Reviews - Elantris | The StoryGraph

11.1k reviews for:

Elantris

Brandon Sanderson

4.11 AVERAGE

hanrose44's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Exciting to explore a different magic system om sel

gomango's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this. Having read most of Sanderson's later works, it was fun to go back and read his debut novel. Definitely top 3 in terms of universes.

Sometime I would love to read a Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson collaboration.

Pet peeves: super compressed timeline for action/plot.

millean's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Content Warnings

simplymegy's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous slow-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

This BS debut did not disappoint. It’s full of endearing characters, with a morally grey villain.

Elantris was akin to an Elf city- grandiose, full of beautiful people who were powerful and lived long lives. Then one day the Shaod happened and Elantris crumbled, and the once beautiful people became diseased and ugly. Chapter 1 begins with Reoden, the crown prince of Kae, becoming transformed into Elantrian.

What I loved most in BS’s books is the amount of life and personality he breathes into his characters, and the richness of his fantasy world.

Raoden is optimistic and an idealist, while Serene is feisty, strong, and a realist. Galladon is loyal and a pessimist, while Hrathen is cunning yet conflicted. I was happy that the love story was one of the main plots, cementing my belief that BS would also be a great romantasy author should he pursue that genre 😜

There is a glossary online with all the Elantris jargon, while the magical symbols/drawings that the Elantrians make is in the end of the book. All of this makes for a fantastic reading experience.

That being said, I sometimes found the politics too drawn out. The battle scenes felt a bit all over the place. But overall, Sanderson’s ingenuity still shines here.

4.25⭐️