Rakesfall book cover

This review had been sitting in my drafts folder for months, since I finished reading Vajra Chandrasekera’s incredible Rakesfall. It’s very different from his earlier novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, which I reviewed last year, but similarly mind-expanding.

The reason I had not published any review is that I simply did not know where to start, beyond this single quote that I saved:

“Remember to stretch. Look up at the sky—through the ceiling, yes, past its secret cavities, its terra-cotta or asbestos or metal, through the layers of air and cloud and vacuum. Feel the earth under your feet, transmitted through foundation and concrete and brick and metal and tile and stone and whatever else might intervene. Look at the moon, even if you have to look through the entire earth to find it. Do not look at the sun.”

Luckily, others were more eloquent in their praise, beyond my single breathless “wow!”, to the point that the book has won the Ursula K. Le Guin Award.

Don’t miss out on a treat, go and read it, and everything else Vajra Chandrasekera writes!

🖼️  Book cover image from author’s website