Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

23 reviews

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

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.25

This was another fantastic book by Sanderson. I had to clamp my hand on my mouth when all the reveals were happening. I really enjoyed all of our main characters and I am intrigued to see how AnDor as a magic system will be hinted at in the next book, since they all context together 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Excrement

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

miguelito_juanito's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Genocide, Death of parent, and Classism

kashby's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

2.0

elantris reads very much like a debut novel from someone who is very inspired and has a lot to say. it’s slightly dense and i hate saying this but preachy with some Old Man Fantasy™️ energy but sanderson’s worst book is a lot of authors’s best. i read the first part on print and it took about a week and a half but i read the rest on graphic audio and it was easier to get through.

it’s written very different from sanderson’s other books. instead of plot twists and surprises, elantris is more constantly suspenseful, where you’re watching as plans slowly crumble and plotlines cross over at the least convenient times. i was never truly shocked reading this, which is an emotion i feel a lot while reading sanderson, unless the plot twist is something that doesn’t make sense (no spoilers but some of the plot choices are not something that i think sanderson would write today). it’s also a lot darker than his current books. oathbringer is sanderson’s book that i would say is equally as intense but oathbringer feels very hopeful while elantris is much more despondent. it’s not frighting and i wouldn’t classify it as a horror book but it’s definitely very dark.

i think this book is written slightly like a dnd campaign in the sense that when we begin a scene, sometimes the vibes are “this is this person. this is who they’re related to and a quirk about them. this is the next person and who they’re related to and a quirk about them.” which honestly made the book drag a lot. i understand trying to give the side characters different personalities but i had a hard time telling them apart because they all had the same type of speaking tone. the graphic audio helped a lot because the different side characters have different voices but the actors did a lot of heavy lifting on that front. the plot was amazing and creative and interesting but i could tell it was his first published novel. i would be very interested in a rewrite of this book with  sanderson’s current knowledge.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Medical content and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

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

dionysius_miller's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, and Blood

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

simmonsj's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

After reading Mistborn Era 1, I could definitely tell Elantris was Sanderson's debut novel. Elantris moves slower, less descriptive in some areas and a little too descriptive in others, but maintains good world building and characters throughout. 

Elantris is more a focus on politics. We have a king failing, a prince shunned, a political marriage gone awry, and a neighboring country vying for power through religion. There are political maneuvers, political bribes, politics and religion getting mushed together.

In the background we have Elantris. Elantris was a great fallen city with an interesting premise. The city and its people are well described. The magic of Elantris, AonDor, is not as well described - better at the very end, but not really during the book as a whole. There are some Aon examples at the back of the book, but sometimes the ones described in the text are not in the index. Some of the text descriptions do not match the index drawings either. It was a little bit of a struggle to wade through AonDor passages until the end when things finally started clicking.

The niggle about the magic system aside, I really enjoyed this book. Good writing, plotting, and world building kept me entertained even though I don't always enjoy politics-heavy novels. Characters were fleshed out and believable, and Galladon's "Doloken" might be my new favorite book "swear word."

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

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

kassidyreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Slavery and Death of parent