Elantris (book)

Elantris
Publisher	Tor books
ISBN	0-7653-1177-1

Template:Redirect Elantris is a stand-alone fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, published in April 2005 by Tor Books.

Summary

See also chapter by chapter summary of Elantris.

Part One: The Shadow of Elantris

The events of Elantris take place predominantly in the country of Arelon from three separate points of view: Prince Raoden, Princess Sarene and Gyorn Hrathen. Raoden is the crown prince of Arelon and is first in line to inherit the throne from his father, King Iadon. He is engaged to Princess Sarene of neighbouring Teod with the hope that their marriage will strengthen ties between their countries in the face of external aggression from the Fjorden Empire where Hrathen hails from.

Raoden wakes up one day to find that he has been taken by the Shaod. He is thrown into the city of Elantris where he befriends Galladon, a fellow Elantrian originally from Duladen. Galladen describes the terrible lives than Elantrians live but Raoden believes that there must be a better way. He starts a new, more optimistic, society to help newcomers to Elantris. In the process he converts Karata and Taan, two Elantrian gang leaders to his cause. The third gang leader, Shaor, proves to be more difficult and his men’s constant attacks are barely held off by the New Elantrians.

Meanwhile Sarene arrives in Arelon to find the country in mourning for Prince Raoden. Under the conditions of their wedding contract, she must stay in Arelon but is suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his death. With no husband, Sarene throws herself into Arelish political life only to find King Iadon expects her to stay out of such matters. Sarene quickly allies herself to a group of nobles, including her uncle Kiin, who are dissatisfied with the kings leadership. Together they scheme to overthrow him.

At the same time, Hrathen begins his campaign to convert the population of Arelon to the Derethi religion. His propaganda involves speeches persuading the Arelenes to hate Elantris in the hope of turning them against Shu-Korath, as well as more discrete meetings with the nobility. Hrathen singles out Telrii, a greedy but influential noble, to try and place on the throne thinking him to be a Derethi sympathiser. However, Hrathen’s plans are often stalled by Dilaf, his overly zealous odiv, who seems to oppose him at every turn.

Sensing that Hrathen is a danger to Arelon, Sarene also attempts to disturb his schemes. In a change of previous plans, Sarene stabalises Iadon’s rule fearing that Telrii would be even more incompetent as a ruler. Additionally, she enters Elantris with food to show the rest of Arelon that the Elantrians are mostly harmless, not realising she is disrupting Raoden’s plans for New Elantris in the process.

With his plans falling apart, Hrathen has to take drastic action and drinks a potion that imitates the effects of the shaod.

Part Two: The Call of Elantris

After a lot of thought, Raoden eventually convinces Shaor’s gang to join New Elantris. He also finds a mysterious pool where Elantrians can go to die permanently. Over a number of days, the New Elantrians observe Hrathen being locked into Elantris, being “healed” of the shaod and subsequently released.

Outside Elantris Sarene, noticing strange behaviour from Iadon, follows him when he disappears early from a ball. She is horrified to find Iadon ritually sacrificing his palace staff in worship of the Jesker Mysteries. He is arrested but hangs himself in jail.

Claiming his recovery from the shaod was due to his devotion to Shu-Dereth, Hrathen regains the upper hand over Dilaf. He is also pleased at the death of Iadon as this gives Telrii a clear path to the throne. Realising this, Sarene plans to marry Duke Roial because, together, they have a more legitimate claim to the throne than Telrii does. However, on the day of the wedding, Sarene is struck by the shaod though in reality, it is another dose of Hrathen’s potion. Without Sarene, Roial’s claim to the throne vanishes and Telrii is crowned king of Arelon.

Once in Elantris, Sarene spends a lot of time with Raoden though she does not realise it is him. Together, they manage to work out what is wrong with AonDor which has not worked for the past ten years. However, even with the addition of the chasm line to the Aons, AonDor does not seem as strong as it should.

Sarene rapidly heals from the shaod, as Hrathen did, and reunites with Roial, Kiin and the rest of the nobles. They decide to assassinate Telrii for the good of the country when one of their number betrays them. Telrii, with a number of guards, turns up to their meeting and orders Roial killed. Later in the evening, Eondel kills Telrii in revenge leaving Hrathen’s plans in ruins once again.

Magic System

• AonDor
• ChayShan
• Dakhor based, Dominion powered^[disputed].

Publication

• ELANTRIS (Tor, Spring 2005)
• Audio rights (unabridged) to Recorded Books
• Audio rights (dramatic abridgment) to Graphic Audio
• UK book club rights to BCA
• Russian rights to Azbooka
• German rights to Heyne
• Japanese rights to Hayakawa
• French rights to Calmann-Lévy
• Dutch rights to De Boekerij
• Spanish rights to Ediciones B
• Spanish book club rights to Circulo de Lectores
• Thai rights to ARIP
• Turkish rights to Arkadas
• Czech rights to Talpress
• Hungarian rights to Delta Vision
• Polish rights to Mag
• Chinese rights (Complex) to Fantasy Foundation
• Chinese rights (simplified) to Shanghai Wanyu
• Romanian rights to Tritonic
• Hebrew rights to Silver Stars
• UK rights to Gollancz
• Bulgarian rights to Bard

Awards

• Romantic Times Award, Best Epic Fantasy
• Selected as Barnes & Noble Explorations’ #1 Editor’s Pick.
• SF Book Club selection