Garrison Kelly > Recent Status Updates

Holy fucking shit...I'm so glad I had the energy to read today. This is what I've been missing the entire time I've been too tired to carry on. Hrathen was "miraculously" cured from his black slime disease, Raoden is feeling a painful light force from within that will either cure him or kill him, and Serene...she's the latest to feel the Elantran plague...

Guess what, everyone? I'm back from the dead tonight! Two months of resting, building Lego sets, and drawing cartoons has all led to this: a return to reading after a long layoff. I hope this newfound energy will stay with me for a while.

Guys...it's all crashing down. Sarene found out that Raoden (better known as "Spirit") was hoarding food from rival gangs. This revelation came in the middle of a battle between Ioden's soldiers and Elantran gangsters, where the soldiers got the better of the exchange. Raoden unknowingly created a monarchy in an attempt to bring peace to Elantris. Now he's a tyrant and Sarene hates his guts. My heart is broken...

Hrathen and Raoden both have something in common: they're questioning their own influence after the events of the last few days. Hrathen's faithful flock is gravitating towards the nutty Dilaf and Raoden's "gang" would rather take gifts from Sarene than continue working on New Elantris. Part of me thinks that Sarene genuinely doesn't know she's unintentionally messing things up. There's a message in there somewhere.

Even open-minded princesses like Sarene aren't immune to propaganda. Nobody is. She pre-judged the Elantrans based on stories about their barbarism and random acts of violence. But when she actually talked to these people, she began to soften her stance on them. They weren't savages. They were hungry people desperate for an end to their suffering. The more you get to know someone, the less likely you are to judge.

I'm trying to wrap my head around Raoden objecting to Sarene giving free food to the people of Elantris. I know Elantrans don't eat because they're already dead, so at best it would be a temporary distraction from the constant pain. But why do distractions have to be a bad thing? Is Raoden worried that it'll bring false hope that'll eventually lead to disappointment when the food stops coming? I don't know, man...

More politicking and more chess moves from Hrathen as he gets a little closer to indoctrinating a new flock every day. Keeping Dilaf and his nutty zeal at arm's length, giving a two bags of gold to ignorant beggars, and getting into a verbal fracas with a priest who thinks Hrathen is too logical and not faithful enough in his sermons. It's a slow process, but Hrathen is sticking to his plan and not budging.

You know how I always say that Raoden would make an awesome president? The same could be said for Sarene. In fact, she could steamroll Donald Trump in any election. She makes deals that actually mean something, she shows respect to minorities, and she still won't take shit from hoity-toity men who don't deserve her surrender. Guys...I think I'm in love...

Some madmen tried to assassinate Raoden, but the soldiers under his command fought them off without losing one of their own. Raoden still insists that he can get through to the more aggressive citizens of Elantris and that violence shouldn't be the one size fits all solution going forward. Is he too optimistic or is there credence to what he's saying? You be the judge.

I have to be honest with you guys. I never thought a lifelong Mormon like Brandon Sanderson would say the quiet part out loud when it comes to how religious figures cultivate a sense of hate and prejudice among their flock. Sanderson has probably seen this happen many times growing up and used that as inspiration for Hrathen, the ultimate propagandist.

Exactly a week after our presidential election in the US, I read a chapter of Elantris told through Sarene's point of view. She too has to contemplate a future where surrender or death are the only options. The important thing for her to remember is to keep her revolutionary passion alive, even though it looks like cracks are forming in her spirit. Intelligence and wit are not vices. They're virtues.

Hrathen and Raoden could not be more different in the way they motivate the people around them. Hrathen is a one-man lobbying group who uses boodles and bullshit to convince his followers to do his dirty work. Raoden doesn't need money or brainwashing techniques. He gives his people so much more than that: a reason to live. Sounds very familiar if you've followed American politics for any period of time.

It's been ages since I cracked this book open again. I'm so grateful to have at least some of my spoons back. I've cut down on consuming political content and doom-scrolling and I'm thankful for the results so far. Elantris, however, is the only political content I'll be consuming for a while. A power struggle between Sarene and Hrathen? Give me more!

Raoden's leadership abilities are second to none. He's clever with his words, he keeps his promises, and he gives hope that's actually warranted to everyone around him. I'd love to have him as our president. Hrathen, on the other hand, is still a wingnut, but he's a calm and collected wingnut compared to his understudy, who's wide-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Sarene is a breath of fresh air in the company of old men who talk like empty politicians and sexist country clubbers. I'm seriously rooting for her to reunite with Raoden, though the circumstances of their separation make that pretty doubtful, if you catch my drift.

Gangs form in Elantris the same way they do in real life: lack of resources, lack of opportunities, too much poverty, and no fucking hope left. Raoden is in fact forming a gang, but that's the quiet part of the story. Shh, don't tell.

I'm loving the anti-capitalist vibes I'm getting from reading this. Also, seeing Hrathen get embarrassed in front of an Elantran crowd put some pep in my step.

"Hate will unite people more than devotion."

You hear that? That's Hrathen saying the quiet part out loud...but only within earshot of his own servant.

Given how many times I accidently bump into furniture on any day of the week, I'm not sure I'd survive in a place in Elantris. Clumsiness is your enemy here. A stubbed toe could mean years of madness and pain.

Brandon Sanderson has a lot of hype around his novels. I'm only 29 pages in and so far it's living up to that hype. We've got a world of dead bodies juxtaposed with the real world, where Princess Sarene was supposed to marry one of those corpses before he became...well...a corpse. I do love some good intrigue.

His mother dying of cancer, his subsequent alcoholism, and his inability to make the 3MB gimmick credible led to Drew's downward spiral and eventual WWE release. So what does he do? Reinvent himself on the British wrestling scene, that's what. Giving up ain't an option.

There's a lot of catty shit that goes on backstage in WWE. Drew was getting the red carpet treatment and a bunch of older wrestlers were so jealous of him that they sabotaged his push with rumor-spreading. I'd expect that sort of thing in high school, but not in a work environment with mature adults.

I may have been a little too hard on the ghostwriter for the "show don't tell" comment in my last update. The writing style is fine the way it is, in that regard. Maybe I'm just a paranoid reader? I don't know.

Like a lot of ghostwritten WWE memoirs, this one's got a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. Should I be forgiving this time around? I'm leaning towards a yes, but we'll see how things change as I keep reading.

It sucks badly that Drew McIntyre's big Wrestlemania moment happened in an empty warehouse instead of an arena with a gazillion fans cheering him on. COVID-19 fucked everything up, for sure. I just hope his childhood interest in conspiracy theories didn't bleed over into the pandemic and all the conspiracies that came along with it. UFO's are one thing, but the virus was real.

Every death that takes place in this book is overshadowed by the kindness and love of the precious animal babies. The two African dogs, Bozo and Skippy, were the greatest examples of this. They were shown kindness and they repaid it by protecting their healer from rabid hyenas.

The story about Beau, the German Shepherd who detected booby traps in Vietnam, was one of the more prominent stories in my opinion. Even during times of war, especially during one of the most brutal wars in history, little sparks of humanity give me hope.

Pets are more than just fluffy friends. They're healers. They're the linchpins of our mental and physical health. Give yours extra pettings tonight.

These stories are getting more and more heartbreaking as the reading journey goes by. The one about Cheyenne the elderly Pointer comforting a cranky father during his final days was especially touching.

I'm seeing a lot of three-dimensional character work in these nonfiction stories, especially the one about Cory, who grew bitter about not being able to play baseball anymore after losing his leg in an accident. We like well-rounded characters.