Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Really enjoyed this book. Slow paced movement from historical fiction into fantasy. Felt like an homage to older YA novels and also did I detect direct inspiration from Broken Earth Trilogy? Definitely difficult themes!

Seems like those who didn’t enjoy it were mainly disappointed by false advertising or assumptions, but I had no idea what it was about or that it existed until a friend recommended! Glad I tried it.

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svenja135's review

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

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se_wigget's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

Exquisite fantasy novel!

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dalenora's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I think some of it may have been my personal bias, as I read Starling House first and LOVED it, and the two are so similar in structure (book within a book, replete with silly footnotes that further the plot) and where it felt fresh and unique with Starling House, I found the chapters taking place inside The Ten Thousand Doors to be tedious at best, downright boring at worst. The main plot was equally thin, and for the majority of the book I felt like I was reading a children's book with children's book stakes. Initially, I understood this as we were reading the thoughts and words OF a child, but as January aged, it felt like the writing did not mature with her and we were being spoon fed major plot points, which was kind of insulting as a reader. Almost all of the key reveals were so heavily foreshadowed that I was able to predict the majority of the plot with accuracy after only a few chapters, and that sucks a lot of the fun out of reading.

I also just found January insufferable as a character. I understood the allegory the author was going for, but most of the time it felt like we were just being told factually what happened, and we wasted so much time on January justifying others shitty behavior and forgiving people who shouldn't be forgiven (ahem, looking at you Dad) and because of that felt like the ending was too rushed and not properly earned (with the big climax to the story happening maybe 20 pages before the end) with January magically transforming rather than gradually unlearning the trauma she experienced growing up. People don't just wake up fully healed, and it felt cheap that January was suddenly a different person, and the plot device that led to her transformation felt cheap, allowing her character development to come from an external force rather than letting January deconstruct the trauma of her upbringing on her own.

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