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“Elantris” is the debut novel by Brandon Sanderson. It is a stand-alone fantasy story.
Here is a brief description from Booklist found on Amazon.Com:
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Until 10 years ago, Elantris was the capital of Arelon, inhabited by ordinary humans transformed into magic-using demigods by the Shaod. But the magic failed, Elantris started to rot, and its inhabitants turned into powerless wrecks. Princess Sarene of Teod arrives in Kae, the new capital, close enough to Elantris to constantly remind of faded glory, prepared for a marriage to ally Teod and Arelon against the religious imperialists of Fjordell. But, she is told, her fiancée, Prince Raoden, is dead. She and a recently arrived high priest of Fjordell, Hrathen, clash. Sarene tries to retain the freedom of Teod and Arelon, Hrathen tries to incite the populace to convert so that Fjordell can take over. Neither suspects the truth about Raoden. Taken by the Shaod, he struggles to unite the crippled Elantrians and discover why the magic failed. The unrest comes to a head as governments topple, the Elantrians’ secrets are revealed, and Fjordell’s forces arrive.
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There are many other characters that play significant roles, though smaller. Actually, it’s quite a host of characters; Raoden’s father, King Iadon; Dilaf, a priest of the same religion of Hrathen; many nobles involved in a group seeking a better life for Arelon that Raoden headed up; Galladon, a citizen of Elantris that Raoden meets during his first day and befriends; and Sarene’s father, King Eventeo and his brother Kiin (along with his wife children and step children), now a noble of sorts in Arelon. The contributions are significant, but Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen are the main three that the story follows, with the first half of the book alternating chapters between the them. Later in the book the chapters would be a mix of their stories, as they came together or were more directly and immediately effected by the actions of the others.
Now I have not been around the block nearly as many times as the usual fantasy reader, so my views may not speak of experience. But I thought some of the ideas presented were original. Sure, some if it wasn’t; politics between different kingdoms with meddling nobles, and different religions with meddling church officials. But I prefer that to a bunch of sorcerers throwing their magic around. And though he may have covered some territory that has been well covered before, it can still be exciting. That is a sign of a good writer, especially one with well developed characters. Sanderson doesn’t do too bad there.
As for the main characters, I think two of the three were really well done. Those two being Sarene and Hrathen. Raoden seemed forced a bit. He was too optimistic for me. And though his sense of leadership may not be far-fetched, it too seemed a bit much added to his optimism. Also, we didn’t see much of his depths. We got to see deep into Sarene’s mind, about her feeling like an outcast because of being a strong-headed woman, being much taller leading to be seen as a physical freak, dealing with the politics and being a daughter to a king, and a widow to a prince, in a land that she is not home. With Hrathen, you got to see his problems with being a very devout high religious official, and a young one at that. We got to see the issues he carried from a similar incident that led to a bloody revolt. And we got to see the questions of his faith as the story goes on. There wasn’t that kind of depth to Raoden.
One other thing that was brought up in a review on Amazon.Com (by someone that goes by the username “dennster”) is that we find out about the past of the city of Elantris, it’s glowing radiance, it’s godlike inhabitants when the Shaod takes them. But why does it happen? Raoden gets into discovering that there is something called the Dor that is the source of the magic. But there is no further explanation on what it’s all about, and why it effects people the way it does. It is a good point, because some fantasy readers like to know the ins-and-outs of the magic systems. I would have liked to know more, but it didn’t put me off either.
The ending I thought was pretty good. There were a few issues that I had about it. Two things help save some characters, and one was well set-up before getting there. But it still made me kind of groan. The other is well done, but overplayed in the epilogue, I thought. Don’t want to give anything way, so I will go no further. But it was pretty good, as I said.
One thing that this book has carried in reviews is over hype. Quite a few of the reviews in particular on Amazon.Com are very glowing. One even touts Sanderson as the new Tolkien. Well, I don’t think so. His writing is style is not even close. (Besides, who wants another Tolkien?) Now Sanderson’s storytelling and character development in this book was pretty good and shows promise for the future. But it’s not quite as sweeping and gripping as Tolkien’s most famous work. (What was that series called again?)
Like dennster at Amazon.Com said, it’s worth a read for fantasy fans, but maybe wait for paperback. Though it was refreshing to read an interesting fantasy novel that wasn’t part of some ridiculously long series, like most fantasy writers now do.
7/10
