The Saint of Bright Doors

More of a 3.5 but I'm rounding up.

This turned out to be one of those books where I'm completely confused as to what I feel about it and what can I even write in this review. It was a very intriguing read in parts while very slow to get through in others, and throughout my reading I kept wondering where it was going and what was the point of it all. I can see the influences of Sri Lankan politics in the world building but I guess it was the writing style that just wasn't for me.

But I'm still glad I finally got to read this author's work. And the well narrated audiobook definitely helped me to want to pick it up whenever I could find little time.

I've never read anything like The Saint of Bright Doors – wildly inventive, totally mesmerizing, and it upended my expectations at every turn. It reads like an established author's career-defining masterpiece, rather than a debut novel.

Vajra Chandrasekera paints a vivid picture of a city on the brink – told through the eyes of a man born and raised to be a master assassin, a catalyst of change in the world, bound for one singular purpose – but his skills dull from disuse and he strays from his destined path. The synopsis may not sound unique, but the tale and its telling are wholly original.

I was so impressed with Chandrasekera's ability to craft a complex, political, and also surreal story in such an intelligible way. I was spellbound the entire time I spent with this book and I can't wait to read it again, just to recapture some of the awe I felt the first time around.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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My experience of this audiobook was enhanced by a reviewer who urged readers to “not think about the plot details” and instead experience the world building. I second this advice and add that it helped me to view the story almost as an allegory - what colonization in the past does to a world and people in it. Even more so, it shines light on the growing darkness in our world - plague, pomgroms, ‘religion' colliding with governments to oppress those in the wrong “caste” and more. The fantastical elements were less than expected and not well explained - plot devices and symbols (like the “bright doors” of the title.) Overall, an engaging listen and a thoughtful exploration of how religion can use power and violence.??

I don't know how to describe this book because it has a lot of things it's saying, but the plot doesn't really go anywhere. But I still really enjoyed it. The basic storyline is about a man (Fetta) who leaves the cult he grew up in and goes to the big city. While there he makes friends, learns that he wants more out of life than fulfilling a destiny his mother thrust on him, and he also learns about the messed up things the people in power in the city are doing. Underneath that story, the book is saying a lot about classism, oppression of minorities, the lasting negative effects of colonialism, the dangers of hive mind, the inadequacies of government, etc. I was having a fantastic time for the first maybe 60% of the book. After that I was still interested in the story, but I was just kind of along for the meandering ride the plot had become. Even up to the last 3 chapters I was thinking “how exactly are we going to end this story? Everything is really up in the air?”. And I would say we got a plot twist I was really not expecting at all but it lead to an anticlimactic ending. So I liked it but I don't know if I could strongly recommend everyone read this. I could see a lot of people getting bored or frustrated with the lack of forward momentum with the plot.

DNF, p.113. Religious fanatics; prophets; complex intrigue and plotting, deception and ruses. State-sanctioned mass executions. Abusive casteism. That’s just not what I need in July 2024. Maybe, if humankind survives the election, I’ll try again next year. Beautiful writing tho, descriptive and flowing. Occasional stunning moments of insight about humans and the systems we build.

I picked this one up as the most recent winner of the Nebula award. It’s a fantasy novel, where a boy has his shadow severed from his body by his mother, and then he grows up to move to a city where there are inexplicably glowing doors all over the place that don’t lead anywhere.

The book itself was easy to read, and some of the characters felt easy to connect with, but overall the plot felt quite vague at times. From reading the reviews afterwards it seems the wow factor comes from the themes it covers - religious fanaticism, totalitarianism and so on but I think it was a bit lost on me and I would have liked something more tangible.

I have complicated feelings about this one. Half of me loved it and half of me was very frustrated with it. I'm giving it a four because I thoroughly enjoyed most of my time reading it, and I think that over time, parts of this book will keep coming back to me.

It has a haunting quality, and the world feels like it could be an alternate version of our own in some ways while at the same time being unlike any world I'd read before, which added to the eeriness and wonder to me. I also thought the approach to the protagonist, Fetter, was very unique and interesting. He was given a clear purpose from childhood, rebelled against it, and was then left in a bit of an existential crisis. He could live freely, but didn't know what to do with himself, and was left feeling content, but also adrift, never knowing if what he was doing was what he should be doing, which felt much more relatable than so many purpose-driven main characters.

Every character within it actually had incredible depth to them, such that I felt like he could have written an entirely different novel for each side character. There was this clear feeling that something big and important was happening for many of the characters, and those things had little if anything to do with Fetter or his story, which was quite a cool way of writing about a world, and again is very relatable. After all, in real life, most people you interact with have their own crazy stuff going on which has nothing to do with you.

Many people in the SFF world are raving about it, and for good reason. It's a very unique fantasy, beautifully written, and I'm very excited to read more from this author. This book was so obviously bursting with amazing stories and ideas, that if anything, I think he could have benefitted from reeling things in a bit.

That's the heart of what frustrated me about this book. There was so much to the world and the characters that I was left feeling like I only understood a quarter of what was going on. That seemed intentional in a way, but I found that it wasn't conducive to wanting to know what would happen to Fetter next. I had only a flimsy grasp on what was going on around Fetter, and it seemed like the story's direction kept changing and meandering without really going anywhere. Also it's kind of mean to have a super cool side story invented, and then just leave it hanging, but that happened a few times.

So if you're a fan of untraditional narratives, this might be a perfect book, but I found it equal parts fun and frustrating. I also found the end very frustrating. I get the stylistic choice for the most part, but I was really hoping for a more satisfying conclusion, I guess.