Elantris

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

Length: 28 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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

Standard, but entertaining and original too

This is the first audiobook from many in which I set speed to 1,25x and it was accurate... First reminiscence was the curse in Dark Souls (computer game series), somewhat similar to Sheod and the corrupted dieing world is similar too - I really liked that picture/mythology. And Elantrian magic resembles sort of a scripting language. Those microbes covering Elantris resembles those from Star Wars that allowing to use force. Elantrian are somewhat similar to Divas in corean MMORPG Aion too. AonDor resembles Sanskrit and his language mysticism. - interesting inspirations (if I am not mistaken). I expected that this book would be somewhat worse, since its Sandersons first work, but I perceived it on same level as his other works with that bonus I really liked that theme of lost city. I that eternally stabbed toe is funny, its like stepping on Lego parts and never get rid of the pain... The magic system is partly not that good as in other books (I personally liked magic system in bistborn series), but worldbuilding is still great and original! Brandon Sanderson got supreme world building, plot is somewhat epic standard for me, only from his characters I've got a feeling of sort of naivity, bit simpleness and bluntness, not that they don't have full and diverse life, but probably the inner life is actually - quite normal? Not great, not terrible. Sandersons books are philosophically shallow for me, sort of staying on mechanical level or "enlightement period style" (not that there isnt some interesting ethical questions). I still credit this to Brandon's Mormon faith, which from my experience sort of simplify ones worldview - but I dont know Brandon personally of course (and his work is still epic!). Nevertheless I I read almost all his main lines and I want to read all his work, overall I find it very entertaining. Would Brandon have even more delicate and deep worlds if he wasnt bound by his Mormon faith or perhaps he wouldn't have discipline, therefore not creating that much or even nothing?

love it!

Brandon Sanderson's imaginary world and craftiness cannot fail to impress! Not my favourite of his books but still an amazing novel

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).

Original and brilliant

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson is both original and brilliant. Elantrians are considered to be a diseased race and have been outcast, living on scraps and fighting each other for survival, or what they consider for survival. Meanwhile in the country of Arelon, and its new capital Kae a high priest from Fjordell has come to save the souls of its people and claim the country for his emperor Wyrn. Elantris s a standalone novel which is great as you don't have to wait a year or even years for the next book or a complete series. The story is well crafted and Jack Garrett narration is excellent.

not My first by Him but The first Sanderson

a Magic story with practically no magic till the end , it let's the characters shine by their strong will and morals , not by being overpowered , yet it still is fantasy ! really a must read , it's a masterpiece