Fantasy novel about complicated families, displacement, fanaticism and persecution
I received a copy of this eBook courtesy of the publisher.
“The Saint of Bright Doors” by Vajra Chandrasekera is a fantasy novel about a shadowless young man called Fetter who was raised by his mother to assassinate his father and destroy everything he stands for. However, Fetter doesn’t want the life his mother has chosen for him, and eventually flees his hometown for the bigger city of Luriat. Reasonably welcoming to refugees, Fetter joins group therapy, helps people navigate complicated bureaucracy and forms relationships all while keeping his parentage quiet. However, Luriat is a dynamic city and with visiting gods, laws in flux and mysterious Bright Doors, Fetter has to work out who he is, and who he wants to be.
This was an incredibly creative and layered story that subverts typical fantasy subgenres to create something fresh and relevant. The city of Luriat is both familiar and foreign. I really enjoyed Chandrasekera’s inclusion of modern features like emails and apartments, while maintaining subtle speculative elements. Fetter is a great character who, having tried to shed his past, tries to live as gentle a life as possible while remaining true to his loyalties. The constantly changing rules and shifting sentiments of the city evoked the kind of unstable regimes we experience here in the real world, and the scenes set in vast refugee camps were among the most hard-hitting in the book. There was some great commentary throughout this book about how quickly changes become the status quo, and how things considered ancient history may not be as distant as we believe.
The only challenge I had with this book was that with so much subterfuge, changes to the city and contested history it did at times feel like I was standing on shifting sands. While I appreciate this is reflective of many nations, especially those that persecute minorities, the additional magical elements meant that at times the logic of the book felt inconsistent.
Nevertheless, a highly original book with compelling characters and incisive messages.
Tinted Edges 