Cover of The Saint of Bright Doors

The Saint of Bright Doors

core novel 2023 The Saint of Bright Doors

Record

First published2023
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statuscore
Reader rating3.63 (7,984 ratings, collected 2026-09-15)
Page count356
First-edition ISBN9781250847409
Internal chronology1

Synopsis

The Saint of Bright Doors, published by Vajra Chandrasekera in 2023, follows Fetter, a man raised from childhood by his mother and trained obsessively to one day assassinate his own absent father, a charismatic cult leader revered by his followers as something close to a messiah. Rejecting the violent purpose his upbringing was built around, Fetter flees to the mysterious city of Luriat to start a new life away from his mother's plans, in a world that blends recognizably modern technology with open, unpredictable supernatural forces. Luriat is dotted with sealed, inexplicable bright doors that no one can open, and as Fetter settles into the city and its underground community of similarly displaced people, he is drawn back toward his past and toward unsettling secrets about the reality-altering power his father is said to wield.

Where it sits

Awards (verified)

  • Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2023: won
  • William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (First Book of Fantasy Fiction), 2024: won; Confirmed via Locus, File 770, and the author's own site; the primary IAFA (fantastic-arts.org) 2024 announcement page could not be independently reloaded.
  • Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2024: nominated

Notes

  • From the series record (The Saint of Bright Doors): Standalone novel; a man raised to be an assassin-messiah drifts through a city of literal doors leading nowhere. Vajra Chandrasekera's first universe in this canon.

Sources

← The Saint of Bright Doors dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.