The Saint of Bright Doors

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera.

The Saint of Bright Doors opens strong and doesn't let up, as a young Fetter's mother rips his shadow from him to make him a more efficient instrument of death aimed at his father, The Perfect and Kind. The first chapter acts as a prologue; chronicling Fetter's childhood of training to be an assassin, before jumping years into the future where he's just another guy in a fantasy New York run by religious fanatics and racists.

The worldbuilding is great; it reveals enough to keep you interested while holding enough back to not overexplain or kill the magic. There's a lot of contrast between the relatively mundane, often bureaucratic nature of Fetter's day to day life and the machinations of those connected to him, though Fetter eventually gets up to some of his own supernatural escapades when his deity of a father comes to town. Supporting characters are not particularly deep but serve their purpose well, and Fetter's family unit are as well written as they need to be given they're the focus of the story.

The ending was very satisfying, having been set up right since the beginning and hinted at a few times in the lead up to the end game, but this is definitely not a happy story. The world is monstrous and no-one in the book could be called an unambiguously 'good' person, but they're definitely fun to read about. Overall a very enjoyable read telling a tight, self-contained story. Definitely worth a read.