time!

Wow what a whirlwind! I loved the emphasis on language and words, written and spoken. I lov ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2022 Susy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, debut, books-about-books, portal

4 stars
This interesting story starts off at a very slow pace. It was hard to keep focused, I even fell asleep, and almost gave up on it. But then about 90 pages in it picked up and it picked up good. I was captivated and while it took me a week to read the first 90 pages, the other 300 something pages I read in 2 days. I really wanted to know how things would go for the characters, the Doors became more and more magical and the story gripped me.

Characters 8
Atmosphere 8
Writing Style 7
Setup 8
Plot ...more

14 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2019 Christina Pilkington rated it really liked it

I thought Harrow's Ten Thousand Doors of January was written so beautifully! I was expecting this to be more of a portal fantasy, and while it was, that wasn't really what this book was about.

I loved its story within a story, pages brimming with gorgeous imagery, slow-burn adventure and magical elements. It's a story of family and racial and class prejudice.

Looking forward to see what Harrow will write next!
...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2020 Ctgt rated it really liked it

8/10

4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 23, 2020 Linda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020

Such an unexpectedly good read! This is one of those books that I would have never had picked up on my own, but did so after several of my reading buddies raced about it, and I was not disappointed. The story took awhile to get fully setup, but by the 50% mark I was fully immersed and was happy for a rainy weekend where I was resigned to reading inside.

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2019 Joanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This audio book is read by January Lavoy, an actress who happens to have the same first name as the title! I listened to another book with her as the narrator and enjoyed this one just as much. I think she has a great skill for using her voice to bring characters to life. She can do all kinds of different voices and accents.

The story runs parallel with several different characters. They come from different worlds and yet they are connected to one another. The premise you have to accept is that ...more

1 like · Like · see review