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)

A great story and a wonderful narrator

It took a a while to get used to the names of characters due to how similar two of the main characters names were but after that initial stumbling block is over the book is great.

The story always leaves the right amount of intrigue and plants narrative seeds that grow into solid character arcs/plot points. I don't normally enjoy fantasy books but this surprised me in how well written and developed the world and characters were. Iwill certainly check out more from this author.

5 stars but it's the weakest Sanderson book

Read any Sanderson book before this one. It has a lot of his favorite tropes from other books but not done as well. it's a good read. I recommend giving it a read once you get caught up on the Storm light archive and waiting on the next novel. Fun book in general.

Great book!

I could not stop listening to this book from the very begging to the end. Great character building, plot line, narration, and good conclusion make this title well worth the credit. My thanks to the author and the narrator both for making this a joy to listen to while I’m on vacation.

Great characters and story

I loved the characters! I frequently found my heart breaking and singing with them. I knew their feelings, even though the circumstances were far removed from any I have experienced.

A great book! I listened at 1.5x speed though. The narration is a little slow, but flows great at 1.5x.

Interesting

There are many reviews that say this book is bad, especially if you already know Brandon Sanderson and came to this book later on. I disagree. Some of the dialogue seemed amateur in comparison to his other books, but overall the story is great. The Narrator is a little too exciting for this story, I feel. Sometimes it feels like he is over-acting and it makes the dialogue feel choppy. Stick with it through the end, though, and you will find a great story line.

Awesome!

I really enjoyed this book. I don’t get the negative reviews for this title. I considered this book to be great. You can definitely tell how much Sanderson has grown as a writer in recent years. This book is still great though. Sometimes a few plot elements were recursive, but that doesn’t take away from the epic story.

Give it some time!

It was a tad slow/confusing in the beginning and then BOOM AMAZING! I would definitely recommend.

One of sanderson's best work

As always, a Sanderson book with great characters and immersive story. His world building skills are on full display in this entertaining story.

Wonderful story

Would recommend to anyone who could enjoy a marvelously read story four adventures exciting adventures

MERCIFUL DOMI

DON'T SHOVE WHEN A PAT WOULD BE SUFFICIENT
This is a great debut novel. You will notice I say debut. It cost a credit and takes over 27 hours to listen to. So, do you spend the money and the time on a little less polished work. Personally, I am a fan of Sanderson and for that reason I find it important to read his first work. If you are not familiar with Sanderson, I would suggest you start with Mist or The Way of Kings.

SOMETIMES WE MAKE OUR OWN PEACE
I love the magic system or shall I say the broken magic system. Being broken makes this book different from others of the same genre. I love the characters. Prince Raoden is the main character. I like him cause he is a true leader and he is able to stay optimistic. He seems to be a precursor to Dalinar in The Way of Kings. Both face what seems insurmountable situations, but through determination, optimism and leadership skills, control their destiny. The afflicted in this story, get hurt and never quit feeling the pain. Raoden stubs his toe and for the rest of his life he will feel the pain of the initial stubbing of the toe. You break your back, your legs, your arms, it never heals and you feel the pain for the rest of your immortal life. Sarene is a Princess who is six feet tall. Men don't like women taller then them and most men are less then six feet. She has learned to deal with this and she is very smart, but can also be a little callous. Being smart and being tall are two strikes against her. It bothers her, but not enough to keep her from being her. Galladon is another interesting character who is often pessimistic, but he is a really nice guy. The Seon is cool and the Derethi Monks quite evil.

MEN OFTEN PLACE PRIDE BEFORE REASON
I could not give this a fifth star, due to a few things. Their was a lot of politics and a lot of name dropping. These parts were long and boring. At times the book gets kind of Ayn Randish with it's thinly veiled preaching. Since Dune, every author feels the need to invent a good religion. This religion is different in that it is all about ambition and is even described as militaristic. It is very similar to the Catholic Church in it's makeup. It has a Pope like person at the top of the church and then ranks of bishops and priests, only called by a different name. While this was interesting in structure, their was too much about the inner workings of the church that were boring. I must admit that I put the last eight hours on 2x. I did not want to quit, cause I wanted to see how it ended, but was getting a little bored. The ruling system was set up strictly on capitalism. The richest man in the land becomes the king. Sorry, Trump, but according to BS, this is not a good system. A good business man does not make a good ruler. In this case the ruler is supposedly paranoid, but does not use spies and seems fairly naïve about what is going on in his kingdom.

WHATEVER YOU SAY, SULE
The narrator did just fine. Some have said he was slow and toward the end I put him on 2x, but I believe he was reading it the way it was written and had he speed up, he would have been accused of going overboard.

KOLO