Scan barcode
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
third_bookworm'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
Graphic: Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation
green_amaryllis'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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment
hecubatohim'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
4.75
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
chris_reads'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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Dysphoria
Minor: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Colonisation
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
mockh2's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, and Violence
thequiltyreader'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
4.0
I loved the occasional exploration of using particular words, capitalisations and the general importance of words.
There are fleeting references to various other lands / worlds through the Doors and I would have loved it if these had been explored in some way.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
angela005'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? It's complicated
3.25
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Classism
Minor: Gun violence, Torture, Blood, and Colonisation