Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

16 reviews

simmonsj's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

After reading Mistborn Era 1, I could definitely tell Elantris was Sanderson's debut novel. Elantris moves slower, less descriptive in some areas and a little too descriptive in others, but maintains good world building and characters throughout. 

Elantris is more a focus on politics. We have a king failing, a prince shunned, a political marriage gone awry, and a neighboring country vying for power through religion. There are political maneuvers, political bribes, politics and religion getting mushed together.

In the background we have Elantris. Elantris was a great fallen city with an interesting premise. The city and its people are well described. The magic of Elantris, AonDor, is not as well described - better at the very end, but not really during the book as a whole. There are some Aon examples at the back of the book, but sometimes the ones described in the text are not in the index. Some of the text descriptions do not match the index drawings either. It was a little bit of a struggle to wade through AonDor passages until the end when things finally started clicking.

The niggle about the magic system aside, I really enjoyed this book. Good writing, plotting, and world building kept me entertained even though I don't always enjoy politics-heavy novels. Characters were fleshed out and believable, and Galladon's "Doloken" might be my new favorite book "swear word."

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mkaiww's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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

4.0


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navyredrose's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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


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livid_olive's review against another edition

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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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lakinglaze's review against another edition

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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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proza's review against another edition

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

3.75


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giulianalb99's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Primer libro publicado de Sanderson. Después de haberme leído “El Imperio Final” este me ha parecido también muy bueno aunque a veces se hacía un poco lento y me sobraban algunas explicaciones. Se nota en este libro comparándolo con otros del autor que ha evolucionado bastante su manera de escribir. Me ha parecido súper curioso lo de los aones y toda Elantris, tanto sus habitantes como su magia y la Shaod. Totalmente recomendable.

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petitemass15's review against another edition

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

3.75


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anastasiamakes's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Some more top-notch fantasy from Brandon Sanderson. I didn't love it quite as much as Mistborn era 1 - I just didn't gel with one of the POVs and felt myself rushing through those bits to get to the others, and the ending didn't feel as powerful to me - but I appreciated having a little standalone reading 'break' in my Sanderson journey!

Elantris spends more time exploring the politics if and relationships in a fantasy world, more than the magical elements of it, which I personally enjoyed but others may not.

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