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Andi is Currently Reading

Andi is currently reading

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1)

by Steven Erikson (Goodreads Author)

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11 hours, 53 min ago

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36 Craft Essays

by Chuck Palahniuk (Goodreads Author)

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Jan 08, 2026 04:49PM

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Elantris (Elantris, #1)

by Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author)

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in November 2020

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Andi said: " Interesting plot, cool magic, nice twists - everything else is characters, settings, writing, and overall ideas that were eventually recycled into all of Sanderson's forthcoming novels. This is the proto Sanderson novel. 3.5/5

Elantris contained a goo Interesting plot, cool magic, nice twists - everything else is characters, settings, writing, and overall ideas that were eventually recycled into all of Sanderson's forthcoming novels. This is the proto Sanderson novel. 3.5/5

Elantris contained a good amount of the stuff that I've enjoyed the most out of Sanderson's novels so far. Brutal twists, humor that wasn't even half as cringey as the humor I've encountered in the rest of his books, a magic system refreshingly different from the rest of his magic systems, bit of a survival horror aspect, super hopeful vibes amidst terrible environment and odds, family dynamics, Hoid, and more. Elantris feels fresh even within the Cosmere, and certainly among other popular high fantasy novels.

75% of Elantris is also SUPER boring and draggy, though the Sanderson novel with the driest writing so far for me has to go to Warbreaker. Elantris actually included some imagery and writing flourishes. Weird that Sanderson has all but abandoned such things in his other works.

The other thing is that there's a lot of cringey content in this book. And the plot twists, while good plot-wise, are executed extremely poorly in the writing. And the ending was full of (in)conveniences and felt very rushed and clunky. Uncomfortable almost-sex jokes, a Sanderson staple. Proof that Sanderson is a one-trick pony with plot ideas and characters, since most of the locations, plot points, and characters - including the side characters - have carbon copies of themselves in multiple other Sanderson novels. Lots and lots and lots of not-like-other-girls, girl-on-girl hate, female fridging so intense it contradicts the lore, and feeble attempts at feminism that actually wind up becoming more sexism. Lots of super noticeable othering and stereotyping of the few characters of color. Ideas about the poor and working classes that border on poorly thought-out philosophies that essentially boil down to, the poor don't deserve to have anything handed to them because if they don't have anything, it means they're lazy and not trying hard enough. For all Elantris' enormous focus on politics and philosophy, there's zero acknowledgement of the systemic nature of oppression. A lot of "loving the (white) master" stuff with enslaved or "pet" races and nations. And just plain old boring protagonists.

Most of this is because Elantris is a product of its time, but I've seen most of these grievances repeated in even Sanderson's most recent works, just buried deeper or glossed over or ignored by his fandom more.

Hrathen is probably my favorite thing to come out of Elantris, but just like every other interesting secondary Sanderson villain, he dies in the end. At least we got to see evil proto Dalinar, though. I laughed incredibly loudly at the cliche throwaway SHE'LL NEVER KNOW THAT HE LOVED HER line toward the end. Sanderson, please. Just stop. Do not attempt. Don't threaten me with a good time you don't intend to give me, either.

I did guess the lore-based plot twist, which I'm proud of. Speaking of, I did like the runic magic system. It was interesting watching Raoden try and figure it out.

I thought I was going to like Karata as a character a lot, but she was used as a plot device that connected her to having children, and then she was never relevant again, only to be made to SEW instead of be the warrior she was at the beginning, and was the only Elantrian who didn't get to come back in the end, effectively fridging her. Nice.

I did enjoy the uncertainty around death, but the peace the pool brought. And I loved Hoid's chapter at the end where he jumps in and disappears. It was much better than his ending Stormlight appearances where he chats about the higher nature of art.

The romance was eh. Fine. Better than other Sanderson works. Still not great though.

The writing was so dry and wooden, especially in the moments where the writing needed to be at the top of its game. Plot twists and the ending wound up feeling weirdly rushed through and underwritten, even though this book is HUGE. There were also scenes where characters appeared out of thin air, other scenes where I seriously couldn't tell what was happening because of the writing.

I liked the survival horror aspect of living in Elantris. There were some worldbuilding bits that I just had to ignore in order to keep my belief suspended though.

I definitely liked Elantris more than I thought I would, and it's not my least-favorite of Sanderson works, but it's still long and dry and awkward in so many places, and it's frustrating to see just how much Sanderson recycles his ideas and characters into other books, as if he really only knows how to write one book. ...more "

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(page 389 of 638)
""I've noticed that those who turn away from a faith are often more hateful toward it than any outsider could be" Brandon and your parroted Sunday School logic don't piss me offfffff" — Nov 29, 2025 09:36PM

Mar 15, 2021 02:03PM · see review

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Andi’s Quotes

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

tags: identity

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“A true thing, poorly expressed, is a lie.”
― Stephen Fry

tags: destiny

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“Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dimlit halls of other places forms that never were and never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who never saw what could have been. In the black water with the sun shining at midnight, those fruit shall come ripe and in the darkness of that which is golden shall split open to reveal the revelation of the fatal softness in the earth. The shadows of the abyss are like the petals of a monstrous flower that shall blossom within the skull and expand the mind beyond what any man can bear, but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit—and the hand of the sinner shall rejoice, for there is no sin in shadow or in light that the seeds of the dead cannot forgive. And there shall be in the planting in the shadows a grace and a mercy from which shall blossom dark flowers, and their teeth shall devour and sustain and herald the passing of an age. That which dies shall still know life in death for all that decays is not forgotten and reanimated it shall walk the world in the bliss of not-knowing. And then there shall be a fire that knows the naming of you, and in the presence of the strangling fruit, its dark flame shall acquire every part of you that remains.”
― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation

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