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A review by dragonarmy
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
3.0
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I have finally accomplished a feat I never thought possible. After trying multiple times over the last few years, I finally finished Elantris. This also means that I have now read every single entry in Sanderson's Cosmere to date. That feels good to say.
If you don't know, you should. Brandon Sanderson is one of the best authors of all time and is most certainly the greatest fantasy author of our generation. His Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series are among my narrow list of favorites. I think he excels at everything he attempts to do. That is why, in part, this book has been so difficult for me to get through. Elantris just does not carry the same gravitas as any of Sanderson's other works. Nevertheless, I persevered.
Elantris is the interwoven stories of Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen. Raoden is the prince of Arelon who, at the start of the novel, wakes up one day discovering that he's been taken by the Shaod, experiencing a transformation that turns him into a walking zombie. Sarene is the princess of neighboring Teod who is just arriving in town to be wed to Raoden and finds herself without a husband and without a role. Hrathen is a fanatical high priest who is set on converting the nation of Arelon to his religion no matter the cost.
The remainder of the book is centered on politics and religion. There are very few action sequences. Very few moments that get your heart beating and blood pumping. There are so many people with so many names and so many unusual pronunciations. In fact, in reading this, you probably mispronounced all of the names I've given you so far. The magic system, AonDor, is not very interesting and is only fully discovered near the end of the book. And while a lot of the characters in the story were interesting and unique, I found myself annoyed by two of our leads, Raoden and Sarene.
It is very obvious that this is Sanderson's debut novel. It isn't bad. It is just dense and slow and not what I'm looking for in my fantasy books. However, my main man has learned and every bit of his work after Elantris has only become better and better. I am glad that I finally conquered this book. But I, for one, will never read it again.
---
I have finally accomplished a feat I never thought possible. After trying multiple times over the last few years, I finally finished Elantris. This also means that I have now read every single entry in Sanderson's Cosmere to date. That feels good to say.
If you don't know, you should. Brandon Sanderson is one of the best authors of all time and is most certainly the greatest fantasy author of our generation. His Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series are among my narrow list of favorites. I think he excels at everything he attempts to do. That is why, in part, this book has been so difficult for me to get through. Elantris just does not carry the same gravitas as any of Sanderson's other works. Nevertheless, I persevered.
Elantris is the interwoven stories of Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen. Raoden is the prince of Arelon who, at the start of the novel, wakes up one day discovering that he's been taken by the Shaod, experiencing a transformation that turns him into a walking zombie. Sarene is the princess of neighboring Teod who is just arriving in town to be wed to Raoden and finds herself without a husband and without a role. Hrathen is a fanatical high priest who is set on converting the nation of Arelon to his religion no matter the cost.
The remainder of the book is centered on politics and religion. There are very few action sequences. Very few moments that get your heart beating and blood pumping. There are so many people with so many names and so many unusual pronunciations. In fact, in reading this, you probably mispronounced all of the names I've given you so far. The magic system, AonDor, is not very interesting and is only fully discovered near the end of the book. And while a lot of the characters in the story were interesting and unique, I found myself annoyed by two of our leads, Raoden and Sarene.
It is very obvious that this is Sanderson's debut novel. It isn't bad. It is just dense and slow and not what I'm looking for in my fantasy books. However, my main man has learned and every bit of his work after Elantris has only become better and better. I am glad that I finally conquered this book. But I, for one, will never read it again.