Hardcover, 368 pages
English language
Published July 11, 2023 by Tordotcom.
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 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.
This book was kind of lyrical and throughout it's hard to say one knows what is going on, but also it's kind of breezy in ways so it doesn't really matter. Some hard stuff goes down, but it always seems kind of dreamy or breezy. It's set in a south asian imaginary place, so it feels pretty foreign throughout, and also a magical realism kind of place as well. Overall, not a bad book, but pretty far out of the genres I'm used to and the kinds of stories I'm engaged in.
