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I love this book...


Asrael

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...but I feel like not many here do. I see lots of hype for Warbreaker which (though phenomenal) is not my favorite. So am I the only one? I love the Cosmere and I know this book isn't very Cosmere heavy, but its still just good. Hrathen is one of my favorite Sanderson characters and Raoden's optimism is genuinely inspiring to me and I love how tightly tied just about every scene is to the end of the book. This was my first Sanderson novel and it opened my eyes to how incredible climaxes could be. 

 

Tell me I'm not alone!

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I consider Elantris to be much better than Warbreaker (which I am not that fond of to be honest). The political parts of Elantris are more interesting, and I love Hrathens character a lot. Overall, it was really solid and entertaining, and I am excited to see more of Sel in the Elantris sequels.

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Elantris is not my favorite book nor is it my least favorite. I honestly have a really tough time picking my least favorite Cosmere book. My favorite Cosmere book is definitely currently Mistborn because it's finished and the ending was phenomenal. I have a feeling Stormlight Archive will end up being my absolute favorite in the long run though. My least favorite Sanderson book is Calamity. Trying to pick a least favorite Cosmere book however is like trying to pick my least favorite piece of a puzzle. I have honestly loved every single piece of Cosmere fiction I've read.

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On 10/7/2017 at 1:33 AM, Asrael said:

Tell me I'm not alone!

NOPE! =) This is one of my favorites, though like @The Invested Beard, it's hard to pick a favorite in Brandon's canon of awesome.

I think it's one of the most cosmere-relevant stories that we just don't fully understand yet.  A lot happened on Sel, I think a lot continues to happen on Sel, and I think that the more we learn about these stories, the more we'll be able to look at Elantris in a completely different light (i.e. Jaddeth, Wyrn, Shu-Keseg/Shu-Dereth/Shu-Korath, skaze, and so on).

That's why I love this book so much.  I bursts at the seams with "this will all make sense and be relevant once we know more," so Brandon's first book will only become more interesting as his cosmere unfolds!

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Just now, VirtuousTraveller said:

NOPE! =) This is one of my favorites, though like @The Invested Beard, it's hard to pick a favorite in Brandon's canon of awesome.

I think it's one of the most cosmere-relevant stories that we just don't fully understand yet.  A lot happened on Sel, I think a lot continues to happen on Sel, and I think that the more we learn about these stories, the more we'll be able to look at Elantris in a completely different light (i.e. Jaddeth, Wyrn, Shu-Keseg/Shu-Dereth/Shu-Korath, skaze, and so on).

That's why I love this book so much.  I bursts at the seams with "this will all make sense and be relevant once we know more," so Brandon's first book will only become more interesting as his cosmere unfolds!

This is definitely one of the reasons I like Elantris so much. Just because we don't understand it right now doesn't mean there isn't TONS of cosmere important stuff going on here. Plus it is one of the earliest chronological cosmere stories so there are some interesting implications as to things like Hoid's appearance there (especially in the 10th anniversary edition).

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I'm one of the ones that Elantris is at the bottom of my list of Cosmere favorites. TES is actually one of my favorites though. Mistborn was the first thing I read by Brandon and the thing that really stood out to me was the magic system. Same for Warbreaker and it has the added advantage of a talking sword.  I just couldn't get into the magic in Elantris. The characters were good I'll give you that. It also seems really SLOW compared to Mistborn. I also think Brandon became a much better writer after Elantris and that probably has something to do with it. That being said I do agree that the more we learn about Sel the more interesting it will get. I'm still however hoping for the Warbreaker sequel first.  

 

Non-Cosmere I loved Steelheart and hated Calamity. It is actually the only book of Brandon's I do not like and it pains me because of how much I liked the series. 

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Elantris convinced me that Wheel of Time was in good hands.  A friend of mine loaned it to me after Jordan's estate announced Brandon would be taking over WoT and finishing it out to give me a feel for him as a writer.  However...it's just not my favorite.  It has pieces I like, mind you.  I just think in the ten years or so since it came out, Brandon has made huge leaps in his skill as a writer, so that Elantris pales by comparison with, for example, Stormlight or the Arcanum Unbounded stuff.

I've yet to read everything in the Sanderson queue because of time/money/availability reasons but I'll get there.

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I'm glad that there are other people who like/love Elantris. Raoden is in my top ten list of favorite Cosmere characters, Hrathen is such an interesting person, and while she is no Vin, Serene is still very well written. The magic system is cool, the villains are extremely creepy and the story and message is told in an engaging way. Also, the ending of the tenth anniversary edition with Hoid; just imagine how awesome that would be to see on the big or small screen to kick off a cinematic Comsere.

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My downside to Elantris is that I enjoy reading about all the workings of magic systems, and just when you get to see the full potential of Aons, the story ends. Most of the book was spent trying to fix the drawing of the base Aon, and when that was finally figured out, we got to see very little use of the magic. The teleportation scene was the biggest use of it. I think I would enjoy reading a sequel at some point that features Elantrians using all sorts of magic. 

Brandon normally does a great job of balancing an interesting story and highlighting action scenes based on the magic throughout. This book starts with an interesting story, but I feel the middle chapters begin dragging on for a bit because there isn't enough action going on until the last part of the book. 

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