Elantris

Elantris er en fin historie, en tydelig førstebok fra en forfatter med mer på hjertet. Boken er splittet mellom forsøk på brudd med sjangeren og åpenbare klisjeer.

Den Sterke Kvinnerollen, en av bokens tre hovedpersoner, er velment, men oser Mary Sue-energi – hun er høy, hun er sterk, hun er frittalende, hun er ikke bundet av samfunnets normer for hva en kvinne skal være (og stolt av det!), men hun er også dypt usikker i hvilken funksjon hun egentlig har uten en mann. Aldri glem at du også er en kvinne.

Sant nok, boka fyller 20 år neste år, både mitt og tidsåndens syn på hva en god, kvinnelig figur er har endret seg, og Sarene er ikke en dårlig figur, hun er bare veldig åpenbar.

På samme måte som at bokens andre (eller første, han har bokens første kapittel, og alt dreier seg jo egentlig om ham) rett og slett er Verdens Flinkeste™, helt fra start. Han er smart, kjekk (med en plottsensitiv asterisk), snill, dyktig, et godt menneske, alt det der. Gary Stu Sanderson.

Igjen, debutbok. Ikke dårlig, jeg er nysgjerrig på Sandersons forfatterskap videre, og den har noen ideer som jeg virkelig viber med. Når jeg skriver dette, klarer jeg ikke å ikke tenke på Steven Kings The Gunslinger, som også er en uerfaren førstebok. Vi får se om resten av Sandersons verk setter like dype spor i meg som The Dark Tower gjorde.

I can see why this book is unfavourably compared to some of the other early cosmere books, but that has more to do with how brilliant they are than anything else. By itself, this is an excellent fantasy novel with an interesting structure and lots to say about the intersection of faith, religion, politics and power.
It is a little frustrating just how few of the larger mysteries of this setting are resolved by the end, and there is some plotting that I'd expect Sanderson to handle with more subtlety these days. While there are plenty of women with potentially interesting characters, all are outshone by the female protagonist in a way that didn't quite seem to occur for the men, which is reminiscent of Vin in The Final Empire but he seems to have improved with age in this regard. There's also a lack of class perspective, and given that the mechanism of Elantris allows for anyone to be promoted into a position of interest, this feels like a missed opportunity.
However, it's still a good story, told well, with plenty of action and intrigue and a mostly sufferable romance to boot.

I liked it but... I only loved a few ideas that weren't focused on all that much. Like I really liked the concept of elantris as this hell like state and the way Raoden gives people purpose to avoid their pain. I enjoyed his struggle with the decisions he is forced to make. I FREAKING LOVED HRATHEN AND THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS. I loved it. Seeing his struggle with religion, faith, and logic, and his desire to do the right thing but his fucked epistemic framework and situation leading him to make horrific decisions, seeing his conflict in his actions. And then on top of that the religious ideas it is critiquing are explicitly the pitfalls of hierarchy and organized religion. THEN there's the whole concept of how the original religion that all the other religions based off of was based on "unity" which has been interpreted differently by the different branches. Then seeing Hrathen's redemption arc mind view change. And the criticism of blind hatred... And GOD it's so good.

Unfortunately that stuff is basically only 50% of the book if I'm being generous. Seemingly the other 50% is the most mind numbingly boring politics talk ever. And it's not like I dislike politics. I fucking loved dune messiah and Mistborn had it's own massive politic talks. It just feels so hollow in this book. I never cared or felt like any of the characters beyond Sarene were different enough to warrant caring about. The scenes didn't have enough spice to them imo. And ultimately the politic talks don't end up saving the day because Sarene overthrows the king through scandal, not a peasant uprising. Now, that's not a criticism of the plot, I'm just trying to explain why I felt the political sections were lacking, especially coming off of Dune and Mistborn. It was a struggle for me to get through those sections. Like wow that random political guy was the traitor, oh FR? On God? Just like that? I couldn't be bothered to care lol.

I will say though, the except comes when Sarene was outwitting people like when she made the king cry or beat Hrathen in an argument.

For moments I liked besides the religion stuff, the reveal about why the Aon's weren't working was cool and the moment when he puts everything back together with the title drop "Aon Rao. The spirit of elantris" was cool (if maybe kind of cheesy lol).

The part where galladon laments how Raodon gave him hope was cool.

Solid book all in all.

Time to read: 11 hours 47 minutes

2020 Reread
Nobility is in one's bearing as much as it it is one's breeding. If we act like living here is a blessing, then maybe we'll start to forget how pathetic we think we are.

My thoughts from five years ago stand: a decent book that flirts with an average rating but escalates in a big way near the end and becomes fantastic! It has been long enough that I forgot some character arcs and they were a nice surprise and twist when they occurred.

After all, Jaddeth had created all men - even the heretics.

There was a brief mention of Hoid in here, not enough to suspect he was anymore than a random character in the series but it's still fun to see the breadcrumbs of his life through the Cosmere.

I have a few more short stories in the Elantris world before I set sail for Stormlight.

2015 Original read
Pain lost its power when other things became more important.

The story that started it all for Sanderson, and considering it was his first major novel, he did a fantastic job. There are classic elements of Sanderson in this story but also is light on a complex, large world, which is a nice change and could be seen as a gateway drug in to fantasy or more Sanderson novels for some.

I was entertained by this book and gave it a solid 3/5 rating for most of the read, but the final third of the book escalated and pushed the rating up to 4/5. In a single book Sanderson put together an interesting magic system, a country with political history and enemies, established the good and bad guys and still left a few surprises for the end. I enjoyed focusing on just three character narrations, and through them the entire story of Elantris developed.

This is a book that centers around one city and three main characters. To quote book blurbs:

- Elantris was beautiful, once. It was called the city of the gods: a place of power, radiance, and magic.
- Raoden, prince of Arelon, was loved by all, including the princess he'd never met.
- Hrathen, high priest of Fjordell, will convert the people of Arelon or kill them.
- Sarene, the princess of Teod, was a widow before she was ever married.

Back in the "good times", citizens of Arelon would wake to find themselves "converted" to Elantrians, near-immortal beings able to wield indescribably powerful magic. They would abandon their old lives and move to the city of Elantris to lead their new god-like lives there. But when the book starts, Elantris has fallen. Nobody knows how or why, but something went wrong and the once-beautiful city is now dull and ugly and covered in filth. Those who were once Elantrians are still undying but no longer in a good way; patchy-skinned, hairless, hideous creatures who cannot heal and therefore eventually go insane from an accumulation of their injuries over the years. Worse of all, Arelon citizens still "convert", but now that conversion condemns them to the same hideous undeath.

When Raoden, prince and heir of Arelon, awakes to find himself cursed by the Elantris transformation, his father covers this up by claiming the prince has died outright, while shipping Raoden off to Elantris and holding a closed casket funeral. Sarene, his betrothed, arrives just in time for the funeral, never having met her fiance in person, and discovered that due to the terms of the marriage treaty she is now considered to legally be his widow, and banned from remarrying or returning home as that would void the terms of the treaty. Stuck in Arelon and somewhat suspicious that the prince's death was suspicious, she starts investigating the court, and when she uncovers a plot by Hrathen and the priests of Fjordell to convert and annex Arelon, she throws all her frustrated energy into finding a way to undermine this.

Hrathen, meanwhile, is dealing with his own internal struggles and political problems within the priests he's supposed to be leading, as well as the defiance of Sharene and his genuine belief that he must convert Arelon in order to save their lives.

Raoden, cast into the slime-coated city of fallen Elantris, tries to understand what's happened to him, and then to Elantris as a whole, spending most of the book trying to puzzle out what the cause of the curse is and ways to help the poor Elantrians. For most of the book Raoden and Sarene are working toward similar goals but unaware that each other exist - Sarene because she believes Raoden is dead, and Raoden because he assumes Sarene would never have come, or would have gone home, on learning of his death.

Overall a very enjoyable book with a complex world system, interesting characters, and lots of plot twists. However, as with the Mistborn trilogy I do think characters are Sanderson's weakest point. Raoden seems to be a beloved golden child who can persuade almost anyone to do what he wants with "natural leadership" to a fairly ridiculous extent. Sarene appears to be perfect at practically everything but drawing, and for some reason spends half the book annoyingly and unbelievably complaining that she's never going to have a real wedding and no man would ever like her. Hrathen is more interesting in general but at the end does an abrupt change of mind that completely changes the plot and feels rather heavy-handed and unexplained. Overall the book was still very enjoyable, but in a few places you'll just want to grit your teeth and try to overlook the character flaws.

3.5* -- I ended up reading Sanderson's books backwards so it has been a neat journey seeing how his prose and character development have evolved. I can see the beginning of it all and now finally see the cosmeres outline and really enjoy what has been crafted.

The storytelling here is solid, the character development is 90% there. Some things go missing, simple things that should be noticed by a character are missed and thus let the plot develop how it is wanted to but some of that frustrated me. Again though, I reflect that this was a first, an origin, and I can forgive any shortcomings.

I enjoyed the 10th year anniversary edition. I always love it when an author gives us a sneak peak, a tour behind the scenes to understand motivations or cut dialogs & characters, etc.

If you haven't read any of Sanderson's work I really would start here. Let its stand as a prologue to some of his best work and enjoy.