Elantris

Brandon Sanderson's first publish novel, Elantris, starts out a little slow. It was enjoyable, it just took me a while to really get into it and become invested in the characters. But it picks up speed admirably. I hit a point where I didn't want to continue reading so much as instantly ingest the final 150 pages so I wouldn't have to live in suspense anymore. I started carrying the book with me everywhere, sneaking extra paragraphs on my way to the kitchen or while I was waiting for data to load.

 Elantris was the city of the gods until suddenly it wasn't. Ten years before the book starts, the city becomes cursed and the god-like beings who inhabit it go from all-powerful to destitute essentially overnight. The city used to provide food, clothing, medicine, etc for all the people in the country of Arelon, and once the power disappears, the country is forced to figure out how to support and defend itself.

The book focuses on three characters. Raoden is the prince of Arelon, until he wakes up cursed one morning and is thrown into Elantris with the rest of the forgotten gods. His bride-to-be, Sarene, was traveling to their wedding when this happens, and when arrives she discovers herself a widow, bound by the marriage contract which also established a union between her native country and Arelon. And Hrathen is a priest from a dogmatic, imperialistic country that has decided the time has come to convert and conquer the inhabitants of Arelon.

The intersecting narratives provide for great view points about the situation. Raoden tries to unravel the mystery of what happened to Arelon, trying to restore the city while remaining ignorant of the larger politics at play. Meanwhile, Sarene and Hrathen go head to head in a political battle for the future of Arelon. They're evenly matched in both intellect and experience, and a lot of the twists and turns in the book come from one of them getting a step ahead of the other.

Sanderson is a master of doling out information at exactly the right pace. He keeps you interested while he keeps you guessing. He provides enough clues that you can piece things together yourself and figure out some answers. But mostly he keeps you so entertained that you don't want to stop long enough to piece together the mystery. One of my favorite things about him, and this was true in the Mistborn series as well, is that these clues aren't just in the text. The supplemental material in the appendix also manages the balance of being vague, yet informative. Moreso than in other books, I was constantly flipping around to try and piece things together. Up until the plot took off and I could barely spare the time to turn pages, that is.

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