Ten Thousand Doors Of January - Alix E. Harrow

Fantasy

Rating: 7.5/10

I have been holding on to this review as a prelude to my new feature that will be posted on Thursday, Novel Narratives. It brings together a multitude of unique narrative structures that can be found in fiction. If you dig deep enough! It’s one of my favourite features.

January has always stuck out like a sore thumb in the sprawling mansion and high society parties of her rich guardian.  Surrounded by treasures and secrets, she one day discovers a remarkable book.  It will turn out that is the least of what it is, and what it will become.

The book tells outlandish tales of secret doors, of adventures surely plucked from fiction and of soulmates bound across worlds. As she reads the book, January sees the ways in which the stories entwine with her own and discovers that the perfect way to run away from your own story is to sneak into someone else’s.

The narratives unfold like a nesting doll in this clever and charming read, peeling back priceless gem after priceless gem. We spend time with fierce and fascinating characters and each door teases the reader with a reverential nod to well-known fairytales and fables. This was of particular delight to me!

In the end I couldn’t decide if this book was more about a young woman who was desperately trying to find her place in the world or one yearning to liberate herself from the world she was bound to.  It was likely both of those things and all the better for it.

P.S.  Food for thought from the book..

“Words and their meanings have weight in the world, shaping and reshaping realities.  They may have just enough power to reach the right person and to tell the right truth and change the nature and course of things.”

Book Pairing(s): Midnight Library by Matt Haig, Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo