I think that if I would have read Elantris prior to reading the Mistborn Trilogy then I would have probably given this 5 stars. Don’t get me wrong though, Elantris was really good. It was fast paced, had constant tension, superb characters and story arcs. There is a lot of plot twisting and the different characters were constantly pulling on my emotions. The only quip that I have is that it just isn’t on the same level of ‘epicness’ as Mistborn.

Other than that, I can really recommend this for people who like a shorter read, but be prepared to be sucked in and ‘live’ the story.

Characters

I love how Sanderson chose to have 3 main protagonists, strongly entwined with each other and still worthy in their own right and capable of carrying the story on their own.

Apart from the main characters Elantris is home to some truly memorable secondary characters.

e.g I constantly pictured the character of Galladon constantly as:

with all his “Sule”, “Doloken” and “Kolo” expressions.

The characterization of the “bad guy” is also something special and one of the things I totally didn’t see coming.

Sanderson is really good at casting different characters and building their own personal story, revealing just enough at a time to keep you guessing at what’s yet to come.

Story

As per usual, Sanderson sketches a vivid world, complete with competing religions, war, rich history, alliances and feuds. There is even some delving into the economic aspect of medieval society.

I truly love the way he incorporated religion (again) into the story, it’s a vital part and the way it’s woven differently into the lives of all the characters is great. I found myself pondering these things even while not reading and the different exclaimations are something that sticks.

Magic

I feel like the magic system deserves some mentioning too, as usual it’s something special and it’s a system that is cleverly thought out with pro’s and con’s. But in Elantris the magic system is not ‘just’ a magic system, the defunct magics are a main plot device and it’s nice to have this drive the plot for a change rather then just being there to facilitate things.