Review
It baffles me to know that plenty of reviewers cannot seem to distinguish Elantris as a novel of its own—comparing it to almost all of Sanderson’s other works which, mind you, are far superior due to his now vast knowledge and history with writing. In fact, for a debut novel, I am stupefied and elft to wonder how Brandon Sanderson’s other works are if this is his supposed weakest story.
Being the first Brandon Sanderson novel (excluding his graphic novel—Dark One) that I have read, I definitely sense that there is a distinctness to his writing. It’s extremely accessible, simple to read. yet the complexity of the story, character, and setting didn’t feel weak.
The way he paces the story provides you just enough to continue your journey and hungry for more. So much happened in the book and yet it didn’t feel at all confusing.
Aside from the intriguing political scheming and mysterious magic, something that I find most interesting with this book is its characters. Their layered personalities gives them so much depth and crudeness. Moreover, it’s difficult to think of yourself in alliance with just any one person in particular. Each of them, including the antagonist, are engaging—their motivation and drive is supported by their strong belief yet they do not lose sight of being sympathetic.
In conclusion, ‘Elantris’ is not just a story of a once beautiful and powerful country; it is a story of love, friendship, and a tale of true kindness.
About the Author
Brandon’s major books for the second half of 2016 are The Dark Talent, the final volume in Alcatraz Smedry’s autobiographical account of his battle against the Evil Librarians who secretly rule our world, and Arcanum Unbounded, the collection of short fiction in the Cosmere universe that includes the Mistborn series and the Stormlight
Archive, among others. This collection features The Emperor’s Soul,Mistborn: Secret History, and a brand-new Stormlight Archive novella, Edgedancer.
Earlier this year he released Calamity, the finale of the #1 New York Times bestselling Reckoners trilogy that began with Steelheart .
Brandon Sanderson was born in 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. As a child Brandon enjoyed reading, but he lost interest in the types of titles often suggested to him, and by junior high he never cracked a book if he could help it. This changed when an eighth grade teacher gave him Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly.
Brandon was working on his thirteenth novel when Moshe Feder at Tor Books bought the sixth he had written. Tor has published Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy and its followup The Alloy of Law,Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, the first two in the planned ten-volume series The Stormlight Archive. He was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series; 2009’s The Gathering Storm and 2010’s Towers of Midnight were followed by the final book in the series, A Memory of Light, in January 2013. Four books in his middle-grade Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series have been released in new editions by Starscape, and his novella Infinity Blade Awakening was an ebook bestseller for Epic Games accompanying their acclaimed Infinity Blade iOS video game series. Two more novellas, Legion and The Emperor’s Soul, were released by Subterranean Press and Tachyon Publications in 2012, and 2013 brought two young adult novels, The Rithmatist from Tor and Steelheart from Delacorte.
The only author to make the short list for the David Gemmell Legend Award six times in four years, Brandon won that award in 2011 for The Way of Kings. The Emperor’s Soul won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella. He has appeared on the New York Times Best-Seller List multiple times, with five novels hitting the #1 spot.
Currently living in Utah with his wife and children, Brandon teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.
