The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
Release Date - September 19, 2019

Publisher Website - Hachette
Publisher Social Media - Twitter

Pages - 374 pages
My Rating - 3/5
**borrowed from library**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

There are some books that once you finish reading them leave you no strong feeling either way. These are the reads that you might classify as perfectly fine. Those middle of the road reads that you often encounter. A read that leaves you feeling indifferent. The Ten Thousand Doors of January fell into this category for me.

The writing is the main thing I noticed about this book. The book's strength was the writing for me. There is no denying that the writing itself is good. It is a novel that transports you into the story  because of the vivid, detailed descriptions and author's ability to create a setting. I found some of the characters to be lacking in comparison. Most of them felt a little flat when compared to the other aspects of the writing.

The book offers a sort of dual storylines that converge. There is a bit of a story within a story being told within these pages. January finds a book and that book is what propels the story's momentum. I was much more invested in the story within the story. I wanted to follow that story more than I wanted to follow the main one being told. I felt more of a pull and connection to that part of the story than any other element.

The pacing of the novel felt off for me. The inciting incident came much later in the story which made the beginning part feel especially long. The plot picked up in the middle which made that section fly by only for it to slow down again for the end part of the story. The pacing in a novel is something I find crucial and it made this one tougher to get into.

The characters, as I previously mentioned felt a little flat to me. Much of it has to do with me not connecting with the character of January. It made parts of the novel harder to get through than others. It made me not as invested in the story being told. The other characters, like January, all show promise and there are little sparks to them that just never fully ignite.

Any good fantasy novel will have rich and complex world building. This one succeeds in this regard. The world and the mechanics of it are some of the more fascinating elements if this story. The journey that these characters take is, at its heart, a compelling one. I just wish it had been woven together a little more tightly and that all the elements were as strong as some of the others were.

I predict that many others out there will love this book much more than I did. It is well written, imaginative and has an interesting premise. I just didn't find it was executed to its fullest potential so it did not quite work as well for me as it could have. There is lots here to love so I do still urge you to check it out of it sounds intriguing to you.