In anticipation of tGS, I decided to read some of Sanderson's work to prepare for the switch in authorness. Well, for all of you that haven't read any of Sanderson's books, you can relax. Elantris was great. I really liked it. With complexity and depth to rival Wheel of Time, great characters and amazing plot twists, this probably was the best book I've read since tGH. (It was my favorite) So you should probably read it. It's also kind of scary how similar Sanderson's voice is to RJ's, so I'm really exicited for The Gathering Storm.

Anyway, the story of the book is based on three characters, Raoden Prince of Arelon, Sarene, Princess of Teod and wife of Raoden before she ever knew him, and Hrathen, Gyorn of Fjorden, basically a high preist. It alternates chapters, Raoden, Sarene, and Hrathen, always in that order. At first I thought that might not work that well, I didn't like when they did almost the same thing in Dune: House Harkonnen. However it worked really well for the book. I think one reason it worked here is that they were all so interconnected, where say Abulurd Rabban on Lankiveil was totally unrelated to Duke Leto on Caladan. But Hrathen and Sarene had an intense rivallry, that added a lot to the books. However it worked, it definitely did.

The world has complexity that I once though reserved for LoTR and WoT. There is Teod, a small island nation to the north that speaks Aonic and has a great navy. They are strongly related to Arelon. There is the Fjordell empire, the stronghold of the religion Shu-Dereth and its hand on the world. They are, at the time of the book, on a righteous quest to convert and conquer the heathen nations. They have already shattered the Duladel Republic, a once strong nation of Shu-Korath, now conquered in a bloody rebellion against the republican class. Then there is Arelon, a nation genetically similar to Teod, but a nation just waiting to fall to the warrior monks of Fjorden. After the fall of Elantris, the merchant's guild took power, basing one's ability to rule on one's monetary wealth. The nation itself is falling apart, plunging into fuedilism whilst desperately struggling against the missionaries of Shu-Dereth.

And then there is Elantris. A once amazing city that glowed in the dark with Arcane energy. The Elantrians had the most powerful magics in the world, the AonDor. Elantrians became what they were by the Shaod, or transformation in Aonic, and it came randomly upon the masses of Arelon. Anyone could become an Elantrian, it created equality among the normal people. There were Elantrians and normal people, and all the normal people were equal.

But the Elantrians thought themselves gods. But not even they could understand what happened next. The Reod, the destruction, came upon Elantris. Their magic failed, and so did Elantris. It was suddenly covered in slime. The people, instead of becoming silvery skinned gods, becamed dark, blemished skinned failures. Their bodies ceased to heal. If one got a scratch, its pain would plague them forever. Elantris's streets were lined with the Hoed, people that had succumbed to the pain. And still the Shaod took people.

And Prince Raoden has become an Elantrian.