The Saint of Bright Doors

The Saint of Bright Doors is a fantasy novel by Vajra Chandrasekera about a young man raised for a single, violent purpose. Fetter's mother brought him up to become an assassin and to kill his father, a powerful religious leader whose followers revere him. As a young man, Fetter leaves his rural hometown for Luriat, a sprawling city dotted with mysterious portals known as Bright Doors. There he falls in with revolutionary groups, becomes entangled in the affairs of gods and empires, and slowly begins to question the destiny he was given. The novel follows his search for an identity of his own in a world shaped by faith, politics and colonial power. It won the 2023 Nebula Award for Best Novel and was a 2024 Hugo Award finalist.