#quote is from Alix E Harrow

[deathsweetblossoms]

THIS is what reading is to me. I do not want to go through an entire story just to have a harrowing ending for the characters I was rooting for. I go through that every day in my human life; there has to be some escape somewhere.

Thank you to authors everywhere who share my sentiments and give us the happy endings we so desperately need.

[theinquisitxor]

July Reading Wrap Up

July was a good reading month quality wise, but I wish I got through a couple more books than I did. I read 7 books in July-- six fantasy and one nonfiction. I completed one duology, and I overall enjoyed everything I read in July.

1.Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim 4/5 stars. This is a delightful young adult fairy tale. It was exactly the type of fantasy I was looking for after reading the Poppy War in June. This is a retelling of the fairy tale of the Wild Swans, and I thought it was very well done. However, I thought this should have just been a standalone, not stretched into a second book. I'm not planning on reading the second book, and I'm just going to treat this like a standalone. YA east asian fairy tale retelling.

2.A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians (The Shadow Histories 1) by H.G. Parry. 4.5/5 stars. This is the first in an adult historical fantasy duology. This takes place from ~1780-90s and follows four perspectives across the world (characters in England, France, and Haiti). This book is very much a political fantasy, and one of the most political heavy books I've ever read. The story follows characters as they navigate and cause the geopolitical turmoil of this time period. My favorite book of July. Adult historical fantasy.

3.A Radical Act of Free Magic (The Shadow Histories 2) by H. G. Parry 4/5 stars. The conclusion to this duology was just as good as book 1, and follows many of our same characters through the Napoleonic wars. Slightly less politics and a little more action in this one, but still very good. The way magic fits into the historical narrative of this story is just so clever. Adult historical fantasy.

4.The Isles of the Gods (The Isles of the Gods 1) by Amie Kaufman 3/5 stars. This is a new young adult fantasy book that I've been looking forward to for a while. It was a fun, seafaring fantasy story, but I found it lacking in the characters and some aspects of the world-building. I did really enjoy the early 1900s industrial revolution setting-- I thought that was unique. While I found aspects of this book weak, I'll still probably read the next book (whenever it comes out). YA high fantasy.

5.The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 4/5 stars. Whenever I pick up a new Silvia Moreno-Garcia I know that it's going to be quite different from the previous SGM book, but I know I'm most likely going to enjoy it. That was exactly the case with The Beautiful Ones. The beginning of this book took me a little while to get into, but once I was invested, I didn't want to put it down. The second half of this book was by far the strongest, and I really enjoyed the romance. Adult Historical Fantasy.

6.The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson. This was my nonfiction, for the month and I wanted a literal beach read while at the beach. This is a foundational piece of nature literature by the prolific writer and conservationist Rachel Carson. This was published in 1950, so I'm not sure how much of the scientific detail is actually still accurate but I read this for the writing and the legacy of the work (there are so many good quotes and passages from this book too). Nonfiction.

7.Elantris by Brandon Sanderson 4/5 stars. In my slow attempt to read the Cosmere, I picked up this. I read this half on audio, half physical book. I ended up enjoying this much more than I thought I would. This may be one of my favorite Sanderson works that I've read. There were a lot of tropes and characters that I enjoyed. Adult high fantasy.

That's all for July! I'm looking forward to the books I'm planning on reading in August, included under the cut!

August books?

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Skyhunter duology by Marie Lu

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow

11/22/63 by Stephen King

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Fifth Season by NK Jemison

[novelmonger]

Fortnight of Books, Day 13

Favorite passage/quote of 2023:

The first one that came to mind was this passage from The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow:

It’s a profoundly strange feeling, to stumble across someone whose desires are shaped so closely to your own, like reaching toward your reflection in a mirror and finding warm flesh under your fingertips. If you should ever be lucky enough to find that magical, fearful symmetry, I hope you’re brave enough to grab it with both hands and not let go.

Book which had the overall greatest impact on you this year:

That's such a hard thing to gauge, but I guess maybe it would be The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry, considering the number of times I've talked about it in this activity. It was a blast to read, it made me think of fictional characters in a different way, and it introduced me to H.G. Parry, which led me to read her book The Magician's Daughter as well!

[tinynavajoreads]

"At least this time, when I tough the mirror and fall into the space between worlds, I'm not running away or rushing to anyone's rescue. I'm not looking for a new once upon a time or hoping, secretly and shamefully, for my happily ever after. This time I'm just trying to live. Happily."

Currently Reading: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Another novella in the world where Sleeping Beauty can travel from story to story and she has ended up in the story of Snow White at the behest of the Evil Queen. She would like to escape her own unhappy ending and does what she does best; trying to survive.

I'm nearly done, but this quote is what has stood out to me and I think embodies the narrative well. To learn to live in your story happily, even if it's not the story you want to be in, but you can choose what to do next.

[howifeltabouthim]

. . . her face filling with a desperate, painful hope, the kind of hope that has died at least once and is rising now from its own ashes.

Alix E. Harrow, from A Spindle Splintered

[theselkiesea]

There is nothing quite like the anger of someone very powerful who has been thwarted by someone who was supposed to be weak.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

"Witching and women's rights. Suffrage and spells...They're both a kind of power, aren't they? The kind we aren't allow to have." The kind I want, says the hungry shine of her eyes.

Anybody else in the mood for feminist witches this fall? For a dark and brutal yet altogether unshackling tale about three wayward sisters - Beatrice Belladonna, Agnes Amaranth, and James Juniper - who band together in the town of New Salem in the year 1893 to stick it to the patriarchy with brains, heart, grimoires, and female solidarity?

If you are, great! That means you've entered the right literary space.

It means you best gather 'round the cauldron and prepare yourself for a story that bubble-bubbles- toils-and-troubles with magic. With heartache and hope. With a history that's all too familiar in law (hello suffragists!) and feeling (hello anger, spite; howdy injustice!) because of its restrictions, because of the prejudices which elevate some while a thumb presses down on others.

More than anything, this book is about women who are determined to wrest power and agency back from the people and the institutions that have oppressed them for far too long. Together, Bella, Agnes, June and their womanhood coven must find "the will, the words, and the way."

That metaphor carries throughout the whole of the novel where it applies to the three Eastwood sisters, to women's voting rights, to equality between the sexes, to fairness among different races or classes, to witching, and so many other things. And let me just say this:

WITCH, IT'S FABULOUS!

What I liked:

🖤 Character-driven plot (told in 3 swirling POV's) 🖤 Nice genre-blending (historical fiction --> fantasy --> magical realism --> paranormal) 🖤 Ya Ya Sisterhood 🖤 Spectacle-wearing, book learnin' librarians (aka: my soulmates) 🖤 Miss Cleo Quinn, who just so happens to be a trouser-wearing journalist *ahem* queen *ahem* 🖤 Sapphic representation + longing 🖤 Evocative, emotional prose 🖤 Magic that's passed down: preserved through stories, through word of mouth 🖤 Realistic portrayals of oppression, abandonment, abuse, misogyny, motherhood etc. 🖤 Bella, Agnes, and Juniper evolve into much more than their Maiden, Mother, Crone archetypes 🖤 Themes of courage and perseverance; of love and sacrifice; of power and powerlessness 🖤 Most important of all: BADASS WITCHES UNITE

What I didn't like:

🖤 Pacing: sometimes slow, other times off-kilter 🖤 Took time to tether myself to the premise because I wasn't clear where it was headed in the beginning

This was a clever and symbolic historical twist on women and their "witchy" rights. Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the ARC! 

3.5/5 stars

**Follow me on Goodreads

*Any quotes used here are subject to change by the time of publication*

[ninja-muse]

Talk About Your TBR Tag

Look at your TBR pile or list

Get 3 numbers from a random number generator (Google it if you’d like to use a different one)

Talk about what books correspond to the numbers you were given. (Why are they on there? Were they recommended to you? Etc.)

Tag people to do the same

Tagged by @thelivebookproject and @lizziethereader. Thank you! I think that means I do 6.

18 - Nimona by Noelle Stephenson

On the list for being a very highly recommended fantasy graphic novel, for having an art style that’s different, and for being a standalone, if I’m going to be perfectly honest.

146 - How to Be a Normal Person by T.J. Klune

On the list for the comedy and the ace rep! It’s been recommended to me a few time and I’ve seen quotes and stuff around of it.

152 - Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

Bought this in the early throes of Newbie Bookseller Excitement when I’d just discovered Stephenson as an author and I bought everything out to date just because I could. But it’s not SF and Stephenson needs a certain mindset so … it’s still there.

292 - Down in the Bottomlands and Other Places by Harry Turtledove

An alternate history in which the Mediterranean dries up and Neanderthals survive. As soon as I heard about it, how could I not?

399 - The Iron Ship by K.M. McKinley

One of many books I’ve stripped at work over the years and thought, “Huh, could be interested, why not” and taken home.

583 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

A few months ago one of our book reps showed up with a box of ARCs and said, “this one! read this one! it’s really good”.

Tagging @thelibraryofmars @thelivebookproject @heretherebebooks @shadowtearling

[colibritarot]

Quote from “The Once and Future Witches” by Alix E. Harrow. A GREAT witchy read! Check it out! (at Milan, Italy) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWf_gULFadI/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rebeccaheyman]

reading + listening 8.3.20

This was a super-chaotic reading week for me. I had three (3!) DNFs, a soul-heavy non-fiction aBook, some truly mediocre historical romance, and an ARC that didn’t satisfy. It feels like I’m coming out the other side with this week’s programming, but we’ll see...

Mexican Gothic (Sylvia Moreno-Garcia), aBook. DNF. I wasn’t wild about the narration on this, which felt too pointedly read. I was willing to stick with it for the REBECCA vibes, but I finally called it quits at 72%, when the baby-eating began. There’s a clear distinction between gothic and horror, and this novel very much crossed the line. If you like creepy surrealist dreams, eugenics-gone-wrong, and indictments of the patriarchy, this book is for you. But you’ve been warned: human baby-eating ahead.

The Bride (Julia Garwood), aBook. DNF. This late-80s Scottish historical romance has rave reviews, but I found the characters universally insufferable. Not even Rosalyn Landor’s narration could make this palatable beyond Chapter 2, and that’s saying something.

A Duke, The Lady and a Baby (Vanessa Riley), eBook. DNF. I really, really wanted to like this one. A Guyana heroine, a war-ravaged duke coming to terms with the loss of his leg, and a grand estate with secrets to discover -- all the ingredients were there! Unfortunately, the writing fell flat for me, with frequently awkward narration and an incessant, whinging quality to the core conflict. When characters have to convince one another that lying is the only way forward, you can almost be guaranteed that the truth would have set them all free (and ended the book before it could begin). After what felt like the tenth awkward conversation between our MCs, I had to call it quits. Zero banter, no spark, and a transparent conflict... it’s a no for me.

Just Mercy (Bryan Stevenson), aBook read by the author. Surely the strength and power of this memoir will mark it as one of my best reads of 2020. Stevenson’s work with the Equal Justice Initiative -- and this chronicle of the organization’s founding, along with the landmark McMillan case -- sheds light on the cruelty, corruption, racism and prejudice of the American justice system. I was, and continue to feel, moved by Stevenson’s story -- so much so that before I even finished reading, I set up a monthly donation to EJI. I dare anyone to resist the call to action this book projects into the world (actually, don’t resist -- just answer the call). Here is one of my favorite quotes from the introduction:

Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. My work with the poor and the incarcerated has persuaded me that the opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. [...] We are all implicated when we allow other people to mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy, and we condemn ourselves as much as victimize others.

One more time for those in the back: Read. This. Book.

Brazen and the Beast and Daring and the Duke (Sarah MacLean), aBooks. i listened to the first in this series a while back, but didn’t feel compelled to move forward with the series. Part of it is Justine Eyre’s narration, which makes most men sounds like half-rabid animals with a Menthol habit, but most of it is the storytelling. Every scene in MacLean’s novels takes AN AGE. Let’s take a classic historical romance Intimate Moment(TM)...First, MacLean’s characters are going to wend their way through paragraph after paragraph of scene work. Where are they? What’s the texture of the wall when it presses into our heroine’s back? Is there a plant somewhere nearby? If so, its smell most assuredly triggers a childhood memory that we will need to get, in detail, long before the first stay is loosed. Maybe things finally progress past that initial, passionate embrace... but wait! Let’s talk about it! Let’s have a secondary, lengthy, nonverbal conversation in the time it takes our lusty hero to kneel at our lady’s feet. More than once, I have had the urge to bring MacLean’s characters some cold lemonade and cookies mid-scene, just to keep up their stamina. It’s e x h a u s t i n g to read. Even listening at 1.5x speed doesn’t help. Honestly, I listened because I had a lot of cleaning to do this weekend and was so unmoored after three DNFs that I just... kept going.

The Cul-de-Sac War (Melissa Ferguson), eBook, ARC. See my full review on NetGalley.

My concerns about the premise of this book -- that the MCs' immaturity would make a believable romance impossible -- were not entirely unfounded, but I'm happy to report that the neighborly antics between Bree and Chip never devolve into the mud-slinging childishness I feared. Their animosity is tempered by humor and some heartfelt interactions, all of which makes the development of the romance believable. What I found disappointing here was a lack of character depth and development on Bree, whose carefree attitude seems to act like fire retardant for her clearly unresolved grief and fear of death. Terrified of the yawning void of the unknown? Tap dance through it! Focus on your quirks! If this book is, in part, a story about Bree growing up (finally), she doesn't do an especially good job of it. The saccharine attempt to tug at heartstrings with the inclusion of an eight-year-old suffering from cancer felt cheap; there was plenty of meat on the bone from Bree's grandmother's death to delve deeper into her characterization, so a sick-kid play was unnecessary. Chip's relationship to his father was an unexpected delight -- one that, for me, saved Act III.

THE CUL-DE-SAC WAR is wholesome, light-hearted, and at times funny. Overall, though, it's underdeveloped and thin on emotional propulsion.

On tap this week:

The Midnight Bargain (C.L. Polk), eBook ARC

Love is a Rogue (Lenora Bell), eBook ARC

These Ghosts are Family (Maisy Card), aBook

The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Alix Harrow), aBook

Midnight Sun (Stephanie Meyer), eBook. I’ll be live-tweeting my read of what is sure to be a national treasure.  

[novelmonger]

Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Quote that should have been on the back of the book: "Perhaps I simply need to leave some record, however wandering and unsubstantiated, so that another living soul can learn the truths I have worked so hard to unearth. So that someone else might read it and believe: there are ten thousand doors between ten thousand worlds, and someone is closing them. And I am helping them do it."

Premise: January Scaller is an "in-between girl," as she describes it. Her mother was white and her father is black, in Victorian-era U.S.A. She never knew her mother, and her father is always away from home, so she is raised by a wealthy white man named Mr. Locke. January's father travels the world, finding curios and artifacts from other countries and sending them back to be put in Mr. Locke's collection, while Mr. Locke provides a home and an education for January. No one quite knows what to do with her, because her appearance doesn't fit into any one neat category. She lives in the lap of luxury, but it's not really hers, it's Mr. Locke's. She's provided for, but the strictures of society mean that she's more or less trapped in this world, unable to fend for herself without Mr. Locke's protection. She's considered almost more like a pet or a plaything for an eccentric rich man, rather than a person in her own right.

Then January finds a book called The Ten Thousand Doors, which tells the story of Doors that open into other worlds, and something resonates inside her. She wants to open those Doors. She wants to explore those other worlds. She wants to learn the truth about where her parents came from and what happened to them. And she's not going to take no for an answer.

Thoughts: I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this, but I loved it. It's definitely going on my list of "stories about stories," because besides the story being about traveling to different worlds through Doors, it's also very much about traveling to different worlds through books. Long before January discovers her first Door, she has learned that books provide a means of escape from her sometimes stifling and unbearable life. And, even though I can't say I know what it's like to be biracial or grow up in a lavish mansion in Vermont in the late nineteenth century, I can definitely relate to escaping into the world of a book. And then, when writing new stories comes into the mix? Yes, definitely relatable.

The writing style, the narrative voice, is so engaging. It draws you right in, and I could always picture everything so vividly. The characters leapt off the page--not just January and Mr. Locke, but also her friends Jane and Samuel, and of course her loyal dog Bad. (Ohhh, there was one scene involving him that had me ugly-crying at work T^T) Her parents and their stories! The different worlds! And just…the magic of it all. Harrow never shied away from describing the uglier side of an oft-romanticized historical period, but that made the wondrously supernatural elements shine and glitter even more.

And…just…can I scream about how perfectly she wove in the motif of locks and keys and doors? I was halfway through the book before I realized, "Wait…Mr. Locke…the Key…the Door opens for her…." a;ldkfj;alsdgj;sdljkg;dkslf UTTER PERFECTION. I can't say too much more without spoiling huge chunks of the story, but…if you know, you know.

I also have to admire Harrow for the restraint of not showing more worlds than she did. This is the kind of setup that makes you want to fling open as many Doors as you possibly can, to see just how varied and different these worlds all are. But because we don't get to see more than a small handful of worlds with our own eyes, it awakens in the reader the desire to keep going, keep exploring, maybe find some Doors of their own. And isn't that an absolutely perfect takeaway from this story?

[theselkiesea]

October Book Wrap Up

October was a fairly decent reading month. It started off a bit slow but picked up towards the end. I read a lot of non-fiction books ranging from photography books, poetry and one autobiography. I had planned to read thrillers for October but ended up being in more of a fantasy mood.

Graphic Novels - 2 Novels - 6 Non-Fiction/ Poetry - 4

Ratings: 1 stars - zero, 2 stars - one, 3 stars - three, 4 stars - six and 5 stars - two.

From the October reads I’m going to talk about Arkham Asylum: Madness by Sam Kieth, The Wicked King by Holly Black and The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.

Arkham Asylum: Madness

I had read this a while back but found myself in a reading slump and was picking up old books to get myself out of it. I couldn’t remember how I really felt about Arkham Madness so I added it to my graphic novel TBR.

I don’t think this one is widely liked but I really enjoyed this! The art style worked for me and made me feel like I was playing the Arkham Asylum video game. It’s set in one location which is such a nice change from other graphic novels that bounce all over the place. There is plenty of your fave villains and the nurse who you follow through her day in the asylum is a great protagonist

The Wicked King

How late did I stay up to read this? 5am. I had a small reading slump and this YA fantasy really helped me out of it. So here's the thing. I'm sure this would have been a five star read for me if the major plot points hadn't already been spoiled for me. I still loved it though! Already reserved The Queen of Nothing at my library. I never thought I'd pick up this series and I'm so glad that I decided to give it a try! I love the relationship between Jude and Cardan and I know it's not for everyone but I like the tension, their cruel and honest dialogue is very addicting to read. I'm super invested in Jude, I personally find her to be a great female character and admire her ambitions and fight for power. The Fae politics and magic are expanded on, the way that the mortals lie to the Fae in this is so good! There are so many YA fantasy out there but I do think that everyone should give this series a try. The second book is so bloody good. 

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

When I picked this up at the start of the month and read the first chapter I ran my finger through the pages and saw the format change and realised that it was fiction inside fiction and decided to DNF it.

I think I was just in a grumpy mood as then two weeks later I felt better and picked it back up again. And hey, I loved it! 

This was a 4.5 star read for me. I think this was a well written book, there are plenty of beautiful quotes that stick out. My particular favourite being:

“There is nothing quite like the anger of someone very powerful who has been thwarted by someone who was supposed to be weak.”

At times the pacing was very slow and I found myself counting the pages to see how long it would be till the next chapter. There isn’t a lot of journeying to other worlds, even though it is a portal fantasy, it really more focuses on family. I really liked the cast of characters though I do think a couple could have been more developed. There are two romances in the book but it’s not heavy on it. However one of the relationships at the beginning I was excited for but by the end I didn’t really care for it.