Reviews tagging 'War'

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

23 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

While a religious crusade isn't quite the backdrop for a plot that I prefer, I quite enjoyed the world building, the magic system, and some of the characters were quite charming and well developed.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, War, Racism, Body shaming, Child death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Terminal illness, Ableism, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

lisavandonselaar's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and War

troublesometrios's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my first Sanderson. I should preface that I adore mysterious lost/abandoned city settings and magic systems that involve

the land

, so I might be just a liiiiittle biased.

Reading this book is like starting a puzzle and putting it together piece-by-piece.  We follow three characters, each quite different from the other particularly in personality. Two are written as heroes, but they achieve nothing without the communities they helped build and lead. The third character is more complex and experiences the most character growth of the three. Thoughtful conversations surrounding religion, government, and community are rife throughout the story.

There IS a slow spot in the pacing -- just know that it is well worth pushing through it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Genocide, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Torture

badbadwolf's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

dionysius_miller's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, War, Murder, Body shaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Blood, Ableism, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Racism, and Cannibalism

teyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I'm conflicted on this one. The story was amazing, but soooo many unchallenged problematic biases seeped into the world-building.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Physical abuse, War, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Chronic illness

Minor: Death, Violence, and Suicide

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked it generally, it was the pacing that tripped me up a little. There were really dry subplots and then really interesting ones. Also, there were so jumps in the book.

Like how we waited the whole book for Elantra’s / the Dor too be fixed and then the way it was fixed wasn’t explained well and came about way too easy.

. Over all I was just left a bit unsatisfied by this one. 

Multi-POV, Romance Subplots, Hidden Identity

“Pain loses its power when other things become more important.”

“Truth can never be defeated… Even if people do forget about it occasionally.”

“When you can’t find reason in life, you tend to give up on it.”

“Joy was more than just an absence of discomfort.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Suicide, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Racism, and War

livid_olive's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Body horror, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Excrement, Blood, Colonisation, War, Violence, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

kpiedmonte's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Minor: Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t believe it, but Elantris is now kind of my favourite book by Brandon Sanderson (that I’ve read so far). I absolutely loved it. I loved the quiet struggles and political intrigue. The characters were so varied and fun. The whole mythos surrounding everything was constantly a mystery. And Sarene as a character was just kind of perfect, honestly! I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for future stories to come!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, War, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, Blood, Genocide, Chronic illness, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Slavery, and Suicide