Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

[prelude2moonlight]

WOW! It is really difficult to find FRESH fantasy fiction! All too often I pick up a book and within the first two/three chapters I find I'm having Tolkien or Jordan or any other Saga worthy flashbacks. Sanderson has a great way of not only getting into each character's heads and hearts but also of putting his characters into perspective in the overall plot. There aren't what I would call surprises, you know who is "good" and who is "evil" but I love that he has enough gray to really make you understand the character's logic- it's realistic and that truth makes you keep turning the pages. The world is frankly not one I'd enjoy living in, but I guess the more challenging the world the more it needs heroes to rise up... not unlike the first book of Sanderson's new series The Way of Kings.
If you are looking for a new fantasy Author Brandon Sanderson is on a roll.

-prelude2moonlight

[braver]

I loved this book! I was introduced to Sanderson after he finished The Wheel of Time. I picked up the Mistborn trilogy first and was incredibly impressed. But it was Elantris that made it obvious why he was the one chosen to finish Robert Jordan's work - fabulous novel, an absolute must-read for sci-fi lovers!

[davidh219]

Elantris is possibly my favorite Sanderson novel. There are a lot of things about it where you can tell it was his first published novel, he's not as experienced as a writer, it doesn't have that wow factor that Mistborn has, the magic system isn't up to his usual standard, but there's just something about it. It has a quietness and slowness to it that most of his later books don't.