Alex reviewed The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
Light reading
4 stars
It's well written, but not strikingly original. I liked it, but clearly sort of a YA kind of thing.
Paperback, 416 pages
Published May 12, 2020 by Redhook.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
3 stars
(3 reviews)
Multiverse of meh
3 stars
Content warning Spoiler for a story twist, cw death, animal harm, self harm
It's a little flat. Fantastical but enough racism to just sort of suck the air out of it. I really resented the >>spoiler<< dead dog switcharoo even though I kinda saw it coming. When the >>spoiler<< dead mum turned up alive then the >>spoiler<< dead dad did too then dead friend then dead great aunt ... it was a bit of a struggle to not just nope out.
The worldsbuilding is solid. The characters are solid. Representation of POC is great. One character is in a pan polycule, which is rad. The rest is OK, (pacing, plot, etc.) just very predictable. It's fairly YA but for the self harm. (One day I'll happen upon a novel for grown-ups & faint dead away)
Review of 'The Ten Thousand Doors of January' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I listened on audio book. I enjoyed parts but felt it went on a bit too long and jumped around a lot, but not in a good way. I was bored by the end. It didn't really ever grab my attention