Elantris

Really surprising book. It may not get a lot of headlines vs Sanderson s other books, but should. One of his best.

I'd give this a 4.5 if I could, because I don't think it deserves a 4, but it also isn't quite the 5-star read I've come to expect from Sanderson. I think this books main issue (and it's a small one at that) is its pacing in the last 25% of the book. I felt the story ramping up to its climax, and then before I had a chance to absorb everything, the book was over.

Still totally worth reading, as this novel was great in every other way. The lead characters were very compelling, and their arcs felt nature and complete.

This one took me a while to finish because Baldur's Gate 3 launched and has been consuming every waking moment of my life.

There's absolutely no way this is the worst Sanderson book

Reseña en español de ‘Elantris':
https://youtu.be/ipmRgJz8lOE

Click al enlace o busca “Morporkiano” en Youtube.

6/10 Man I came in expecting much more, honestly the world building could have been better, the world and the lands we are introduced to seem small for an epic fantasy. The mystery of Elantris and its fall and the unraveling of it keeps the story from ever reaching levels of absolute boredom, although around the 150-page mark it did feel like the book was stalling thankfully this picks up in about 100 pages. The 3 main characters all varied but I felt like Raoden had the most interesting and intriguing parts and I always felt sad when we had to switch povs. Hrathren was probably the best written, the conflict that occurred between him and his religion made him an interesting character and his struggle to find his place in serving his god was written in a way that felt valid and not conjured together. Although, he was a tad boring. Sarene was the least interesting character to me I feel like her part in the whole story didnt matter too much and her personal conflicts were the least interesting for me also her character while not unlikable didn't motivate me to care for her. The ending to this book felt satisfactory and hit all the right notes but didn't leave a lasting impressions on me.

My First Brandon Sanderson book and I really enjoyed it! Loved the characters and the story. Looking forward to reading the rest of the Cosmere!

3.5? Story is interesting and the characters are mostly likable but it was probably a couple hundred pages too long.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

A story about a quarantined city, infected with a mysterious magical disease that once turned normal people into superhuman demigods, now suddenly turns people into rotting undeads

Brandon Sanderson writes in such a way that you just breeze through a 600-700 page book af it it were a movie. Elantris has its unique charm in it that reminded me of the wonderful times I read Harry Potter series for the first time.
5/5 ⭐ highly recommended.

So thrilled to finish this 590-page book, something I struggled with after the pandemic hit. (I couldn't seem to focus long enough to finish a novella, let alone a chonker of a novel.) Admittedly, I used a combination of physical book + audiobook which really sped things along.

Full review in my blog:
https://wp.me/pevDXN-9L

I had totally forgotten how much I adored Sanderson as a writer. As soon as I started this book I was obsessed and devoured it in only three days. Raorden and Sarene were great characters and the magic system of Elantris is amazing. I am planning on reading much more of the cosmere this year. 

Definitely feels like a first novel, but good nonetheless. It's nice to read a standalone fantasy book.

 A new story but also a retelling from a different POV. A lot of things that I've read in these books make a lot more sense now. My understanding of this world has expanded greatly through this story, and I can't wait to see how much more it has to offer. 

4.5 very good but a little too fast-paced at the end

I am astonished by the level of  suspens and complexity of this book as a first published novel by the author.

Only gave it a 4 because I'm told it's some of Sanderson's worst work

I enjoyed this novel. I've only read, to this point, a little bit of Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, specifically) and see clearly that his writing is fantastic.

The characters were very reasonable and made decisions that made sense. Motivations were also in-line with reality. The magic system is novel and integral to the set up and plot. The political and religious aspects of the plot were well done and an overall positive aspect of the book.

This definitely makes me look forward to reading more Sanderson titles. Very well done.

La a doua citire, nota mai scade. Chiar și așa, singurul roman de la Sanderson bun(icel). Am încercat Mistborn și e așa o porcărie YA șablonard care-mi insultă inteligența că nu vreau să mai aud de autor... cât despre Elantris, curge cam așa: 100 de pagini proaste (fiindcă sunt prost scrise, sacadat și anchilozat, deși povestea e bună), 500 bune și uneori foarte bune, 150 iar proaste (o combinație de lungeli, peste care poți sări liniștit, cu grăbeli în care inghesuie prea mult prea repede încât pare un rezumat sec al adevăratei povești). Poveste foarte bună, parțial în burduf de câine. Pot recomanda această carte drept lectură ușurică, dar cert nu și autorul.

the plot was very good, but the main characters were mary sue and gary stu

This is not my favorite Sanderson and you can feel that Elantris is an earlier work of his.

Anyway, I still found what I really loved about Mistborn. Loveable crew of characters, humour and complex storylines with an original magic system.
The end kept me wanting more of this universe ✨

7/10

This is a classic Sanderson work, but it lacks the absolute polish and finesse he has developed in his later books. Some of the twists in this book feel awesome while others feel lackluster and overlooked.

Just like with all the other Cosmere works I can't wait to see how all this is going to tie together in the end.

Obviamente no es ni Mistborn ni el Archivo pero creo que está a la altura de El Aliento de los Dioses. Es una novela que es más introspectiva en la psique de los personajes que en la acción en sí misma y que trata más en detalle aspectos de las temáticas narrativas de Sanderson como son la religión, la relación iglesia-estado y la fe por un lado, y la reconstrucción de las civilizaciones, la comunidad y esa esperanza y optimismo en las buenas personas que quieren cambiar el mundo en el que viven, que tanto caracteriza a Brandon.

En cuanto a estructura está dividido en 3 partes y seguimos los puntos de vista de 3 personajes y sus entornos, muy diferenciados en sus tramas al menos al inicio pero que en cierta manera durante toda la narración van teniendo relación e interacción. Como viene siendo habitual, tiene unos plantings narrativos desde el inicio que los va desarrollando, dejando pistas con un final que si bien no es tan épico como en otras de sus novelas es bastante satisfactorio de leer. El worldbuilding no es tan detallado como en otras sagas pero aun así tiene como siempre dos o tres detalles que lo diferencian del resto de planetas del Cosmere y que te hacen pensar en las futuras interacciones que tendrá Sel en el resto del universo, sobretodo sus sistemas de magia, que en este libro es algo más secundario.

Como conclusión decir que si te gusta Sanderson y el Cosmere tienes que leerlo porque es terreno semiconocido y si todavía no te has animado a leer o no sabes por donde empezar es un buen libro para acostumbrarte al estilo del autor antes de meterte en harina con las obras que te dejarán con el culo torcido.

Excellent.

DNF @ %27

I got bored.

Some of the characters had potential but it's full too much of politics for my liking. I wish something would happy a little quicker.

I know people who read Sanderson says that this is not his best work (including him), but I had a fun time reading this. His books are quite intimidating since they are so long, but this is a good starting point to his novels and the Cosmere universe. Sanderson is a master of world-building and his writing immerses you into his imagination.

I really liked the world and magic of Elantris, as well as certain characters (Hrathen, Galloden), and I'm excited to pick up the sequel whenever Sanderson eventually gets to it. However, it was also very clear that this was his first published work. Some of the characters felt rather one dimensional, the pacing was a bit all over the place, and Sarene's POV chapters in particular had a lot of narrating exactly what everyone was thinking/going to do. Definitely still a worthwhile read though. As always with Sanderson, the last 100 pages was a wild ride!