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Thursday, April 30, 2020

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Superficially, this novel remarkably similar to The Starless Sea -- a young woman begins finding doors to alternate worlds, and must stop the secret society determined to close those doors permanently. But the details, the themes, the writing style, even the overall feel of the book is completely different.

In Harrow's world, the doors are crucial to the health of our world, letting in ideas and sparking societal changes for the better. Hence the secret society of mostly old, white men who want to study the other worlds, make a quick buck off some artifacts, and then close them forever before they have too much of an influence on us. January (the young woman in question), however, has a connection to one of the doors, and is determined to track down her parents.

Harrow's political commentary is sometimes a little heavy-handed, but the narrative she created is rich in detail and exciting to read. Even the villain is far more interesting than one would expect. My only complaint is that I would have enjoyed exploring more of those alternate worlds; we really only got to see one of them.

The US hardcover edition is gorgeous:
The Ten Thousand Doors of January 

And I couldn't resist making another necklace, inspired by both the cover and the text:

Too bad I have no place to wear it right now.

1 comment:

  1. That book sounds very interesting. The good news is that the paperback is due out in 2 weeks time. Even better - I discovered that I can still use my staff discount card online. Bad news - I placed an order this morning! Too late to add another book.

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