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Elantris

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Elantris

By: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Jack Garrett
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The award winning and critically acclaimed first novel from Brandon Sanderson is a brilliantly written epic fantasy

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 motivated by dogged religious views. 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 Action & Adventure Classics Epic Fantasy Science Fiction
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I have read this book for the first time at the age of thirteen, and it was a great entry to Sanderson's Cosmere books in general.

It is not the most action-packed book, so while reading it I experienced some lengths and had to fight through those. An audiobook version handles this obviously better, so it didn't bother me too much this time.

The characters are relatable and well-described, and the story is consistent and novel in it's magic system (as we are used to now from Sanderson).

If you love mysterious magic where nobody knows where it comes from, this book isn't for you. I have heard people complain that Sanderson "shoves his magic systems in your face", but I personally love the detailed explanation and almost scientific problem-solving approaches for his magic systems.

Taking into account that this is a debut novel, it is a fantastic story with only minor faults, and I would recommend everyone to read it.

Jack Garett reads it nicely, and well understandable also for Non-Native Speakers like me. Sometimes he doesn't pause between direct speech sentences making it a little bit difficult to deduce which person talks at the moment. It didn't lessen the experience though - since I started listening to audiobooks, this was the most enjoyable week at work I have had so far.

Amazing Fantasy Debut Novel

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This auditory experience was... Well...

Listening to this story after all of Era 1 of Stormlight and directly after Mistborn Era 1, having read and loved Warbreaker it is a different expierience. Lets start with Jack Garrett.
Of course, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are Masters of their craft I've come to dearly admire. Many of Sanderson's and others books wouldn't be nearly as captivating if it weren't for those two. Mr Garett lacks a bit of the nuanciation between Femalen and Male characters and his reading sometimes glosses over the supposed ways a character talks as written in the same or next sentence. Partially though of course, this also is due to this works style. After getting used to him, Sandersons wonderfull work still is crafty and after 4-6 hours you get used to it all and find yourself in an endearing world with wonderful protagonists. (I really like the Gyorn!)

Exspecially the beginning can be incredibly taxious and confusing with the mass of character names and original words, like Rapiers beeing called an in world term. This changed drastically already in Mistborn and Warbreaker and through it you feel that this is Sandersons first published work.

I don't want to say too much about story and anything else to not weave the image of it all being bad, quite the opposite actually! Because this is the first work the flaws make evrything else greater. For what this book is, it is magnificent. It lays the groundwork for everything else that followed and subtly foreshadows what there is to come.

I'd highly recommend this as ones entry into the cosmere, to be followed up by either Warbreaker or Mistborn Era 1 before indulging into Stormlight Archive.

For Elantris is not the greatest nor the finest nor the easiest read, but an awesome one and the Foundation of the Universe and Characters i have found to love.

Thus I can prodly say that it probably is one of my favourites of all Cosmere work because of all it's rough edges and unrefinement. The most human work of all it's godly fellow. For that, I love it and the Cosmere.

I truly highly recommend.

Sincerly, V. S.

On the 19. September 2025

The Foundation

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The book is clearly written, thoroughly organized, and captivatingly narrated. As all books of Brandon Sanderson, it is a marvellous book.

Organized, flawless, and captivating

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Elantris is far from perfect. Raoden is through his perfectness a Gary Stu and Sarene is a bit too much the stereotypical empowered princess that suddenly is all love. Both should be highly relatable but are it more as symbols than characters. But both symbols so close to our hearts that it compensates. Who hasn't struggled against the roles other or society force upon you and who doesn't no the struggle for humanity and what's write. Both aren't abstract here, but on a scale we all experience every day. One bummed toe, a paper cut tiny pains we barely register beyond the initial second, but doing this read you ask yourself what would you become if the pain never ends. Brandon Sanderson created a novel that it unique in fantasy and despite what he says really isn't a zombie novel at all. I liked it, but the best recommendation I can probably give, is that he made me like Hrathen. A character type a usually get bored with easily and alienates me almost everytime and whose chapters I was close to skipping for the first half of the novel. One could say he came a bit around to my side. But that shouldn't be enough, should it, for me to admit he is the best characters. I should love Raoden and feel with Sarene both share quite a lot with me. This is why I recommend Elantris, I think that giving us a different perspective is one of the best things books can do.

A magical read

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Read and listened thanks to whispersinc. Really enjoyed it. Knew Sanderson from the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series which I can also highly recommend.

Loved it

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