ezekielsdaughter | The Ten Thousand Doors of January

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To be honest, I read this primarily because it is on the Hugo nomination list this year. I think that I would have loved this book in my youth. The novel is set in the early 1900's in New England, America (for the most part). The language and characterization match the literature of that time. The language is beautiful and occasionally florid. The villains explain their motives, when asked, in exquisite detail. Unlike the novels of that actual time period, this novel does not hide the classism and racism of the upper class of the time period. Unlike "Oliver Twist", the protagonist is a mixed race girl and she is raised by a rich white collector. She is not an orphan raised in a criminal atmosphere. While she occasionally suffers the sneers of her guardian's colleagues, she enjoys all of the perks of being the daughter of a wealthy white man of this era. A set of events sets the story into motion: at age 7, she finds a door that appears to lead to another work; as a young teen, she finds a book that describes the study of doors.

As I said, I would have enjoyed this when I was younger. As I listened to the audio book, I did have to force myself to get through this. At times, I found the protagonist's naivety to be unbelievable. But I am 64 and not 17! I think a younger reader would not have a problem with this aspect at all. At times, I found the various villains to be tiresome in their need to explain everything. But again, I know that I enjoyed this type of story-telling when I was younger.

This is a qualified recommendation. This is not a modern novel patterned after our clipped conversations. It is more like a classical 19th or early 20th century novel filled with gentlemen, gentlewomen--and the occasional vampire.

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