Once in a while you stumble upon a book that gives you an undeniable sense of familiarity, of belonging. You feel a constant need to stroke the spine lovingly, you ache to read it again, and again, and again. Once in a while you stumble upon a book that you could fall into only if you believed hard enough. The Ten Thousand Doors of January has the potential to become one of those books for you.
In Mr Locke’s mansion filled with mysterious, otherworldly treasures, January Scaller feels like one of the wonders on display herself. Her mother is dead, and her father travels around the world chasing rare objects for Mr Locke’s collection. When seven-year-old January tells Locke about the Door she found in the middle of an overgrown field, a door that leads to another world, he admonishes her and promptly sets about ridding her of her wild, fanciful streak. January tries her best to be the well mannered, docile girl Locke wants, and perhaps even loves a little.
After years of existing unnoticed, waiting for a father who’s never kept his promises of taking her along with him, January longs for freedom from the growing sense of imprisonment. But her spirit is waning. Then one day she finds a strange book and finally her existence as an in-between sort of thing starts making a lot more sense.
If you haven’t gotten around to this book yet or if you just need a reason to pick this up next, here are six reasons that might convince you to do so:
A delicious crossover of genres!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a historical fiction novel steeped in magic and elements of fantasy fiction, and will definitely appeal to you if you’re a lover of either of those genres or are just looking for an utterly enchanting story.
This is a portal fantasy book!
Sometimes the world gets too much to handle, and you need to dive into a story like January’s and wander into worlds vastly different from your own to forget all the troubles of human existence, at least for a few blissful hours. As January herself would tell you, “There’s only one way to run from your own story, and that’s to sneak into someone else’s.”
January is one of the most iron-willed protagonists you’ll ever meet!
Along with being persistently dauntless in her quest, she is also a witty and fairly sarcastic story teller. Her dry humour is absolutely endearing and keeps you connected to her story. January is the kind of heroine you’d follow through ten thousand Doors into worlds unseen before, no questions asked.
Harrow’s writing is spellbinding!
She transforms the story into something that’s not just read, but experienced. She succeeds in making you feel the raw ache, the earnestness, and the desperation in her characters acutely. She almost gets you to believe in Doors the way you believe in the inevitability of Mondays. Despite the rational part of your brain telling you otherwise, you’re almost convinced that you might cross the threshold of nothingness and stumble into Elsewhere, all you have to do is open the right Door. Be warned though, you might feel a bit dizzy as you come out of the book, and more than a bit disappointed when reality absolutely refuses to let you stay wrapped up in Harrow’s words forever.
A story that’s both plot and character driven.
With plotlines that weave together to form a satisfying ending and characters you begin to root for almost immediately after being introduced to them, Harrow conjures a gentle but steadily paced story that leaves you with a forlorn wish to belong with Bad the good dog, and let him tear the nefarious villains (who are exceptionally good at being nefarious villains) into pieces without batting an eye.
A book within book!
Now this is something that allows us readers to feel smug and proud of ourselves, because it’s like getting two or more books for the price of one. January’s story truly starts, as grand tales often do, when she comes across a book that changes her life as she knew it. The story she reads and her own story are beautifully interlaced throughout the whole book.
In conclusion, if this is the first time you’re hearing of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, add it to your TBR. If it’s already on your TBR, let it be the next book you read. After all, we are all too familiar with that feeling of reading a book, realising it’s everything we didn’t know we needed to achieve peak happiness and then cursing self for not picking it up earlier. Read it already!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read The Ten Thousand Doors of January? Or will you be picking it up? Tell us in the comments below!
