October 1, 2021

Brandon Sanderson, creator of the Cosmere, finisher of The Wheel of Timer series, all-around amazing fantasy author…has a standalone book. When I heard about Elantris, I was excited to read it. It is Sanderson’s first novel, and when I heard that not only was it not the first in a ten-book series, but it was also under 1,000 pages long, I knew I had to check it out.

Elantris is the city of the gods where people chosen by the Shaod live as magically endowed, god-like humans, the most powerful beings in all of Arelon. But ten years ago, the Elantrians’ powers turned into a curse, rendering them as the living dead with disfigured, weak bodies that eternally feel pain until the person is driven insane from the torture. Raoden, the prince of Arelon, finds himself afflicted with the Elantrian disease and is imprisoned in the fallen city. Sarene, Raoden’s fiancé, is left in a strange city without a husband and without political power, but she is determined to do her part as Queen and save this city from the conquering Fjorden armies slaughtering nations in their own holy war. Hrathen is the devout follower of Shu-Dereth, the Fjorden religion, sent to convert the people of Arelon lest they be laid to waste in a bloody sacrifice to their god. All three of these people find themselves diving deep into the history of Elantris and its people as they discover what really happened ten years ago and what powers are hidden in this city.

I am a Sanderson fan, and while I absolutely love his other books and series, I have to admit that what excited me most was to read a standalone novel from this famously prolific writer. Standalone fantasy novels are rare finds. They tend not to get as much attention as series, and there is an assumption that fantasy as a genre cannot be written in such a compact format as a single novel. I disagree with this idea, and I think Sanderson’s Elantris is a perfect example of a contained fantasy novel with just as much worldbuilding and story as any epic fantasy series.

What sets fantasy apart from other genres is the attention and detail given to worldbuilding. Sanderson is pretty famous for the Cosmere, a fantasy universe he created that houses a number of his books. Many believe that such worlds require the author to devote thousands and thousands of words to description to help the reader understand the many fantastic elements that make up a new world. In Elantris, though, there is no such exposition. Instead, the story follows the lives of Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen, and allows their actions to explain the world and magic to the reader. Indeed, the plot itself is all about the discovery of this mysterious magic that has gone wrong. As the characters learn new things about it, so too does the reader. It’s a form of the fish out of water trope, but instead of these characters being from another world, they are delving into the past of their own.

The reason why I thought the worldbuilding was a new take instead of an overused idea is because the characters’ goals aren’t necessarily to learn about the Dor, the power that grants the Elantrians their powers, or even why the Shaod turned into such a curse. Instead, their goals are—respectively—to stay alive, gain political power for societal advancement, and spread the word about their religion to try and save lives. Essentially, they are trying to go about their business, making the best of their respective circumstances, but that gosh darn Elantris keeps getting in the way. Advancing worldbuilding this way makes it come across much more organically and gives the world much more credence to the plot rather than just being a set dressing. And it works. While Sanderson does have quite an extensive appendix section at the back explaining everything a reader could want to know, I didn’t use it. I didn’t need it. I had everything laid out for me as plot and characters were developed, no info dumps or ten-book series required.

Another hallmark of Sanderson is a wide cast of characters. In Elantris we have the three POV characters in Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen. In addition to them, we also have three large gangs of diseased Elantrians, Sarene’s family across the sea and within Arelon, Hrathen’s entire congregation of religious zealots, and a couple adorable floating balls of light called seons. Sanderson does a great job of giving almost every character a unique personality and motivation that justifies their presence in the scenes given and their necessity to the plot itself. Very few characters are wasted, and in turn the world itself gets fleshed out a little more as we see how each action effects people from the kings of this world all the way down to the most wretched of Elantrians. I never felt lost as we moved from group to group, never confused as to who each person was. Sanderson did an excellent job of giving his POV characters the agency to introduce us to other characters and discover identifying characteristics for each as the POVs developed relationships with them.

You’ll notice I say almost every character is given a personality, and very few characters are wasted. Let me rephrase: every male character is given a personality, and every male character is not wasted. Unfortunately, the one area I felt this novel was severely lacking was the development of its female characters. Sarene is the female POV character, and while she is given a strong personality, there is very little change to it throughout the novel. She comes in determined and stubborn and witty and intelligent (all good qualities, true) and she leaves the same, barely any change in the interim. Additionally, her character design felt like a combination of female character tropes rather than a custom, developed human being. She’s gorgeous, but doesn’t know it, smart, but not respected by her male peers (but gosh darn it all, she’ll show them!), and fears being alone forever at the ripe old age of twenty-five. All of these are valid characteristics if done well, but to me, a female reader, it felt like someone told Sanderson how to make a female character and he just followed a check list rather than thought through her as a human being. The female side characters are worse: they don’t have much to identify them beyond their association with male characters as their wives and daughters, and if they do it is as the tittering, air-headed sycophants of court that we all just tolerate because, hey, they’re women and we like looking at pretty people. All in all, a rather sharp disappointment as a female reader.

I am willing to grace Sanderson in this, however. As a writer myself, I understand that the very act of writing is how we learn. And tropes and examples of writing that came before us is how we all usually start learning to create stories and characters. This was Sanderson’s first published fantasy novel. Of course it is going to fall short of the novels he is now publishing. He was still learning. Sanderson himself has admitted to failings regarding his female characters, and I can attest that he has learned and corrected that character representation in his current books. In fact, being able to make that comparison was really educational for me because it validated the eternal learning process that is writing and encouraged me never to feel confined to a trope just because I wrote in it before. My writing need not be stagnant. At any time during my career, I can learn and make changes accordingly. For that reason, I do not fault him, nor did I allow it to sully what is a great fantasy read.

I think Elantris is a perfect book for those wanting to dip their toe into fantasy without committing to dozens of books and thousands of pages. I also think it is a great read for those happily deep in the fantasy genre looking for something different to read. And finally, I am going to highly recommend authors of fantasy grab a copy of Elantris to study how Sanderson tells a rich and detailed story in a standalone, 500-page book. Condensing our worlds is a valuable lesson because it teaches writers how to prioritize their worldbuilding and use it as more than set dressing. Elantris should have a spot on every fantasy and would-be fantasy lover’s shelf. I’m certainly glad I picked it up.

  • Title: Elantris
  • Author: Brandon Sanderson
  • Publisher: Tor
  • Year: 2005
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Age Range: Adult