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.