Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Elantris by Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson

32 reviews

dredadonx's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

This was my first book introducing me to the world of Brandon Sanderson's expansive Cosmere universe. This book touched on so many deep and socio-religious themes throughout the book, especially with one of the main characters, Hrathen, who is a high Fjordell Preist within the opposing Fjordell Empire. The book follows other two perspectives, Raoden, who was a fallen prince from Kae and was sent to Elantris after getting hit with the Shaoden (more on this later); the other POV we see is Sarene, a princess from Teod, who is actually married to Prince Raoden.

The Shaod is a supernatural curse that pervaded all throughout Elantris and gives you dark blemishes all throughout your skin, turns your skin a dark-greyish color, and pronounces you "dead", but technically you can still "live", breath and talk like normal. You don't retain a heartbeat, and you feel hunger, but you don't need food to keep living (but without food you can suffer from extreme hunger, fatigue, and deliriousness, eventually causing you to pass away). It is a weird curse, and **spoiler** Raoden almost gave into the hunger in the book, which made me cry because it seemed like he was considering un*living himself. 

My review is a little over the place but I did not want to give too much away with spoilers. PLZ PLZ PLZZZZZ READ THIS BOOK and I cannot wait to dive in further into Emperor's Soul, which is a sequel, but also stand-alone novel, to Elantris. 

My only issue with this book was how Sarene would describe herself due to how perverse patriarchal norms are in the setting of this book. Once you read it you'll understand what I am referring to. Also, I was not a fan of how Shuden, who is a darkskinned man from an indigenous Jindo , was kind of fetishized throughout the book due to his skin type. I understand the book was written in the early 2000s so reading this in 2023 where we have made great advancements in gender and racial issues definitely had me uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, Mental illness, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization

kassidyreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Death of parent and Slavery

navyredrose's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Genocide, Dysphoria, and Chronic illness

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

mahra's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

4 ⭐️ That was so good! I really enjoyed this book. The world and the magic systems were beautifully crafted. I really enjoyed the characters. 

However, the pacing was a bit off. The story took a while to pick up for certain characters (not the main character, though).

I liked the ending but not the way it was written. The POVs were changing very rapidly and it was not enjoyable to read. I also had a few issues with the prose.

PS: Lightsong was my favorite. I'm still thinking about him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Religious bigotry, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, and War

auliarach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, and Chronic illness

rynaissanceenby's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Overall, this was a decent book and worth reading. I was routinely pretty disappointed by the lack of strong female characters, though. Sarini is great, but she's the only important female character in the whole book, it seems like. 

There also seemed to be a few too many twists. Every time you started to get comfortable with the plot progressing, there was some major twist thrown into it. Normally, twists bring excitement and intrigue to a book, but in this case, it almost started feeling monotonous because of how many there were.

I also find it very dubious that

Sarini wouldn't recognize Reoden even after spending that much time in extremely close proximity to him

. 

Despite it's flaws, I still enjoyed the book. I think it had some interesting reflections on the role religion can play in a society and the inner conflicts it can incite in people. There was also political intrigue galore and rich cultural worldbuilding. It was fun to see little Easter eggs from Sanderson's other Cosmere books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

imbored_soillread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny 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? Yes

5.0

Very very smooth pace for such a long book. Great way to wrap up fantasy as a genre in one singular book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

anastasiamakes's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Genocide, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts