Lords of Serendipity: A Novel

by Randy Boyagoda

Lords of Serendipity has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Genres: Fiction, Adult Fiction, Adult, Novels, Academia

Audible Audio

First published September 8, 2026

Reviews

[Athena A.]

listen, i (as someone who worked at colleges) enjoy the fictionalizing / satirizing of the higher ed industrial complex, and i especially laud the centering of a working-class international student family (sri lankan) pov… however, i found this novel lacked cohesion and follow-thru of promising storylines.

what also fell short is how politically/morally detached the writing felt from the real life student affairs ecosystem it tries to emulate: bringing up encampments, anti-genocide protests, the dsa etc. and failing to contextualize these student movements or characterize their motivations well enough to warrant being so redundant and unfunny about it.

thank you NetGalley & Harper Audio for the e-ALC in exchange for an honest review. narrator Sharmila Devar did great!! my stars go to her.

[Megin Garber]

Review of an advanced copy from the Publisher


As a first time reader of Boyagoda, I found his writing sharp, smart, and tender. It’s written from various points of view that showcases international students, middle-class American students and professors experiencing the dream of going to university.

I really enjoyed the individual perspectives of the academic world. I did get hung up a bit because connections did develop with the characters, but it felt disjointed. It made it difficult to connect. Boyagoda exposes the underbelly of higher education along with its hypocrisy and politics in a fabulous manner, but I wanted something more from the characters.

Overall I really enjoyed the writing. Thank you Mariner for an advanced reader copy in exchange for this review.

[Roxana]

My biggest problem with Lords of Serendipity is that it feels like satire without a reason; pointing out hypocrisies without anything behind the pointing-out, just for the sake of a toothless little laugh. It mocks student protestors, global sociopolitics, academic dishonesty, and a host of other varied Issues with even-handed detachment and disdain. It feels like a smirk. And it's smirking just as much as the idea of earnest college students demanding better of their universities as at those universities shrugging off wide-spread cheating and corruption for the sake of profit. There is no awareness given to the larger context or roots of any of the topics tossed into the mix, just a point and a snicker. For a book spanning so many topics and so much of the globe, it has a pretty limited idea of which corruptions and which hypocrisies are relevant or worth poking at. What cynical academic viewpoint is this for, exactly?

There is clever writing in it, a few jokes that landed for me, but mostly they felt like tossed-off tweets in their attitude and lack of care. But it refuses to care about its topics, its themes, its own point, much less its characters, and so I am left feeling like... why should I, either?

The interconnectedness of the plot - the serendipities that link myriad characters and their storylines - are...mostly successful. I particularly like this kind of book, and I appreciate the ambition in this one, though I don't think the connections always worked to feel either satisfyingly inevitable or entertainingly absurd.

One rather trivial problem - I get that the lack of quotation marks to indicate dialogue is rather trendy in literary fiction at present, and I'm usually the style's first defender. But it has to feel purposeful and (as with so much of this book) I am left wondering what was the point, here? It works best in a small cast, when dialogue is smooth and clear even without punctuation indicating it. In Lords of Serendipity, with a large ensemble cast but a few too many similar voices, I was in fact sometimes left confused as to who was saying what, when, and why. Which could be fine - it's not always a bad thing for a reader to spend some time confused - but *why*? What is the purpose of rendering the dialogue this way? What am I meant to be getting from it in this book, specifically?

At the end of the day, I think I am just not cynical enough to enjoy such a grimly sneering book, even with a handful of sharp observations throughout. I appreciate that Lords of Serendipity doesn't attempt to offer any simple, easy answers at the end, but I have to wonder if it's asking the right questions to begin with.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance review copy.

[Laura Miller]

Having just finished the book, Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda, I have more questions than I have answers. I feel confused. The story is centered in academia, dealing with both sides of classroom dynamics. It begins with a SrI Lankan girl, Devi, who dreams of attending a prestigious college in the United States or the United Kingdom. She wants to make her family and country proud of her. We meet her family, and the poverty and struggle they face to help her reach her goals. She continues to face struggles and road blocks to her dreams.

Next we meet professors and deans of global colleges. Some struggling themselves to make their mark on the world of higher education. The reader is introduced to corruption in the academic system. The foreign students are sold grades by an enterprising graduate teaching assistant. Devi, the Sri Lankan is scammed by an online tutor whom she is paying to get help with her college applications. Professors are asked to overlook cheating. The Moral compass is broken. The book is a roller coaster ride of collegiate drama.

The most endearing characters are two college students, one a migrant orphan from Sri Lanka, another a United States citizen whose father is a statistics professor. The girls find friendship amongst the mayhem.

So, my problem with this book is there was little continuity. I found the plot disjointed and the scenes did not flow from one to the other. The characters were memorable, but without a tight well moving plot, I had a hard time feeling truly invested in their stories. At the end of the book I still felt lost. Not left hanging, like a cliffhanger, but rather unsatisfied. I felt like the author had many plot lines that needed to be tied together, and he did this as he ended the story, but it didn't feel like it fit, more like it just needed to end.

I really struggle when I read a book I don't enjoy. I truly look for positives in each one. In my opinion the positive in this book is the glimpse of Sri Lankan culture. Seeing struggles of an international student culture was enlightening.

The negatives were the plot and overall depressing look at corruption in the academic settings. I chose to read Lords of Serendipity because of the preview comments that said it was lively and hilarious. The story just made me disheartened.

I rated it with two stars. Lords of Serendipity will be published on September 8, 2026 by Mariner Books.

Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's copy of Lords of Serendipity by Randy Boyagoda in exchange for this honest review.

#LordsofSerendipity #NetGalley

[Jennifer]

Lords of Serendipity was an interesting audiobook, but overall this one was just okay for me.

The story takes us between Sri Lanka and the United States and follows people on very different sides of higher education. One of the main storylines follows Devi, a young girl in Sri Lanka who dreams of attending a prestigious university abroad. We also get the perspectives of students, parents, professors, and others within the university system. There is a lot here about ambition, privilege, money, family expectations, and just how far people are willing to go to get ahead.

I really liked getting the Sri Lankan perspective because it brought something different to the story and gave me a glimpse into a culture and experience I don't read about very often. I also thought the overall idea behind the book was really interesting, especially seeing how differently people experience the same world of higher education.

Where this one struggled for me was the story itself. There are a lot of characters, perspectives, and different things happening, and I never felt completely pulled into it. There were definitely parts that interested me more than others, but as a whole, I had a hard time really connecting with the story.

I also went into this expecting it to be a little funnier based on the description. There is satire and humor surrounding the world of academia, but it didn't really hit that way for me. I found myself more interested in what the book was saying about education, privilege, and opportunity than I was entertained by the story itself.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sharmila Devar and enjoyed her narration. I think the audio helped keep me engaged, especially during the parts where the story wasn't completely working for me.

This wasn't a bad book by any means. It was just one of those reads where I finished it and thought, okay, that was interesting, but I didn't have any really strong feelings about it either way. I can definitely see this working better for readers who enjoy literary fiction, satire, and stories centered around academia.

For me, it landed right around 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Eric Cyr]

I have read most of Randy Boyagoda's previous works and went into this one as a fan, especially of his novels Original Prin and Dante's Indiana. In Lords of Serendipity, Boyagoda writes in the quick, sharp, witty, satirical voice that he employs in much of his work. This novel is a campus novel, and seems in many ways to be Boyagoda's diagnosis of the modern university. The (fictional) universities in the novel are full of corruption, cover-ups, academic dis-integrity, virtue signaling, performative politics, and more. Yet Boyagoda, an academic himself, does see some good in the idea of the university, the sharing of ideas and knowledge and discovery, the idea that integrity could be possible; I think it's the chasm between this ideal of the university and the human corruption of it that strikes the author and leads him to write what is at times a quite damning satire.

Boyagoda's writing is funny, his timing very strong. He gives us heartbreaking scenes of a girl and her family in Sri Lanka and her dream to escape to an overseas university, and the American professors' involvement in a Sri Lankan university is at the heart of a moral reckoning that the story calls us to in the end.

Lords of Serendipity is a compelling, moving read that also challenges the reader to look critically at the world of academia, the hidden costs of so much of the "flatness and shine" (to use the novel's words) of our comfortable world.

[Arlene Harris]

I got this book from NetGalley in return for my review.

The story is mainly about the underbelly of academia/universities.
This tells two parallel stories: Jack Bayern, a statistics professor at Arcadia Tech University and Devi, a Sri Lankan 17 year old girl who wants to attend a university in the UK or USA. If it goes well, Devi will be accepted as a student at a university outside of Sri Lanka.

Devi's family works hard to make enough money for Devi to have an online tutor who happens to be a student at Arcadia Tech. The tutor lets her think that he attends a highly prestigious university, one of the ones Devi desires to attend. Devi wants to go to an important, prestigious university. Devi is considered the future of her family. A presentation is made to Devi in front of the whole family of pink bundles: money for university application fees to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge. And a smaller pink bundle to apply to the local university.

Bayern finds that his TA has been selling grades. He is more than disillusioned when he finds the university does not do a thorough investigation. In exchange for Bayern's silence, they offer him a paid sabbatical.

I found the story rather confusing throughout. I can't give it a high recommendation. I did not connect with the characters which was disappointing.

I listened to it on audiobook and the narrator did a wonderful job. If you decide to read it, I suggest the audiobook! Audiobook: 12h 53m

[Marie]

As someone who has personally limped out of the higher-ed thunderdome but somehow continues to be a professor, let me just say: poking fun at academia is basically self-care.

Lords of Serendipity is a campus novel that doesn’t just attack the usual suspects….identity politics, academic egos, institutional absurdity, the whole circus, but also gets into some of the messier questions, like what happens when doing the right thing comes into conflict with, you know, keeping your job....

I’ll be honest, there were a few spots where the story lost the plot and I found myself mentally wandering off. The ending? Still not sure how I feel about it. But I have to give credit where it’s due: this book actually brings something new to the campus novel table, especially in how it digs into corners of higher ed that usually get left out of the satire party.

The narration was solid, which is probably why I didn’t start reorganizing my sock drawer halfway through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Ander Ray]

~Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the ALC of Lords of Serendipity~

This book is ideal for readers who enjoy literary fiction about western academia (particularly with a more critical lens) and academic colonization. It's not a book that's going to spoon-feed a specific lesson to you; the themes are more exploratory than definite. It's a look at the hypocrisy of liberalism and about the consequences of academic dishonest (and of academic honesty). It thrives in the contradictions.

The characters are complex, all at different stages of pursing their dreams, becoming disillusioned, become reillusioned, becoming redisillusioned. The stories start out separate but all interweave cleverly.

I can see that it might frustrate readers who want a more straight-forward moral lesson, but for someone who enjoys considering a complex landscape without obvious answers, they'll find it thought-provoking.

[Mike Broderick]

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. I wanted this to be good. I like the idea of having a cheating scheme in University in the book. I liked the idea of the overseas student who is doing everything she can to get into a great United States University. It is very relevant to convey the story of the overseas student that the family has pinned all of their hopes on….going away and then the rest of the family comes later. However, this was a mess. It was messy from start to finish. The author wanted everything to connect. As much as it might have connected it was ridiculous how the author made the connections. And, I felt like none of the problems in the book were really solved. And, just when you thought you were hitting your stride, the plot changed, the characters changed and you were back to square one. The flow was not there.

[Shannon]

3.5 rounded up

This was my first time reading anything by Canadian author, Randy Boyagoda and it was a wild ride! I loved the satirical take on the corruption within the higher education institutions around the world and just what some parents are willing to sacrifice to help their children get the educational experience they think they deserve. Funny, fast paced and spot on in terms of cultural relevancy! At its heart this was a father-daughter story but there was a large cast of characters and lots of different subplot stories happening which at times made it difficult to keep what was happening straight. Good on audio and definitely worth a read, especially for fans of books like Girls with bright futures by Tracey Dobmeier or The admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Carol Lynn]

We live in a world where everyone is a snake, eating each other to stay alive. Boyagoda explores this through criticisms of higher education. Oftentimes, the real college personnel and charlatans posing as instructors felt like one and the same. My family was never academic, so I empathized with Devi's misguided idealism about what college really IS. Boyagoda wants to have HARD conversations: ranging from genocide to Harry Potter to moral bankruptcy. The lighthearted cover/selling points are a bit off the mark; there's just too much weighing on the text to feel bright. The grandmother character, Achchi, often helped lighten heavy topics, and there's a silver lining with friendships and finding good in life's grey areas. But overall? A more serious read, for the exploitative times we live in.

[L]

Lords of Serendipity was a funny, dark, and enjoyable summer read. I found myself fascinated by the scams and the out-of-control stresses surrounding college/university life. Thankfully, I’m older now and don’t have to deal with that kind of pressure anymore!

I did spend some time looking up words and terms I wasn’t familiar with. A glossary, especially for the Sri Lankan language and cultural terms, would have been a helpful addition.
The characters were interesting but at times the story seemed a little disconnected but I did want to continue with it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and appreciated receiving an ARC copy. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have discovered this book, so I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it

[Aamir Hussain]

I agree with most of the reviews on here so here are the highlights
- author “tells rather than shows.” Too many diatribes about the state of academia
- characters are mouthpieces for authors agenda
- book takes too long to get going but then feels rushed at the end
- tone is too condescending , I sympathize with the view that college students are too sensitive, but I didn’t like how the author satirizes students who stand up for the Palestinian genocide and equates them with snowflakes who think an eagle attacking a pigeon is animal cruelty

[MauiBeachReads]

I mostly enjoyed the plot of this one, which is centered around academia, with a large and diverse cast of characters. The narrator was amazing with a pleasant voice and appropriate accent. I appreciated hearing the correct pronunciation of names and places I was unfamiliar with.
The eclectic group of characters include college students struggling to navigate new and tense social situations, a college professor and TA caught up on opposing sides of a cheating scandal, a Sri Lankan student carrying her poor family’s hopes and dreams of her admission to an elite international university but scammed by an online tutor, and many other supporting characters weaved into the story. There is quite a bit of drama that unfortunately seems to be the rule rather than the exception in our broken higher education system today. While the story had good bones and great characters, the delivery felt disjointed it to me - like listening to a record that skips – it didn’t flow smoothly from one scenario to the next. The ending seemed a bit ambiguous too – instead of closure, I was left feeling confused about the ultimate outcome for most of the characters, which was somewhat disappointing. Overall, three out of five stars with the narrator receiving five out of five stars. I do think this is a great book for anyone navigating college admissions or with kids in college as I did relate to some of the frustrations and fatigue explored in the book.

[Teri]

Lords of Serendipity took me a bit of time to get into but I enjoyed the peek into life in Sri Lanka as it relates to education, opportunities, and study abroad. There was a lot going on and the characters were a bit hard to track sometimes but what was nearly a DNF for me ended up being a good listen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the advance review copy - all opinions are mine.

[Liz]

I enjoyed this rambunctious novel about the underbelly of attending university in the USA. The outstanding characters, Devi and Al, made this most amusing for me. Boyagoda brings to light, with satire, wit, and bathos, a real story about higher education.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC. The book will be published on September 8, 2026.

[Bridgette Anderson]

I’m not sure who edited this but it was awful. I was determined to finish it, but it didn’t flow and was hard to follow. I read it because it was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, no idea why. …

[Mandy Peoples]

I’m grading tougher, so a three means a good book, but I don’t necessarily find it enjoyable. It’s a lot of work for the question of where to have integrity and where not on international students, educational dishonesty and opportunities for those foreign students coming from poverty.

[Patrick]

A great read; I see some reviewers complaining that there is not much of a “message” but I have to disagree. One facet seems to be that if you ignore the mob trying to “cancel” you, things may work out OK in the end.

[Lucia Dahn]

3.5 rounded up… started off so compelling (!) and then the story seemed to scatter. Would have loved to see several of the storylines be more developed

[Caitlyn G]

Too much going on