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merlucito's review against another edition
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
5.0
This whole review contains spoilers
I would've never imagined that a fantasy book about conscious zombies was going to be this relatable. I have chronic pain; every day, I wake up and my body hurts, all of it; sometimes the pain is so big that I can barely walk, sometimes is something in the back of my brain. So, reading about the Elantrians and their constant pain and how they started to manage it really resonated with me. And it means a lot.
That's probably I loved Raoden so much. He refuses to fall for the pain, he sets a goal for himself and the whole city and pursues it even when the hunger and the pain never leave.
I would've never imagined that a fantasy book about conscious zombies was going to be this relatable. I have chronic pain; every day, I wake up and my body hurts, all of it; sometimes the pain is so big that I can barely walk, sometimes is something in the back of my brain. So, reading about the Elantrians and their constant pain and how they started to manage it really resonated with me. And it means a lot.
That's probably I loved Raoden so much. He refuses to fall for the pain, he sets a goal for himself and the whole city and pursues it even when the hunger and the pain never leave.
The man had come looking for a magical solution to his woes, but he had found an answer much more simple. Pain lost its power when other things became more important. Kahan didn't need a potion or an Aon to save him—he just needed something to do.
That, right there, was perfect. For me, at least. Raoden gave them what they needed and they forgot the pain. And I've been in that situation: when I'm doing something that's important, I can forget about my pain; when I'm working, my body doesn't scream as much. But if I stay all day in bed, doing nothing, feeling sorry for myself, the pain gets worse, because all my mind does is think of it. And so I loved everything about Raoden and Elantris. And I see myself re-reading some of those parts in the future, when I feel down.
On the other side, I also loved the political stuff. Sarene was a great character to follow and I really liked her interactions with the other nobles. The religious aspects of the world were really, really interesting and it kept my attention at all moments. Hrathren was a little tedious to read at times, but it ended up being a very interesting perspective. I love the discussion presented with his character and it was great to see the different sides of religion, and how men manipulate the belief systems to justify their atrocious actions. I think it's specially interesting coming from an author that's religious himself and as an atheist, I found it just... fascinating.
And, lastly, I just loved the magic system. But with Sanderson, I didn't expect less. I always love the magic in his books. In every chapter I went back and forth between the reading and the Arcs Arcanum to see which Aon was drawn and how that connected with what happened. I just loved it, I want to know more about the Dor.
I have the Arcanum Unbounded, so I'll just run to read The Hope of Elantris now, bye!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Suicide
A mayor theme of the book is religion and the atrocities men do in the name of their gods.macliffe's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Torture
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Murder
reneebkreviews's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Slavery, and Suicide
Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Sexism, Torture, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
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
Everyone warns people not to start reading Brandon Sanderson with this book, but I always want to experience a complex book universe in the publication order. So I started with Elantris, but told myself that it doesn't matter how much I hate it, I will definitely still read Mistborn at least.
To my biggest surprise I actually really enjoyed this book and if this is his weakest one... okay.
It certainly has its issues. Most of the characters are pretty flat and boring (although I like most of them without a doubt). I think there is only one character that is actually complex and interesting. And the whole political plot didn't interest me that much, I just didn't care for it and I think it dragged on for too long. I didn't care for the king and this baby monarchy, I didn't care for the nobility. I might have cared for the peasants, but they were basically absent from the plot, although they had so much more potential?
The rest of the book? I loved it! The world building is phenomenal, I enjoyed the magic system a lot, everything about Elantris (history, mystery, present state) is so cool and fascinating, and I flew through these chapters. The story was really well plotted in my opinion, all the small details that became important at the end and fit perfectly together. Ah, I love this. (I'm just a little sad the final Elantris mystery wasn't really explained. That scene was so confusing, and I don't know what happened there. I have a vague idea, but it's bothering me not to know the details!)
Also: Although I know, Sanderson discusses mental health in his books, I wasn't aware it was already so present in this first one. The way the suffering of Elantrians can be compared to depression really impressed me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
maelikesbooks's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Suicide
ggcd1981's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Essa é minha segunda experiência com Brandon Sanderson (a primeira foi White sand) e dessa vez eu “remei” mais do que na primeira experiência. Em 2021, até o momento, este foi o livro que levei mais tempo para concluir. Elantris não é ruim, na verdade é uma história bem diferente do que tenho lido até agora. Assim, foi novidade para mim um livro tão focado em maquinações políticas. Porém tive a sensação que a narrativa era lenta, tanto pela história ser de passo lento quanto pelo narrador, Jack Garrett, narrar de forma bastante espaçada (Vale acrescentar que pode ter sido a edição do áudio e não a narração de Garrett que deixou a história lenta, é difícil determinar a causa). Acrescentando o fato de que há relativamente pouca ação na narrativa e Elantris me deu a sensação de que se movia a passo de tartaruga, apesar de ter sido um bom livro.
Vamos ressaltar os pontos positivos da obra: Personagens agradáveis por quem pude torcer, como Raoden, Sarene, Galladon e até mesmo Hrathen, o antagonista inicial; Ótima personagem feminina (Sarene), mentalmente forte, com muita agência, e enredo próprio em separado de seu par romântico; Raoden foi um excelente protagonista que resolvia os problemas com inteligência e diplomacia já que não possui muitas habilidades de combate; Hrathen foi um antagonista interessante com aspectos de personalidade conflitantes que deixavam o seu futuro ambíguo, com um final que satisfez (ele ter começado como antagonista e terminado como herói do país foi um ótimo final); O desenvolvimento da histórica foi em maior parte imprevisível para mim e a conclusão foi satisfatória, respondendo todas as minhas perguntas razoavelmente bem.
Não houveram muitos pontos negativos para mim, os únicos que posso apontar foram mais uma questão de gosto pessoal: gosto de um pouco mais de ação em livros de Fantasia, mas compreendo porque Sanderson concentrou a ação no fim; as tentativas de humor durante a história foram um pouco embaraçosamente executadas, apesar de terem sido importantes para mostrar personagens desenvolvendo laços; Por último, o que já havia mencionado, seja pela edição de áudio ou pela narração, em conjunção com o enredo de passo lento e pouca ação fizeram com que eu tivesse a sensação de que a história era muito mais longa do que realmente era.
Um ponto ambíguo foi o personagem Dilaf, porque por muito tempo no livro eu considerei o personagem muito interessante e assustador. Por ser fanático religioso o personagem parecia não ter limites para seu ódio. Isso para mim, por causa de minhas experiências pessoais com fanatismo religioso, é bastante assustador. Contudo, no final o fanatismo religioso foi na verdade revelado ter por base o desejo de vingança por uma perda sofrida, e de certa forma Dilaf perdeu, em minha opinião, a aura de perigo e imprevisibilidade. Acho q foi um ótimo personagem que se perdeu um pouco na conclusão.
Minha opinião geral é que foi uma história de intriga política e religiosa bem escrita e com personagens interessantes, contudo a sensação de lentidão da história me impede der dar uma nota maior. Desta forma dou 4 estrelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, and Colonisation
Minor: Cannibalism
The Dementia TW is not for Dementia as we know, but for a chronic state in which some characters went into when they would lose all grasp of reality and be lost in their own minds and suffering indefinitly.emilyplun's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Torture
a_new_elisabeth's review against another edition
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I hated Hrathen, way more then i was supposed too. Was dreading his chapters and everything. Thankfully, almost all of them are really short. Sarene was, in the beginning, way too blunt for such an admired and succesfull politicien. Also in the beginning, conversation felt very uneasy. People were reacting to something slightly motivating with tears in their eyes. It smoothed out after a bit. It very clearly is BrandySandy's first published novel.
Adored all the plot twists.
Adored all the plot twists.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Torture
staleblood69's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, and Violence
good but needs more examination of capitalism