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321zeggy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Pregnancy and Sexual harassment
athryn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War
tangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
But I struggled with the pacing, especially in the first 2/3. While January is an interesting character, her story kept me less engrossed than Ade and Yule Ian's, even though she's ostensibly the main character. For me, the story really starts in the last third, when everyone's threads come together.
Ultimately, my biggest disappointment with the book is the the conventionality of Harrow's other worlds. They're "completely different from our own," but in very limited ways. Where were the worlds with people but without capitalism? Where were the worlds where people weren't "somewhere in between [men and women]" but just people? The refuges in Arcadia clearly include same-sex couples; were none of them looking for a world where that was the norm, or did the idea of such a world not occur to Harrow? It often seems like, in Harrow's mind, the best a queer and/or BIPOC character can hope for is a world where their identity is ignored or, at best, tolerated, rather than one where it's celebrated.
In 2001, astronauts carry paper notebooks because Arthur C Clarke, however vast his imagination, couldn't conceive of computers so small they fit in the palm of our hands. In The Ten Thousand Doors of January, all worlds, no matter how superficially different from our own, at core are quite similar, because Alix E Harrow, however vast her imagination, couldn't conceive of what real, fundamental difference looks like.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy
Minor: Police brutality and War
malley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Self harm, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Gun violence and Pregnancy
carolined314's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Racial slurs, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Minor: Pregnancy
alyssadavis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
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.
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Abandonment
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Pregnancy
wrenthebard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Cursing, Slavery, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy