EVERY
STORY OPENS A DOOR
In
a sprawling mansion filled with exotic treasures, January Scaller is
a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels
little different from the artefacts that decorate the halls:
carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.
But
her quiet existence is shattered when she stumbles across a strange
book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds and tells a tale
of secret doors and danger, of love and adventure. With each page she
reads, January learns impossible truths about the world and discovers
a story increasingly entwined with her own,
Open
a door to another world and discover the most spellbinding debut of
2019, perfect for readers of THE NIGHT CIRCUS, THE
THIRTEENTH TALE and THE BINDING
What did I think?
The Ten Thousand Doors of January has to have one of the most striking covers I have ever seen; the door handle and keys give it a definite hint of Wonderland, so I prepared myself to expect the unexpected. The pacing is quite slow to start with so I wasn't grasped immediately by the story but soon found that January Scaller had slowly burrowed under my skin as I joined her on her fascinating journey.
This is like a book within a book as January reads from a book she finds; I do wish she could have found this book in chapter one though, as chapter one of 'The Ten Thousand Doors' is included in chapter two of the book, chapter two in chapter three and so on and so forth. I have a bit of OCD about numbers so I did struggle with this at first but this minor annoyance was quickly forgotten as I became immersed in the story.
Alix E. Harrow clearly loves letters and words as much as I love numbers. She has such an affinity for seeing the magical in the mundane; who would have noticed the letter 'H' in the word 'House' as being like a roof with two chimneys? There are sublime descriptions of other letters, that I'll not mention for fear of spoiling for others, that made me want to give a standing ovation to Alix E. Harrow. As a numbers gal, I would never have seen such beauty in letters without her guidance.
I feel completely honoured to have accompanied January on her journey as she discovers her past and her ability to open magical doors into other worlds. Isn't that what we readers do every time we open a book? I didn't realise how affected I was by her story until near to the end when I found myself swallowing a lump in my throat.
For readers who loved falling down the rabbit hole with Alice, follow January through her magical doors and discover worlds built of words. This magical, imaginative and captivating debut is like a love letter to the English language; Alix E. Harrow has opened my eyes to the magic in every word and I will never look at letters in the same way again.
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My rating:
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