| $@%&! level: None "Bedroom" level: Low (Occasionally the subject is mentioned briefly) Violence level: Medium-High (Plenty of violence, but not graphically described) Back Cover: “Elantris was the city of the gods. What power could have cursed it? Raoden, prince of Arelon, was loved by all, including the princess he'd never met. Where has he gone? Hrathen, high priest of Fjordell, will convert the people of Arelon or kill them. How will he decide? Sarene, princess of Teod, was a widow before she was ever married. Who can stand against her?” |
The first thing you've got to understand about Elantris is that it's a story driven by a mystery. Elantris was once a city full of god-like magic users, and now it's a city full of—basically—zombies, and no one knows why. All of this is further complicated by political maneuvering in one of the most completely useless systems of government I've seen in a good long while. There's also the threat of religious war and genocide looming in the background. And, of course, the love story. The princess and the zombie, who manages to be surprisingly attractive, even with the gray skin and no hair. His never-ending optimism is contagious, and not just to his fellow fictional characters. And when all that is finally pretty much sorted out, then you get the action-adventure battle sequences at the climax.
What impressed me the most was just how close to the edge Brandon Sanderson managed to go. Oh, all good authors get their characters into sticky situations. That's so they can have a fun time watching them get out again. But I've never before seen an author come so close to complete and utter ruin for his protagonists, and then manage to somehow pull them out of the fire at the last—not even the last second—the last millisecond. This one definitely goes onto my (lengthy) list of favorites.