Elantris

De: Brandon Sanderson

Narrado por: Jack Garrett

Elantris was built on magic, and it thrived. But then the magic began to fade, and Elantris began to rot. Now its shattered citizens face domination by a powerful Imperium. Can a young Princess unite the people of Elantris and lead a rebellion against the imperial zealots?

Brandon Sanderson's debut fantasy showed his skill as a storyteller and an imaginer of baroque magical systems to be fully developed from the start.

©2005 Brandon Sanderson (P)2008 Recorded Books LLC

I want to draw Aons

Sometimes it seems that I far behind the wave with my reading . I mean, I read books came out years ago. I don't see it as not being updated what is hot and the newest on the bestselling list, instead I consider it finding gems along the road of my reading journey.

The latest one is Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

I had previous experiences with his books, I say experiences, because they weren't simple readings. The first book I started to read was the Mistborn book 1. I couldn't finish it, don't ask why. I just struggled with it, picking the book up and putting it down several times. Finally around the middle of the book I said it was not for me. It bothered me, because I'm fan of the Writing Excuses podcast, and I find those guys (among them Brandon Sanderson) funny and helpful. He seems to be a capable author to write a decent book.

So I picked up another book of his, the Way of Kings, this time in audiobook format. Man, I was hooked from the beginning. That is a long one, and a few times it felt like flowing slowly, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

So I purchased Elantris and I was eager to start to listen to the audiobook. And I realised again, I like fantasy pretty much.

Elantris isn't short, and a few times I was wondering if I need all those details or whether the dialogues couldn't be shorter, but by the end these all paid back. The characters became my friends (or enemies), and they were chiselled like the fine carvings on the walls of Elantris.

The idea itself got me hooked in. There was this city, once beautiful, shining, people with godlike powers walked on its streets. Then suddenly the heaven became hell, the glory faded and gave place to mud and slime, pain and suffer. The strange power that earlier made semi-gods from ordinary people now destroyed their humanity making them living dead.

Of course prince Raedon finally solved the mystery of the disappearance of Elantris' power (what would've been the point of the story if he didn't?). The clues were well timed throughout the book.

The magic system is amazing, shining signs in the air channelling power to this world and everything. I wonder how the author comes up with these ideas.

The political system is also well drawn. The throne is weakened, the country is on the edge of collapse, the political forces plot against each other, outside power threatens the kingdom, and even religion comes into the mix. Just like in real life.

There is an important phrase when talking about how captivating a book is: suspension of disbelief. Well, my disbelief was suspended all along the story. I enjoyed it a lot.

A new favourite!

I enjoyed every minute of listening to this book. I really liked Mistborn, but think I like this one even better. I wanted to press play from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning. The main character is very likeable, but no super hero. He feels pain and suffering just like everyone else, but that does not deter him. He stays positive and helps others. Sanderson created interesting characters. I was intrigued and I tried to solve the mystery before it could be revealed, I failed. I had some idea as the author slowly lead you there, but it was still an "a-ha" moment. I'm going on to another Sanderson book (the way of Kings) immediately to avoid that sad grieving feeling you get when you have just finished an amazing book... that way I know I won't be disappointed with the next book. I'll read Elantris again and would recommend to all.

Very irritating reader

What made the experience of listening to Elantris the most enjoyable?

This is an excellent book as such, but sadly enough it takes quite some time to get over – not get used to – the readers ridiculous over-dramatization and unnecessarily long pauses. After a while I could successfully ignore this though, and focus on the story. It, fortunately is quite entertaining.

Characters suffer from mediocre narration

What did you love best about Elantris?

The world is very cool, the mysteries of what happened to Elantris and its inhabitants are intriguing and managed to make me want to figure out the puzzles on my own.
The main antagonist (Hrathan) is a rather complex and interesting character.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Most scenes that might have been humorous are somewhat ruined by a mediocre delivery - I'm not sure if it's the narrators fault, but there were a number of dialogue lines that sounded very cheesy and I believe they didn't have to.

Mystical and engaging

This is a fantasy epic with mysterious magic, a Sanderson twist on zombies and traitors aplenty.
I enjoyed the yarn, the audio is great, an impressive performance... Some minor issues with the audio editing in the audible version (legacy elements like one or two 'change cd markers' and too long or short edit gaps... Not enough to degrade the ranking, yet enough to break me out of the story when they happened).

Loved it

First time I ever heard Jack Garrett narrate a book and I enjoyed it greatly. I have listened to most books by Brandon Sanderson and while it may not be the best of his work it is a great book in its own right. Though surprisingly it has my favorite magic system of all his work

Very good

For many people this is still their favourite book from Sanderson. I have enjoyed more some of his other works but this is still great.

Amazing Narration of an Astounding Debut

This story is a sparkling example of unique, exhilarating Epic Fantasy (though "epic" may be a misnomer for this as-yet standalone tome), and I loved going back into Elantris years after my first encounter Sanderson's emerging brilliance.

More notable, however, is that the narration here is among the very best I have ever heard for an audiobook. So good that I will be searching Jack Garrett's name, seeing what else he has narrated, and making future selections based on that alone.

Brilliant!

Another brilliant amazing well crafted entertaining with many cliffhangers book from Brandon Sanderson! Loved it!

Great fantasy narrated by Zap Brannigan

I love this book. Sanderson has become a much better writer since he wrote this book, but the story is still excellent.

Unfortunately, the guy who narrated this book sounds like Zap Brannagin from Futurama. His voices are ridiculous, and it is super frustrating to listen to at times.