Elantris

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

Length: 27 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Legendary science fiction author Orson Scott Card calls Brandon Sanderson a writer to watch.

Once the godlike rulers of the capital of Arelon, the inhabitans of Elantris have been imprisoned within themselves, unable to die after the city's magic failed years ago. But when a new prince falls victim to the curse, he refuses to accept his fate.

©2005, 2015 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC. (P)2008 Recorded Books,LLC

Critic reviews

"...readers won't want to put it down." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Outstanding." ( Publisher's Weekly)

Needed a bit more.

The book as a whole is an OK or average book. It has great ideas and is planned well. The characters are believable and feel real. The theme and plot are well thought out and the flow of the book is great. I just think it needed a bit more. It is a good book but I think it could have been a great book. Maybe a 2 book series to really get things explained more.

Rushed ending.

I really enjoyed the majority of this book but as I find sometimes with long novels the ending for this was rushed. The story line was fantastic and I wish the author had either decided to make a second novel or allowed the ending to take its time and not just go BANG in a couple chapters. There were alot of things happening at the end and it just seemed like the author capped it too quickly. Maybe an editorial decision? Of note the narration was good however there were a number of times a sentance would have just ended and immediately, without a breath, the next chapter would be announced. I believe this to be an error in production but it was annoying.

A well-constructed tale with several twists and turns

I started listening to this book at the suggestion of my wife. It started off interesting and never let go of my interest. In fact, it was hard to stop listening to the book. The fantasy world is very engaging, familiar but also foreign. The characters are placed in difficult situations and you learn a lot about them in their duress. The characters' depth is good and they act reasonably according to their inner motivations and struggles. Excellent narration and an excellent book!

Not bad but overwritten

As with many fantasy novels, and with Sanderson's other books, this is overwritten. It could have been much shorter and sharper. This is an early work and he does a lot of telling rather than showing. There are some interesting things about the world of the book and there are some strong female characters. The narration is good but could have been better. The narrator differentiates a few of the characters but not many even when the text indicates different accents. I know some people don't like the narrators to go overboard with this, but I think Michael Page or Tim Gerard Reynolds or the great Jim Dale would have made this more compelling by giving distinct voices to more characters.

And after 20+ hours, there is a flaw in the last half-hour. I'll have to try streaming and if that doesn't work, I'll go find the text to see how it ends. I don't think I can return it as I've had it for years and just got around to listening now.

Meh till the end.

I'm a fan of Sandersons work, but this one was slow from the beginning, and just kind of drug along. When it did pick up, the book was 90% finished. It is a part of his overall universe and may be referenced in future books. My rating, it was alright, but i probably wont relisten to this title.

Hear me out...

I love Brandon Sanderson. I love fantasy! I have already read the Mistborn trilogy and the entire Wax and Wayne series and thoroughly picked through Arcanum Unbound. Always on the edge of my seat, right as I finish a Sanderson book I jump back to the store to buy another one to continue my quest. That being said....hear me out.

Elantris was painstakingly slow and just absolutely dull to me. I had also grown accustomed to Michael Kramer narrating the Cosmere, and no disrespect intended but Jack Garret’s pronunciation of most of the words just got under my skin. “Kolo” over and over again made me want to stop reading the book. I understand that this was an integral book to his works so that’s why I continued, but I never thought I’d be so annoyed to finish a Sanderson novel. It seemed there was a lot of page padding which becomes more evident in an audio book version, hearing the narrator say “he said” “he said” 30 times within 2 pages. I may have come into this title with too high of expectations but I do feel let down. Anyways, on to the next Sanderson novel! You can’t win em all champ!

Good Story, Horrible Editing

I listen to all of Sanderson's books, but I had saved Elantris for last due to mixed reviews. The reviews aren't wrong, but I still enjoyed the book. The story isn't his best, but it is certainly enjoyable and I look forward to a second in due time.

That said, I'm shocked by how bad the editing for this audio book is. The chapters come one after another without an appropriate pause, sometime with no pause at all. I often found myself needing to rewind just to figure out who the narrator was talking about because the chapter had changed without any ceremony. Very amateurish on the part of the audio book publisher. The narrator himself was great and I have no complaints about his reading or pronunciations, etc.

Definitely a first novel

Elantris is a decent debut novel for Sanderson. Having read many of his later works beforehand, however, this piece suffers from comparison to his more mature prose.

The story and characters are solid, but the dialogue can be clunky and predictable - although only rarely did it pull me out of the narrative. That being said, I will most definitely listen to the sequel novella.

Aidos Dolmai!

The story was pretty good. Some characters really well defined but others seem to lack depth. Definitely held my attention though. I listened to the end. The narration was a bit underwhelming, but I don't know if I could've done any better. Definitely worth the random stray credit.

Average to Good

This book has an interesting plotline but it is simply too long. It drags in the middle and loses momentum. Still worth reading if you are able to persevere through the middle stretch to the end.