Description

***WINNER of the Nebula Award for Best Novel***
***WINNER of the Crawford Award***
***WINNER of the Ignyte Award for Best Adult Novel***
***A 2023 New York Times Notable Book***
***Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel***
***Finalist for the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel***
***Finalist for the 2024 Lambda Award for LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction***
***Shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K Le Guin Prize***

‘The best book I’ve read all year. Protean, singular, original’ – Amal El-Mohtar for the New York Times

The Saint of Bright Doorssets the high drama of divine revolutionaries and transcendent cults against the mundane struggles of modern life, resulting ina novel that is revelatory and resonant.

Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy.

He walked among invisible powers: devils and anti-gods that mock the mortal form. He learned a lethal catechism, lost his shadow, and gained a habit for secrecy. After a blood-soaked childhood, Fetter escaped his rural hometown for the big city, and fell into a broader world where divine destinies are a dime a dozen.

Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows. In this unknowable metropolis, Fetter will discover what kind of man he is, and his discovery will rewrite the world.

Publisher Review

"Chandrasekera builds a dizzyingly complex world, with enough ideas for 10 books, and it's all entertaining enough that his theme - the dangers of religious extremism paired with racist totalitarianism - sneaks up on you." -The Washington Post "... dreamlike and piercing in its emotional truth ... hard to put down as it is to step out of a dream: and like a dream, even when it doesn't make sense, it is true. What's truly unbelievable is that this is someone's first book." -New Scientist "One of the most satisfying novels, in any genre, that I've encountered in quite some time." -Chicago Review of Books "Inspired and dreamy book" -The Wall Street Journal "Dreamlike and inventive, this unusual novel is a complicated read that ably pairs the mundane with the mystical." Library Journal "The biased, often violent, incomplete nature of history-telling will engage readers long after finishing." Booklist "A meandering meditation on mind-body duality, fanaticism, and eschatology that will appeal only to fans of the most cerebral fantasies." Publishers Weekly "Bold, compulsive, dazzling" -SFX, 5 star review