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4.5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
Elantris was a beautiful, glowing, magical land ruled by benevolent Gods... until it fell. The Gods themselves became sickly looking and stuck in an undead state, the land began to decay. The surviving people had left to Arelon, a city that lives in Elantris’s shadow. The Elantrian sickness would strike at random, and when it did, they too would be forced back into Elantris to wander forever. Prince Raoden was one of them, forced to become an Elantrian, forced to leave his life and future wife behind. Can he turn a curse into a blessing while in the Elantris? Sarene, prince of Teod, was married to Raoden before she even met him. Their contract dictated that if one were to die, the marriage would be immediate. And clever Sarene now has a whole country to get to know. Hrathen, high priest of Fjordell, has an agenda: convert Arelon or kill them, so Fjordell will reign supreme. However, even his faith could be called into question. Sarene and Hrathen clash in their determination to further their causes for Arelon and many, many people could be caught in the crossfire.
Things about this book that really hooked me:
A prince more beloved than his king and father, brought down by the forces of Gods, but with his cleverness and never-ending charisma, is still willing to make the best of it
A misfit princess with a romantic’s heart, but an intelligent mind and backbone of a leader, is expected to bring about a great deal of change with the help of those who support her
A stern soldier lost in his religious determination, receives a harsh nudge to take action, and soon finds a light to guide him from the most unlikely of places
More thoughts:
Elantris was a story that has all the cliche’s you love done in such a unique way, you can’t even tell that they’re cliche’s until you think big picture. The plot is a slow, steady burn all the way up to the middle, THEN things really start to get rolling and you tumble through every twist and turn and love it the entire time. At least I did! I think the unraveling of events throughout the plot was slow, but timed very well. I felt engrossed throughout the whole story. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Especially with the switching between POV’s. I was always left itching to know what was going to happen next in their POV.
There are many themes in this book that I think were done well: the adaptability of humans, the truth that no one is completely fearless, the concept that love can span any distance and should not be based in physical attraction... I can go on. And the way these themes were portrayed really showcases how amazing Sanderson’s writing is. He was able to create such an extraordinary foundation for this world, culture and religion within it, different peoples with different values, and a wondrous plot to go along with it! It’s magical, I tell you, how Sanderson was able to fit this whole fantasy into just ONE hefty tome.
As mentioned in my “things that hooked me” section, you can see I clearly loved the characters. I love how we got the essence of their personalities through their actions and internal monologues rather than infodumps. I love their characters arcs and how their paths came to cross and how their stories came to a resolution with that crazy FAST paced ending. I was literally breathless by the end of this book and probably more emotional about it than I’d like to admit. I just overall, really enjoyed Elantris and would recommend it to anyone. I’d also recommend people to stop comparing it to Sanderson’s other works, yes it’s as his first, yes it isn’t perfect, but it’s Sanderson and if you start there, I’m sure you’d be blow away by this story too!
My TWO small drawbacks (there really weren’t many and these are very small):
The names all sound the same to me, so if you do what I did and try to listen to just the audiobook, you may be very confused as I was. I was lucky they were always adding descriptions of the people after mentioning their names so I could remember who was who. To this point, so many weeks after finishing, I still don’t know everyone’s names/how to spell them/ or who is who.
Some things could be considered predictable in the grand scheme of things. Being someone who is striving to be “well-read in fantasy,” it’s hard for me not to want to constantly predict what’s going to happen next.
Overall:
WOULD RECOMMEND. And I personally am ready to jump right into another Sanderson world. His writing and his story telling and his world building never cease to impress me.