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A review by isabellarobinson7
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
5.0
Rating: 5 stars
Did I read the wrong book? Isn't Elantris meant to be the Brandon Sanderson book that everyone is iffy about? Because whatever it was that I just read was fantastic!
I got sick with some sort if virus in the middle of reading this, so I didn't read Elantris at all for a good week or so. Heck, I didn't physically read anything in that week, and completely binged audiobooks pretty much 24/7 to cope with the lack of actual reading I was able to do. And I won't lie: I really didn't mind putting Elantris down for that period of time. I was absolutely no where close to dnfing it (it's a Sanderson, I could never) but I will admit it got a bit dry around the three quarter mark, near the end of part one. It is probably due to the fact that although there are three parts of Elantris, it is basically this one that takes up close to 400 pages and some tag alongs at the end. That's not a critique, just an observation.
Negativity aside, (if you can call that negativity; I just explained why it took awhile to read and so forth) I still think Elantris is amazing. Personally, I love political intrigue and the workings of both unstable and stable ruling parties alike in books (what about real world politics? Please, what a bore), so that aspect of Elantris instantly appealed to me perhaps more than it would other readers. I think a similar thing occurred with Warbreaker, another Sanderson book I have read, where there was not much action for most of the book.
In terms of the story and characters in Elantris, I thought both were extremely well executed. Raoden was such an incredible character. I know people say this about every single character they read, but I am speaking in all honesty when I say that I saw so much of myself in Raoden, and it made the story so much more enjoyable. I found myself actually counting the pages until another Raoden chapter was coming up, so I could read more about the happenings inside the city of Elantris and the friendship between Raoden and Galladon, who was an awesome (and pessimistic) character in his own right. Some of Hrathen's chapters did drag on for me a bit there, but my interest in his POV really picked up at the end there, spurred on by the excellent ending Sanderson always delivers. And Sarene. I rarely find a female character I associate with, but I really did with Sarene (and Vin, but that's another Sanderson book). There were so many aspects of both Raoden's and Sarene's personalities that I myself also possess.
Anyway, I loved Elantris with all my heart. Yes, it may not be as good as Mistborn, particularly The Well of Ascension, but Elantris is still incredible, in my opinion at least.
Did I read the wrong book? Isn't Elantris meant to be the Brandon Sanderson book that everyone is iffy about? Because whatever it was that I just read was fantastic!
I got sick with some sort if virus in the middle of reading this, so I didn't read Elantris at all for a good week or so. Heck, I didn't physically read anything in that week, and completely binged audiobooks pretty much 24/7 to cope with the lack of actual reading I was able to do. And I won't lie: I really didn't mind putting Elantris down for that period of time. I was absolutely no where close to dnfing it (it's a Sanderson, I could never) but I will admit it got a bit dry around the three quarter mark, near the end of part one. It is probably due to the fact that although there are three parts of Elantris, it is basically this one that takes up close to 400 pages and some tag alongs at the end. That's not a critique, just an observation.
Negativity aside, (if you can call that negativity; I just explained why it took awhile to read and so forth) I still think Elantris is amazing. Personally, I love political intrigue and the workings of both unstable and stable ruling parties alike in books (what about real world politics? Please, what a bore), so that aspect of Elantris instantly appealed to me perhaps more than it would other readers. I think a similar thing occurred with Warbreaker, another Sanderson book I have read, where there was not much action for most of the book.
In terms of the story and characters in Elantris, I thought both were extremely well executed. Raoden was such an incredible character. I know people say this about every single character they read, but I am speaking in all honesty when I say that I saw so much of myself in Raoden, and it made the story so much more enjoyable. I found myself actually counting the pages until another Raoden chapter was coming up, so I could read more about the happenings inside the city of Elantris and the friendship between Raoden and Galladon, who was an awesome (and pessimistic) character in his own right. Some of Hrathen's chapters did drag on for me a bit there, but my interest in his POV really picked up at the end there, spurred on by the excellent ending Sanderson always delivers. And Sarene. I rarely find a female character I associate with, but I really did with Sarene (and Vin, but that's another Sanderson book). There were so many aspects of both Raoden's and Sarene's personalities that I myself also possess.
Anyway, I loved Elantris with all my heart. Yes, it may not be as good as Mistborn, particularly The Well of Ascension, but Elantris is still incredible, in my opinion at least.