Fantasy Advent Day 11: Brandon Sanderson's Elantris

These days, you can find dozens of fantasy and sci-fi books by Brandon Sanderson. He finished the Wheel of Time series at the request of Robert Jordan's widow. He wrote the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians books. You might be wondering why everyone is talking about the Stomrlight Archives. Back in the day, Tor publlished a stand-alone novel with an endorsement by acclaimed author Orson Scott Card. For a debut novel, tis was something that caught many fantasy readers' attention, but I picked up a copy for myself because the author was a teaching assistant for my friend's creative writing class and that was pretty cool.

The fallen god and the scheming bride

Within paragraphs of the first chapter opening, the world is turned upside down, but the first sentence remarks that "Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity." By the end of page two, Raoden looks in the mirror to see "a stranger's reflection" and "the mirrored face was covered with sickly black patches, like dark bruises." Like too many of Arelon, he is affected with "The Shaod" and he is immediately locked away in the city of Elantris, where "ten years ago, the Shaod would have made Raoden a god[, but] now, instead of making people into silver-skinned deities, it changed them into sickly monstrosities."

The crown prince is immortal, but at a cost. He bears any injury, any wound forever. He cannot die, but he can decline forever. It reminds me of the introduction to T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, where he speaks of a person given eternal life, but not eternal youth. When asked for their heart's desire, the Sybil answers, "I wish to die." We find out in time that there are vicious gangs in the city of the undead and that everyone has something they would give anything to return to. Raoden balks at the lack of agency that the people in the city have.

Meanwhile, Raoden's bride-by-treaty arrives to find that she has become a widow and is legally still a part of the kingdom. Sarene is told noting true about Raoden's "death." She finds ways to both fit in to the societya nd to become a thorn in her father-in-law's side. She clashes with a religious zealot who is trying to save the kingdom from damnation when they really don't need someone reforming their society. She eventually resolves to be of service to the people of Elantris and that's when things get really complicated.

I'll leave it there where the plot is concerned, but this book is a masterclass on worldbuilding and well worth the read no matter if you're a newcomer to Sanderson's work or are taking a break before reading his next 1000-page book.