Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

33 reviews

yeensy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

I’ve been told that this isn’t Sanderson’s best work, but his “worst” still stands pretty high above the rest. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Body shaming

aleyajo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It’s Brandon Sanderson, it’s gonna be good. Some stuff was predictable for Brandon, Dilaf was also a bit too caricature-evil. Good romance, not to ton of action. Excellent world building. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, and Blood

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."

---

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

---

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

livid_olive's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Genocide, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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!

---

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

auliarach's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

oldladysadie's review against another edition

I made a decent effort to get through this book to become fully caught up on the Cosmere, but the pacing is a bit too slow to keep my interest so far and the worldbuilding is a bit more than I can keep up with right now. I may try to read it again at a later time.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Misogyny

imbored_soillread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny 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? Yes

5.0

Very very smooth pace for such a long book. Great way to wrap up fantasy as a genre in one singular book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Sexism, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

iono's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Sexism, Torture, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, and Blood