Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Elantris is a rich, well-plotted, wonderful fantasy. The characters are well-developed, the history of the nations and religions and characters are revealed in piecemeal throughout the book, encouraging the reader to keep reading! Like most good fantasy, it is not a fast read (at least it wasn't for me) but it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Sarene is a princess from across the sea, sent to marry the prince of Arelon, Raoden. She is 25 and edging on spinsterhood in her own country and in her own mind and feels the marriage with Raoden will not only do good for her country of Teod, but is her last chance at marriage. She arrives unexpectedly a week before the wedding in order to finally meet her future husband in person only to discover on arrival that he has died. The marriage contract was written in such a way, however, that even if one of the parites died before the wedding, the pair is considered married. So Sarene is now a widow without actually having gone through a wedding. Fortunately her uncle Kiin, his wife and children are in Kae, so she has the comfort of some family, since King Iaoden (Raoden's father) has so little patience with women in general.
Raoden is not actually dead, but has suffered the Shaod, or has been cursed with a disease that strikes the Arelish people--their hearts have stopped beating but their minds won't die. Like all people who have the Shaod, Raoden has been thrown into Elantris, the once great city that was the center of Arelon. Elantris once housed what the people called gods, people who could do magic, feed people without growing food, could heal with magic. Mysteriously 10 years ago the Elantrians began to be cursed and with the faltering of the gods of Elantris, Ioaden and the merchants seized control of Arelon.
Third in our story is Hrathen, a Derethi priest who has been sent to convert the people of Arelon to the Derethi religion within three months or Wyrn (head of the Derethi religion and king of the Derethi empire) will simply send armies to Arelon to take it by force. Hrathen is a very logical and practical man, not above bribing to get what he wants.
These three characters (and so many more!) challenge each other, make discoveries about themselves, and fight to save (in each person's opinion) Arelon and Elantris. A rich rewarding read, Elantris is a fantastic story with excellent world building, and wonderfully created characters.
Sarene is a princess from across the sea, sent to marry the prince of Arelon, Raoden. She is 25 and edging on spinsterhood in her own country and in her own mind and feels the marriage with Raoden will not only do good for her country of Teod, but is her last chance at marriage. She arrives unexpectedly a week before the wedding in order to finally meet her future husband in person only to discover on arrival that he has died. The marriage contract was written in such a way, however, that even if one of the parites died before the wedding, the pair is considered married. So Sarene is now a widow without actually having gone through a wedding. Fortunately her uncle Kiin, his wife and children are in Kae, so she has the comfort of some family, since King Iaoden (Raoden's father) has so little patience with women in general.
Raoden is not actually dead, but has suffered the Shaod, or has been cursed with a disease that strikes the Arelish people--their hearts have stopped beating but their minds won't die. Like all people who have the Shaod, Raoden has been thrown into Elantris, the once great city that was the center of Arelon. Elantris once housed what the people called gods, people who could do magic, feed people without growing food, could heal with magic. Mysteriously 10 years ago the Elantrians began to be cursed and with the faltering of the gods of Elantris, Ioaden and the merchants seized control of Arelon.
Third in our story is Hrathen, a Derethi priest who has been sent to convert the people of Arelon to the Derethi religion within three months or Wyrn (head of the Derethi religion and king of the Derethi empire) will simply send armies to Arelon to take it by force. Hrathen is a very logical and practical man, not above bribing to get what he wants.
These three characters (and so many more!) challenge each other, make discoveries about themselves, and fight to save (in each person's opinion) Arelon and Elantris. A rich rewarding read, Elantris is a fantastic story with excellent world building, and wonderfully created characters.
Labels: fantasy, female characters
posted by austentatious at 12:48 PM
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