Elantris

Synopsis

The Shaod, it was called.  The Transformation.  It struck randomly–usually at night, during the mysterious hours when life slowed to rest.  The Shaod could take beggar, craftsman, nobleman, or warrior.  When it came, the fortunate person’s life ended and began anew; he would discard his old, mundane existence, and move to Elantris.  Elantris, where he could ive in bliss, rule in wisdom, and be worshipped for eternity.

Eternity ended ten years ago.

Sanderson begins with these ominous words that set the stage for the “present”.  Up until ten years ago, when the transformation came to someone, it made him a god.  Then something changed and Elantrians were no longer the beautiful people with the power of aons at their fingertips.  Now, when the Shaod came upon someone, he was stuck halfway between the transition of man to Elantrian: skin covered in sickly black patches and the hair turned to grey, falling out in clumps until he was bald.  The new Elantrians of the last decade suffer from the inexplicable hunger that made up their existence, for their bodies no longer needed the sustenance of food; and a body not-quite alive–or dead–was also a body that did not heal.  This, in turn, meant that every scrape, every cut, and every bump caused an Elantrian pain that would never lessen or go away.  And so an Elantrian endures the pain and hunger until the day their minds escape the pain, leaving the remaining husk of a body as one of the hoed, which is what those in Elantris call their lost brethren.

At the start of the story, the land of Arelon is under the threat of the imposing Derethi religion that has its seat of power in Fjorden.  Over the years, Wyrn, the religious leader, has stamped out other religions and converted the people to Shu-Dereth.  Arelon and Teod are the two remaining countries free from the grasp of the powerful movement.  The former believed in the Elantrians until they were seemingly struck down and now, in no god (I think).  And the latter believes in Shu-Korath, which seems like a separate, less fanatical sect of Shu-Dereth.  The two countries’ mutual disdain and dislike for the Derethi religion is part of the reason the Teoish princess Sarene decides to arrange a political marriage between her and the popular Prince Raoden of Arelon.

Unfortunately, five days before Sarene arrives in Arelon, the Shaod takes Raoden and the prnice is thrown within the crumbling walls of Elantris, his plight covered up by his father.  Upon his “death”, the marriage contract became legally binding and Sarene steps onto Arelon as a widow, despite not ever having the wedding ceremony.  At the same time, the gyorn–or high priest–of Fjordell also arrives in Arelon, with a mission to peacefully convert the people of Arelon to the Derethi religion, or deliver them to the destructive power of the Wyrn.

What follows s a story of how an unrelenting prince solves the mystery of the fall of a god-like people and regains his crown, how a princess uses her wit and political savvy to stop the encroaching threat of an oppressive religion, and how a priest who has lost his faith somewhere along the way managed to rediscover his passion.

Characters

Raoden – Prince of Arelon.  Despite having fallen to the Shaod, he remains optimistic about life and takes it upon himself to help the people of Elantris to find a purpose to their lives beyond the constant need for hunger.  He also possesses a curious mind that marks him as a problem solver, which enables him to eventually get to the bottom of why Elantris changed 10 years ago. Despite having grown up with his father, King Iadon, Raoden possesses the skills and attitude that would make him a good king.  I rather liked his character, probably mostly because he remained optimistic and cheerful even during the direst of times.  Many of the comedic scenes of the story was between him and his Elantrian friend, Galladon.

Sarene – I’m always a sucker for strong female characters and that takes no exception here.  The princess reminds me more of a modern woman than as a woman born under a more “oppressive” time for women.  At 25 years old, she’s gone through one previous engagement that she broke up and through another engagement that went straight to widowhood.  Her height and lanky form–as well as her temperament–marks her as undesirable to the men in her home country.  And no matter where she went people looked at her with respect and some fear, never love.  It’s no surprise that she is given to melancholy and maybe a little petulance when she sees other couples and love blooming around her.  But this is a woman with a head on her shoulders and she occupies most of her time with political intrigue and schemes to turn the tide in her favor as she “battles” Hrathen, the priest intent on converting Arelon.  She also possesses great prowess with a syre, the fencing swords of this world, and even starts the trend of female empowerment for the women of the court.  Her love story with Raoden is satisfying without being overly sappy.

Hrathen – The high priest of Fjorden who was given 3 months time to convert the people of Arelon to Shu-Dereth.  At first he is a man driven by his devotion to his religion and his plans are highly calculated.  Having been responsible for the violent conversion of the land of Duladel before, he is loath to repeat the same mistake (as he later realizes) in Arelon.  So instead, he tries to convert the people by first dethroning the uncooperative King Iadon and then supporting another man who would open the land to the Derethi religion.  Along the way, he meets his political match, Princess Sarene and begins questioning his faith and passion to his religion.  Are his efforts the results of his belief or simply a desire to face down the challenge of a peaceful conversion of a nation? This is not your usual 2-dimensional villain, for sure.

There’s a troupe of other supporting characters who are pretty well fleshed out and interesting to read about.  I’ve read that if Sanderson were to write a sequel to  this book, it would center around events 10 years following Elantris and the minor characters in it.

My Impressions

This was Sanderson’s first book, but the 4th book I’ve read by this author.  Personally, I feel this story lacks the epic-ness of the Mistborn trilogy, probably partly because things just don’t seem quite as bad as it did in the world of the Mistborn, particularly in the second and third books. (It is good to note, though, that this is a stand-alone book; characters and story lines have to be wrapped up in a much shorter time, and its ordinariness by no means diminishes the enjoyment of the book.)  Things do get somewhat dire around the last 50 pages of Elantris. I’m talking  the-world-is-crumbling-around-our-characters bad.  However, the suspense and climax wasn’t really maintained because most of the issues were quickly resolved, which kind of made an overall anti-climatic ending.  However, the last 200 pages or so, I couldn’t put the book back down once I started reading because the story started getting really good once the answers started revealing themselves.

Another thing of note is the dynamic between Sarene and Raoden.  I actually found it quite interesting that Sarene was more into politics and history and fencing, whereas Raoden was sort of the opposite.  He could fence, but not as well as Sarene, or at least they are a very close match before the Shaod came on him, and he was more interested in the “wizardry” of the world, like the aons, which are the magical “letters” or “words” that gave Elantrians power, than he was interested in politics.  It struck me as kind of backwards from most other characterizations of the male and female protagonists.

I don’t like to give stars or numbers as ratings, so I won’t be doing that.  Instead, I will say that the story was well-written, the pacing was good as it kept me reading, and it was an enjoyable read. I’d say it started out somewhat slow, but did pick up fairly fast.  Anyone who likes fantasy books should give this a try.  And if you’ve read this book and would like to read more about the world or the author, make sure to visit the link I have provided on the front page.  Sanderson is one of those authors who offer a lot of behind-the-scenes info and his work process, which is always nice to see.