SFFaudio

Elantris
By Brandon Sanderson; Read by Jack Garrett
24 CDs – 27.5 hours – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published: 2008
ISBN: 9781436155977
Themes: / Fantasy / Epic Fantasy / Magic / Curse /

Ten years ago, the magic city of Elantris failed. What had once made the Elantrians god-like beings is now a curse, trapping citizens within the walls of the city, and within their own decaying skin — unable to die, not able to truly live.

Brandon Sanderson is a relatively new fantasy writer who has been tapped to finish Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Elantris is his his first published novel. It hit the shelves in 2005 and this unabridged audio version was published this year (2008).

Raoden is the crown prince of Arelon. He enjoyed every luxury until the fateful day when the Shaod took him. Unfortunate souls who were taken by the Shaod were cruelly exiled to the city of Elantris with a few scraps of food to take with them. Now ten years later, old Elantris is but a legend. The people of Arelon tell stories of how the very stones of its walls and buildings glowed with the magic the god-like Elantrians could produce.

Now Elantris is a place out of a horror movie. It is dark, grimy, and filled with living corpses. This is all that is left of Elantris and its Elantrians. Raoden is left to die in Elantris with no hope of a better existence, however he manages to find a purpose.

Jack Garrett, the narrator, was particularly skilled with characterization. I had easily distinguished Raoden from other characters throughout this whole story, it was quite easy to tell which character was speaking. This made the story very fluent and made it easy to understand. He made the scenes in the book very vivid. He told it in a way that made it desirable to me to listen to more.

Elantris ranks my top five by far. I recommend this audio book to teens as well as adults. Along with a great story is a great narrator, throughout this whole book I was able to almost visit Arelon, I could see it in my head so clearly it was amazing. I would be in the middle of an activity while listening to this book and I would get so caught up in it that I completely forgot what I was doing and why.

Posted by DanielsonKid, Age 14