The Saint of Bright Doors

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera is an original, poetic story about finding your place in the world. At least, for me that is the theme. I have a mixed feelings about this book, at the one hand it was very good, and on the other hand I almost DNFed it. The writing is flowing and full of poetry, but for me it made the story hard to read as I was constantly translating in my head what actually was happening. This combined with the confusion around world building caused me to almost DNF this book. I’m glad I didn’t, as this book is very original with themes that resonate, and the worldbuilding got so much better as the book went along. The characters and magic was also very unique and intruiging, with lost shadows, prophets with very specific powers, combined with things like the internet, group therapy, revolution, anti gay laws and forgotten refugees.

This novel was a lot, with the recurring theme of Fetter and his problematic relationship with his mother, who wants him to kill his father. And of course, the doors! They were so intruiging and mysterious, and the answers gave more questions, just how I like it. I do feel like I’m in over my head and missed about half of the themes at the very least. The plot moved slow, yet somehow a lot happened in this book, so it can’t be that slow. The ultimate revelations were amazing, and I loved Fetter so much. The supporting characters were a mostly bit bland for me, which make me not care so much. As I said, I’m very conflicted about this book. I loved it and I thought it was mediocre. It’s original yet not gripping enough. Therefore I’m giving it three stars. I will recommend this book to other readers, as I think it does stand out for me, and I keep thinking about it. If you like Alice Hoffman or Christelle Dabos I think this is worth checking out.

I received an e-arc through Netgalley, this has not influenced my opinions.