The Hope Of Elantris [Dramatized Adaptation]

Elantris

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: full cast, Colleen Delany, Kimberly Gilbert, Mort Shelby, James Lewis, Richard Rohan, Michael John Casey, Danny Gavigan, Tracy Olivera, Eric Messner, Nanette Savard, Chris Davenport

Length: 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

Notes from the author: The following is a short story I wrote in the Elantris world back in January of 2006. At that point, Elantris had been out in stores for only about seven or eight months, but I actually hadn’t written anything new on the story or world since 2000, when I’d finished the first draft of the original book.

There were always a few holes in the manuscript where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the name of streamlining, particularly at the end. In the back of my mind, I knew what happened. This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be heard after you’ve finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax. In the annotation, I’ve written a further explanation of why I wrote this piece. Some of you may find it interesting to hear this ahead of time; I put it in the annotation, however, as I know others would rather enjoy the story without bias beforehand, then hear my thoughts afterward. Either way, if you haven’t listened to Elantris, this contains major spoilers. Might I suggest listening to the book first? This story won’t work at all for you if you haven’t.

Performed by Colleen Delany, Kimberly Gilbert, Mort Shelby, James Lewis, Richard Rohan, Michael John Casey, Danny Gavigan, Tracy Olivera, Eric Messner, Nanette Savard, Chris Davenport, Evan Casey, Scott McCormick, Ken Jackson, Timothy Lynch, Thomas Penny, Rose Elizabeth Supan.

©2006 Brandon Sanderson (P)2017 Graphic Audio, LLC

Difficult to hear

Nice little dramatization, but the aeons are little too distorted and hard to understand and the background noise - particularly the loud combat sounds - are so overwhelming it is hard to concentrate on the words. Immersion is great but if I can't hear the story it's self-defeating.

Almost every proper noun mispronounced

Graphic Audio should be ashamed. It isn't that hard to listen to the official audiobook and figure out the pronunciation.

Major characters and site name mispronounced

Brandon Sanderson Cosmere fan here. If you've listened to the full-length Elantris novel on Audible multiple times, as I have, those pronunciations of major character's names and indeed of "Elantris" itself are now canon in my head. If you listen to Brandon's live streams, his pronunciations are consistent with Michael Kramer and Kate Reading's as they narrate his full length novels. Major changes to primary character name pronunciations in this version just ruined this for me and I just couldn't listen to it. I will return it if I can. Plus, this title is included in the "Arcanum Unbounded" anthology with Michael and Kate narrating and maintaining consistency. I enjoyed that version MUCH more than this.

Great Short Story but Don't Like the Dramatization

This is a fun short story, but you need to read or listen to Elantris first.

I really do not like the dramatization in this audio book. It makes it difficult to listen to especially with the voices of the aeons. The distortion with them is terrible and very annoying to listen to.

This story is in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. Get it instead of this. It also has some of Sanderson's other short stores. Even though I love Sanderson I don't like these dramatizations.

wonderful addition to Elantris

This is a great story that fills a hole in the main story line, and I like the idea of the "movie in your mind" reading of the story. unfortunately, the execution leaves something to be desired. the music is too loud and the transition from internal to external dialog is non existent. otherwise, actors are great, story is great, and I really like hearing the pronunciations of the names.

Very confusing if you haven't read Elantris

I decided to give this a try because it was a short listen and I usually love anything written by Sanderson. However, I should've read the notes from the author first before purchasing. He clearly states that this story won't work at all for you if you haven't read Elantris. Still, without much context, I enjoyed the dramatized adaptation. With a different actor for each character, it really does feel like you're listening to a movie. Maybe once I've read Elantris, I'll come back to this again.

interested yet contlicted

part of me likes the voices, but the tracks did not seem to blend very well. lot of weird effects going on and i am not sure that they all improve the telling, tho the ambiance is neat.

An Entertaining Short Side Story

After listening to Stormlight, this was a nice addition. It fills a small gap in the original story that wasn't covered in Elantris. Even though it's very short, I found it emotionally powerful, and I gained a quick connection to the characters.

Completely Unnecessary

This audiobook did not need to be made. It added nothing to the Elantris story. The worst thing of all was that it did not use the same actors to provide the voices and they did not pronounce the names of all the characters in the same way that they did in the original story. As a result, it was difficult at times to tell to whom they were referring when the characters or the narrator spoke.

Save your time & your money. I wish I had not listened to this.

Disappointing

As other reviewers have said: names and places are pronounced frustratingly incorrect when compared to the regular audiobooks in the series. The dramatization is very hard to listen to with what seems like unbalanced levels of sound and Seons have this weird robotic distortion that makes them quiet and hard to understand.
Story is a fun little addition to the Elantris world though.

Amazed

this is the first time I've listened to a dramatized audio adaptation and I'm simply stunned by the amount of emotions it conveys as compared to normal reading or normal audio books. About the story itself. Just listened to Elantris last week and I really missed some backstory of how the other Elantrians experienced the invasion of their city. This short story was a perfect window into Elantris.

Waste of money

Too short, if you listen to Elantris, words are pronounced differently in this addition to the original story.