Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

13 reviews

kenny_2288's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Elantris is a classic and there’s nothing quite like it out there. While perhaps not as polished as some of Sanderson’s other novels, there is a reason this one remains so beloved.

It’s not without flaws & it’s certainly not for every reader — but this story will always be one of my favorites. A little action, a little intrigue, a little romance, and at its core, a strut that questions how far you’re willing to go for your beliefs.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, and Sexism

serena_hien's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: War

Minor: Genocide, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

levic's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

karlin0336's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

For a debut novel, this one is amazing!  

The pacing definitely isn't as good as in Sanderson's later books.  The beginning is soooo slow and really confusing on your first readthrough (it was a whole lot less confusing the second time around when I understood what all the made-up fantasy terms meant).  Once it gets going, though, it REALLY gets good.  The ending was just as action-packed and mind-blowing as Sanderson's later books.  And of course, there were all the plot twists.  

I'm really looking forward to the continuation of this series in the very near future!  It will be especially exciting to learn more about this book's magic system.

Hrathen is by far my favorite character now, which is funny because I absolutely HATED him at the beginning of my first readthrough.  His character development is amazing in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, War, and Classism

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

While a religious crusade isn't quite the backdrop for a plot that I prefer, I quite enjoyed the world building, the magic system, and some of the characters were quite charming and well developed.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

badbadwolf's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mkaiww's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I liked it generally, it was the pacing that tripped me up a little. There were really dry subplots and then really interesting ones. Also, there were so jumps in the book.

Like how we waited the whole book for Elantra’s / the Dor too be fixed and then the way it was fixed wasn’t explained well and came about way too easy.

. Over all I was just left a bit unsatisfied by this one. 

Multi-POV, Romance Subplots, Hidden Identity

“Pain loses its power when other things become more important.”

“Truth can never be defeated… Even if people do forget about it occasionally.”

“When you can’t find reason in life, you tend to give up on it.”

“Joy was more than just an absence of discomfort.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I can’t believe it, but Elantris is now kind of my favourite book by Brandon Sanderson (that I’ve read so far). I absolutely loved it. I loved the quiet struggles and political intrigue. The characters were so varied and fun. The whole mythos surrounding everything was constantly a mystery. And Sarene as a character was just kind of perfect, honestly! I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for future stories to come!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

proza's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Blood and Cannibalism