Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Amy  

fantasy

This epic story by Brandon Sanderson follows several people living in or near the city of Elantris. Until recently, Elantris was the home of people who had become demigods—randomly changed overnight into magical beings. But something happened ten years ago which turned the Elantrians into the living dead.  Crown Prince Raoden has just awoken to the horror of becoming an Elantrian and is, therefore, banished to Elantris just before his new bride-to-be, Sarene, arrives at his castle. She needs to stay, even without the wedding, to aid her homeland from being taken over by religious extremists. Both Raoden and Sarene try to make the best of their new situations.

Several characters felt similar to those in other novels Brandon Sanderson wrote after Elantris. This novel obviously influenced his future stories. It was as if Sanderson took the same cast of characters but gave them different names and dropped them into new situations in his subsequent novels.

I know other authors do this.  I think it stands out so much in Sanderson’s books because his novels are so long that the reader really gets to know (and love or hate) his characters. 

Despite some similar characters, Elantris is its own story and is fun even though it is very religion-centric (which usually bugs me). I understand that he uses these invented religions to make a point about actual religions and I can appreciate that.

Some of the quotes I found extremely relevant to real life in this novel:

• Hate has weakened your ability to see.
• Hate can unify people more quickly and more fervently than devotion ever could.  
• As was often the case, the most outspoken man was the least discerning.

One criticism is that the beginning of the novel lacked any genuine response to the “death” of Raoden. No one appeared to grieve him. This was highly unlikely given the fact that he was beloved by many.  And while Sarene was puzzled by the fact that his father and step-mother lacked the appropriate reaction to the loss of the crown prince, the rest of the city seemed to handle the loss in stride too. The absence of any sort of significant reaction to his death seemed to make the whole premise of the story less authentic.  But other than that, I thought it was a great story and I was rooting for the good guys all the way through.

Sanderson can really weave complex, entertaining novels. He invents languages, religions, and names in addition to the normal story elements that authors devise. I haven't loved all of his novels that I've read but he is a truly amazing storyteller.

The audiobook narrator was Jack Garrett and he was terrific with a large range of voices, particularly very distinct voices for all the major characters.  He was also a marvelous voice actor. I thought he was practically perfect for this novel so I give him an A+!