Unpopular Opinion! This is ONE of My FAVORITE Sanderson Books.

[derekb.]

I definitely did sleep on Elantris for quite a while, but I ended up absolutely loving it. The characters, world, and magic are some of his best and I honestly don't think the criticisms about the "writing" in it have any ground to stand on. It certainly reads like early Sanderson (just in terms of how you can kind of see how he expands upon some of this book's strengths later in his career), but I can't be convinced that it "reads like a debut."

[NevsBookChannel]

Totally agree! Reading it right now. 100 pages to go and loving it

[Arman]

Also my first Brandalf book! Loved it !

[psionicsknight]

Actually, Elantris is not only my first "official" Elantris book, but I loved it when I read it! Sure, I do admit that the middle of the book does get slow, but as you said, the world, characters, and magic system (especially) are top-notch. To be honest, the AonDor is one of my favorite Sanderson magic systems, since I love systems that use language and geometric symbols to perform their power.

Plus, things like how Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath grew from Shu-Keseg were, to me, very realistic and how religions/ideologies grow in the real world. And while I was a bit annoyed at the idea in the book that it seemed some of the members of both the Korathi and Derethi faiths saw the Seons, and the AonDor as a whole, as blasphemous/worthy of distrust--as I have gotten very annoyed of fantasy stories where more monotheistic faiths as portrayed as, inherently, anti-magic just for being monotheistic--it was still an excellent novel and I'm honestly surprised it's considered one of Sanderson's "weakest" Cosmere entries.

[cynthiawiley]

I agree I read Elantris a couple of months ago, this was actually my fist Sanderson book I've read. I would love to see a sequel to Elantris. It seems like he left an opening for one.

[trashedx]

YES. Hrathen is one of the best characters he’s ever written, full-stop. The magic system isn’t that interesting and Raoden is boring but the worldbuilding and “curse” are well done.

[samm]

Elantra is fantastic. I love this one so much

[trinforeman]

Minus the info dumps, I do also love Elantris.

[Rolgar]

YES!! Finally! I get looked at quite often like I got a mark on my face for saying Elantris is a great Sanderson book. Waiting to get cast away myself sometimes.

[colleenclement]

Only book of his I've ever read. It's a great book. Great the characters and it stands on it's own.

[chrisrussell]

It has one of my favorite Cosmere villains.

[cybersketcher]

The Rithmatist doesn't get enough credit. Joel and Melody are great characters as far as I'm concerned.

[jasonvizcarra]

I enjoyed Elantris more than mistborn era 1

[thatsci-firogue]

I DNF'd it last year 😬 maybe i wrote it off too quickly