MUST READ!

[Hannibal King]

Hey everybody, I recently exchanged emails with the relatively-new fantasy author Brandon Sanderson and he asked me to do him a favor and recommend his book to as many people as possible. He wrote "Elantris" and "Mistborn", two fantastic and amazingly original fantasy books that really are must reads. So, all fantasy fans, let's do our best to make this guy a huge success. If you read it and like it, recommend it to all the people you know. Thanks.

[Sirayn]

Who's publishing him? Can you give us some links? :)

[goldeneys]

yeah, hmm I need another fantasy at the moment (well, I would like to have another fantasy at the moment but I don't have much time).

 

here's what wiki says if you dont mind spoilers.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elantris

[Zardi]

Could you give us a bit of a summary that isn't loaded with spoilers, Hannibal?

[goldeneys]

hehe yeah, as even I didn't read that wiki thread

[BenTGaidin]

Could you give us a bit of a summary that isn't loaded with spoilers' date=' Hannibal?[/quote']

 

I'm not Hannibal, but I _did_ read and enjoy Elantris. (Haven't seen Mistborn yet; is that one new?)

 

Essentially, the plot of Elantris is that once, magic was a wonderous power that would descend upon people overnight, changing them into blessed creatures - powerful, beautiful, and long-lived. Anyone might have this happen, from the meanest peasant to the richest noble, and when it did, they would live in the city of Elantris and use their powers for the aid of the land.

 

Then, some years before the book begins, the magic changed from a blessing to a curse. The citizens of Elantris lost their glow, tarnished by a dark blight, and their magic failed them. Those whom the magic chosen became near-gods no longer, but agonized and pained wretches, and the dimmed city of Elantris became their prison.

 

As the book opens, a princess arrives from across the sea to marry the crown prince and seal an alliance only to find that on the very eve of her arrival, the prince was chosen by the magic and cast into Elantris, considered lost and dead. The newly widowed princess must then contend with the high priest of a militant religion, who must convert the city and land to his faith - or put those within to the sword. Meanwhile, the lost prince struggles to survive and overcome the rot of the magic that claimed him, and discover how to redeem himself and the city of Elantris.

 

I'd definately recommend the book, so be sure to go and pick it up for yourself.

[Kadere]

Ooooooo sounds intreging. I'm almost done with ASoIaF so maybe I'll pick it up. Kinda sounds like WoT with it's taint on Saidin stuff, but that's rather age old story devise. Still intreging, thanks for the heads up.

[Sirayn]

I googled his name, checked out his website and read the sample chapters. Got to say I wasn't too keen on his style. Maybe somebody else will like it better than I did. :)

[Hannibal King]

Here's a sample chapter of chapter 1. More is available on this site.

 

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/page.php?id=9

[demonspawn]

I bought Elantris when it first came out and was absolutely hooked straight away! I loved the way the story progresses via the three different viewpoints and the Elantrians, once worshipped and now reviled, are characterised.

 

This is definately one of, if not THE, best books I've read in the last five years. It is refreshingly original, especially since I've just finished reading Raymond E. Feists Flight of the Night Hawks who unfortunately, while still entertaining, has become very formulaic (young lad/s, grows up in village, taken under the wing of a magician, embarks on dangerous mission). But anyway I have detracted somewhat from the topic of conversation, read Elantris you wont regret it!

 

By the way another good debut offering, if you havent read it yet, is The Hickory Staff- The Eldarn Sequence Book I by Robert Scott & Jay Gordon.

[Hannibal King]

DS, have you read "Mistborn", Sanderson's next novel yet? It's awesome!

[demonspawn]

I haven't read it yet as I was unaware that he had another book published. But I will as soon as I have finished the rather large pile of books I still have cluttering up the place. If it's anything like Elantris I'll be well pleased as the last few books I've read have been a bit of a let down.

[Werthead]

My review, which I put up elsewhere a few months back.

 

Elantris is the first novel by American author Brandon Sanderson. Refreshingly, it is not the first book in a series, but a self-contained novel in itself (although there are a few loose ends left dangling for possible sequels).

 

The plot starts off sounding the same-old. The kingdoms of Teod and Arelon is in danger of being swallowed up by their expansionist neighbour, Fjordell, whose religions brooks no rivals. Cue a desperate battle in Arelon and its capital, Kae, as various nobles and merchants race to either ingratiate themselves with the Fjordell or find a way of resisting them.

 

The more original element of the story is that up until a decade ago, Arelon was protected by the Elantrians, god-like beings with total mastery of magic. Occasionally, humans would be unexpectedly transformed into Elantrians by an apparently random magical process. However, something went wrong. The Elantrians' magic failed and they were transformed from demigods into cursed wretches who are permanantly affected by pain. Every time they suffer an injury, from a stubbed toe to a cut to a broken neck, the pain stays with them permanantly. Unless burned or decapitated, they are also immortal, so a broken back or neck is simply a condemnation to agony rather than death. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the Elantrians are catatonic or totally insane. Their city, Elantris, stands alongside Kae and is now quarantined, with humans transformed into Elantrians thrown into the city and forgotten about.

 

The novel follows the storylines of three characters: Prince Raoden of Arelon, who is unexpectedly transformed into an Elantrian and thrown into the city, where he tries to make a better life for the people of the cursed city; Hrathen, the Fjordese priest who has three months to willingly convert the populace of Arelon before a major invasion is launched; and Princess Sarene of Tedo, betrothed to Raoden but now immersed in the labyrinth of Arelese politics.

 

The novel is fast-paced, and generally entertaining throughout. Sanderson is not going to be winning major prizes for his prose, which is effective but somewhat uninspired in places, with occasional over-reliance on exposition. That said, his ideas and execution of plot are pretty good. Hrathen could very easily have been turned into the 'evil priest' cliche but Sanderson gives him real depth and humanity. And, after reading books where the main characters do very stupid things very frequently, Sarene is a refreshingly canny character, although occasionally this thretens to tilt the other way and turn Sarene into a Kellhus-like character (see Bakker's Prince of Nothing Trilogy) who can read people's intentions just by looking them. Sanderson just dodges the bullet on that one. The lack of any magic in the book for about 85% of its length is also refreshing and, when it does come, it's obvious Sanderson has put some thought into it.

 

There are some other major problems, though. The ending, although fails to resolve every last plot point, could be described as a bit too neat. And the absolute explosion of 'twists' (some predictable, some not) and an unexpectedly huge amount of magic use in the final part of the book threaten to make the ending implausible and a bit OTT.

 

Overall, this is an enjoyable 'typical' epic fantasy novel, with some neat ideas and reasonable character development. The prose could do with some work and Sanderson needs to pace his endings slightly better, but overall this is a fun book, and a superior alternative to the likes of Brooks and Eddings. I think fans of JV Jones, Kate Elliott and possibly Raymond Feist would enjoy it. 3/5

 

Elantris is not published in the UK at present, but US paperbacks seem freely available at Amazon and in Forbidden Planet. His second novel, Mistborn (the first of a trilogy), is out in the USA this month.