ELANTRIS

ELANTRIS : Brandon Sanderson : TOR : Fantasy : 492 p.

As fantasy novels go this one is remarkable. The setting and situation are imaginative. The characters are likeable and interesting. Ten years before the story opens Elantris was a city where the inhabitants were nearly gods due to their practice of a form of magic. Periodically someone in the surrounding kingdom would be transformed into an “Elantrian”. All this changed abruptly and inexplicably ten years before. Now the city of Elantris is something like a ghetto. The Elantrians are still there but they no longer glow gloriously—their skin is covered with splotches. This is referred to as the Shaod.

Elantrians no longer heal; any cut, abrasion, or bruise is permanent—as is the accompanying pain. Eventually they go mad and descend into a state where they are oblivious to everything around them. They are locked up in the city of Elantris to fend for themselves. Anyone now transformed into an Elantrian is ceremonially washed and then escorted into Elantris with enough food to last less than a day.

The main characters are Raoden, the prince of Arelon and Sarene, a princess from a neighboring kingdom. They haven’t met, yet they are to be married—that is until Raoden falls victim to the Shaod just prior to Sarene’s arrival. Upon her arrival she is told that Raoden has died (all the Elantrians are considered “dead”—they are trapped in a kind of living death). A third important character is Hrathen who has come to Arelon to convert the entire population to Shu Dereth, a religious sect that is rising in power.

Most interesting throughout the book are the Aons; a form of writing associated with the power that was once manifest throughout Elantris.

A most interesting and imaginative fantasy. There is no hint that this is the beginning of a series, as so many fantasy novels are—the story is complete and self-contained.

SML