Published by Orbit September 2019 (UK)
Synopsis
EVERY STORY OPENS A DOOR
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts 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, of love, adventure and danger. Each page reveals more impossible truths about the world, and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.
Review
I was sent a copy of the novel by Orbit and Netgalley in return for a review.
I really really wanted to love this book, mainly because it has the most stunning cover I’ve seen this year! From the synopsis it sounds like a beautiful novel that I honestly couldn’t wait to try. I spent a week trying, and failing to be interested in the characters and I really struggled with the ‘book in a book’ format.
So unfortunately I didn’t finish this one. I got to halfway or should I say I pushed to halfway as I’d read a couple of comments about this being a slow start but I didn’t feel that it had picked up by this point.
This is nothing against the writing, I think Harrow is a lover of words and that really shows in her descriptive text but sometimes beautiful language doesn’t make up for a whimsy storyline.
I will say that I might go back to this one. Maybe my mind isn’t in the right place so I’ll have a break, read some fantasy magical books and come back to it at a later date.
Feed Me Fiction 