Customer Reviews

Elantris

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want a satisfying fantasy read free of a hackneyed plot, cliches, and archetypal characters, races, or beasts, "Elantris" is the book to get.
It not only features a great storyline, but three-dimensional characters, good pacing, maintenance of suspense, and best of all, no cliches! The fantasy genre is so full of things that were fresh and new 1,000 years ago, like dragons, but now, it's so cluttered with ultimate good vs. evil plots, nobodys who are pitted against the greatest evil this world has ever seen, and old mentor wizards. Don't get me started on elves, dwarves, orcs, dragons, and all too commonly seen races and creatures.
Not only has Sanderson invented a race called Elantrians who are exquisitely detailed and carefully crafted, but he has given them a terrible curse called the Shaod which has made once beautiful creatures into diseased, half-dead scavengers.
The main character, Prince Raoden, is a very compelling character who never gives up no matter what adversities he is faced with.
His wife-to-be, Princess Sarene, is no damsel in distress, which is also quite refreshing. But she isn't the token "Red Sonja" character who's "the tough chick". Yes, she can handle a sword quite well, but she's in touch with her feminine side, too. She's not Xena. She's not an archetypal character, period.
None of the characters were archetypal, in fact.
The point-of-view shifts were done very well. Clarity was excellent here. As well, the villain was extremely well-developed. Definitely not a cardboard cutout. Sneaky, conniving, and twisted, the true villain's identity was so surprising and unpredictable.
The whole book was unpredictable, in fact.
So if you want to read the best fantasy novel out there right now, grab Elantris. You will most assuredly not be dissapointed. Sanderson delivers what he promises--a gripping fantasy tale free of cliches.

I tend to avoid the fantasy genre as it is saturated with clichéd storylines and stereotyped characters that appear book after book after book; the only reason I picked up Elantris was because I had literally nothing else to read. But wow, that was the best literary decision I've made since I decided to read Ender's Game.

Elantris was a crisp autumn gust of originality that blew away from my mind the mouldering dust of the insipid string of words that were called fantasy novels. The races are original, the magic logical, the politics truly intriguing, and the best of all, there is no Good and Evil. Even the antagonist, Hrathen, is depicted as a real human being who believes that what he is doing is just and will save countless lives.

And the plot... I could go on about it for days. All I can say is, you will never expect the end, but when it hits you like a maelstrom, you will realise that there had been countless clues that foreshadowed it. I truly believe that Elantris will become a timeless classic. Get your first editions today!

A- for "Elantris"

If you can read the opening line of this novel and not keep reading, then you are something special. This book is populated with interesting characters and relatable problems. Although it might not have the same level of hard realism of some of the darker fantasists out there, his innovative magic system and plot twists help make this book a favourite of mine.

I believe the use of plausible-sounding names of places in the story (Fjordell, Jindo, etc) help make the novel even stronger. Sure Fjordell sounds Norwegian or Finnish or some such, but it gives me some sort of idea of what the country might be like, which is helpful. Better than the fantasy cliche of just stringing together an incoherent bunch of letters that don't give any idea of what the country might be like.
In any case, a highly recommended novel.

(Note that if you are looking for a darker and more harshly realistic story there may be other better choices out there, so check my reviews. Sanderson's books have tend to have less swearing, sex, and throat-slitting as some of the grittier fantasy works, so they reach a broader audience. Highly recommended as more accessible fiction.)

1 word wicked, just to short, hope thier is a sequel, characters are unique, funny,& intense,best read in a long time

Most fantasy books are retellings of the same old stories yet again, but Brandon Sanderson's Elantris is a truly unique experience that completely busts out of the mold of traditional fantasy writing. The world is unique and well thought out, the magic system is a carefully detailed twist on the old concept of runes of power, and the characters are simply superbly crafted, including the antagonists, one of which is a viewpoint character whose complexities and internal struggles are masterfully depicted.

Truly a must read for anybody searching for a fresh new direction in the often cliche-heavy fantasy genre.

I was quite disappointed with this book. I thought the narrative to be mediocre and seriously lacking in substance and detail. None of the characters ellicited any real response from me except for Hrathen, the only one I found truly interesting. And even then I hated what Sanderson did with him at the very end (SPOILER COMING!), when Hrathen admitted to himself before dying that he had supposedly fallen in love with Sarene. There was no sign of this coming AT ALL in the entire book to make this realization even remotely plausible. It would have been far better in my opinion to simply let Hrathen tip his hat in one final salute to the finest political opponent he had ever tangled with. THAT would've made sense.

Other than Hrathen, everything else about "Elantris" was as flat and stale as three-month-old Ginger Ale. Sanderson populated his world with the overly-done kings, dukes, counts and barons that saturate the genre, and created a "foreign" nation (Jindo) that smacked so much of real-world Asia, the reader is left wondering what the difference is between MaiPon eating sticks and Japanese chopsticks, and between ChayShan and Chinese TaiChi. Not to mention that place names like "Fjordell" and "Svorden" bring to mind the countries of Norway and Sweden, which again does nothing to take the reader out of the real world and into the world of the author's making. If Sanderson's intent was to convey to the reader the impression of a world that was truly "other," I think he failed miserably.

Moreover, I thought that much of what happened to the characters was just too convenient to be truly believable. To cite but one example: Arelon is a nation where men run the show, yet the foreigner princess Sarene manages in one single meeting to persuade the powerful Arelish male nobles to back up her ideas for political reform. Not only that, but within the span of little more than a month, she has become their leader and source of hope. I don't find this plausible in the least. For a foreigner - and a female at that - to exert this much influence and authority over a tightly-knit group of privileged men in such a short period of time is simply too convenient to be believable, I don't care how persuasive, headstrong and politically savvy that female is.

Unfortunately, "Elantris" is peppered with such convenient happenstances, and the end result is that the story pretty much feels contrived rather than natural. And it's a real shame because Sanderson created what would've been an interesting magic system - had he not buried it underneath a quagmire of thin narrative, poor character development and choked plotlining.

Had it not been for Hrathen, I wouldn't have bothered finishing this book.