Elantris, Brandon Sanderson | Book Review

I went into this book knowing nothing other than it was a high-fantasy, it was my first Brandon Sanderson novel and I’m very glad to say I absolutely loved it! It kept me hooked and invested in the story and was an excellently written fantasy novel.

Elantris, Brandon Sanderson

Themes: High-fantasy, Politics, Religion, Feminism, Power, Magic, Romance

Reading Format: Kindle, eBook

4.5 STARS // 8.8 CAWPILE

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This is Brandon Sanderson’s debut novel, so where better place to start to dive into one of the King’s of high-fantasy? This book is a chunky one and honestly, I went in totally blind, I didn’t even read the blurb. Was I insane? Maybe. Did it make me feel a bit confused to start with? Yes! But I got there.

This book is told through three different character’s narratives, Prince Raoden, Princess Sarene and Hrathen, a high priest of Shu-Dereth. The basic starting point of this book is that Raoden and Sarene are to be married when it is announced that Raoden has died, but Sarene is suspicious. We the reader know that Raoden has in fact become one of the cursed Elantrians, banished to this dead city. Alongside this storyline is Hrathen, a priest trying to spread his religion into Arelon.

Make sense?

Basically we follow Sarene being a badass female lead, not believing that her betrothed died as she has been told, she goes about investigating whilst also trying to change the way those or Arelon think. They are quite backwards compared to where she has come from, believing that women are inferior to men. Sarene gets by in court for a good chunk of the book by pretending to be stupid, when in fact she is incredibly clever. Her resilience throughout this book, be it mentally of physically, is admirable in a character. She doesn’t give up and we see her fighting for her morals. But she doesn’t live without fear, she is still a realistic character, which makes her even more compelling to follow.

I love Raoden the best though, a Prince abanded to a dead city that is full of half-dead and starving savages. He tried to develop some sort of society, I love the way that this book tackles power and hierarchy, this is prevalent in all three narratives. Being a Prince gives Raoden a status above those around him in Elantris, but he doesn’t want people to know about it. Earning respect is important to Raoden, which I feel is exactly how he earned my love as a reader.

Hrathen is such a complicated character and honestly, I still don’t know what I think of him. He reminded me a bit of Snape in some weird way. I started off thinking he wasn’t too bad, but then he definitely started to come across like quite the dick, so I think my opinions changed quite significantly. I can’t really go into more detail about this without writing spoilers and this is a spoiler-free review so I won’t be doing that.  But if you read this book, you’ll know what I mean.

The idea of this magical city of Elantris was so exciting in this book, it drove me to read one and want to know more! I love the way it is described, despite the dirt and the grime, I can imagine what it once was. Sanderson does an excellent job of making you feel like you’re in the pages of the book. His writing as a whole was captivating, detailed but not heavy and good fun. I really enjoyed reading Elantris and I will certainly be picking up another Sanderson book in the future!

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