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jessicarenz'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Medical trauma
spineofthesaurus's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Slavery, Stalking, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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
k_galloway's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
alyssasaurus'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? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
heytherekaity'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
5.0
do you like portal fantasies? have you ever wished the Wayward Children series were full length books instead of novellas? do you dream of a grown up version of The Magician's Nephew? because if so, WOW do I have the book for you!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is an absolutely PHENOMENAL book and you should read it as soon as you possibly can!!!
and also Alix E. Harrow is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors and somehow I ended up reading her debut THIRD (I read A Spindle Splintered first, then The Once and Future Witches) and OH MY STARS it's just SO GOOD! her writing style just really works for me and I wish she had at least ten more books for me to read RIGHT NOW! (but there will be more soon and I will wait. patiently. or at least attempting to wait patiently)
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Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism