Elantris
Cover of Elantris, Brandon Sanderson's first novel.
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| Author | Brandon Sanderson |
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| Illustrator | Jeffrey Creer (1st edition) Stephen de las Heras (1st edition) Isaac Stewart |
| Cover artist | Stephan Martinière |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
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Publication date
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April 21, 2005 (first edition, hardback) May 30, 2006 (first edition, paperback) October 6, 2015 (10th anniversary definitive edition) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) Print mass market paperback Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 496 pp (first edition, hardback) 656 pp (first edition, paperback) 590 pp (def. ed., hardback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) 0765350378 (first edition, paperback) 9780765383105 (def. ed., hardback) |
| OCLC | 57391959 |
| 813/.6 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3619.A533 E43 2005 |
Elantris is a stand-alone fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson. It was first published in April 2005 by Tor Books and is significant as Sanderson's first widely released book.
Elantris used to be a place of magic, and the Elantrians were gods in the eyes of people, able to heal people with a mere wave of the hand. But after a cataclysmic event, known as the "Reod", the inhabitants of the city became "cursed" and the city was sealed off from society. Anyone affected by the "Shaod", the random turning of a person into an Elantrian, is thrown into the city, to stay there for all eternity.
It is licensed for localized release in Russia, France, Germany, Thailand, Poland, Netherlands, Brazil and at least five other markets. The book gained generally positive reviews.
The book focuses on three principal characters whose stories intertwine. Much of the book occurs in groupings of three chapters, one for each of the three main characters.
These are central to the book's plot. They are the means by which the Elantrians perform magic. Many characters' names are variations on the Aons, as is customary in this fantasy world. The images of the many Aons can be found in the back of the book. Raoden rediscovers many of the Aons while in Elantris, preserved in scrolls that have not been consumed by the decay of the city. He learns to invoke the Aons, but finds they have lost their power, which is the ultimate cause of Elantris' collapse. Near the end of the book, Raoden discovers that the shapes of the Aons coincide with physical landmarks and natural features located around the country. A massive fissure in the earth that now cuts through the country 'altered' these landmarks, which in turn caused the Aons to lose their power. By 'reconstructing' the Aons to now incorporate the fissure in their design, Raoden restores the Aons' power. After realizing that Elantris and its surrounding cities are just one big Aon, he draws a giant line to represent the fissure, which restores Elantris and the Elantrians to their former glory.
Elantris was published by Tor Books in hardcover on April 21, 2005. Coinciding with the general release, the Science Fiction Book Club released a hardcover edition in May 2005. The Tor mass market paperback was released on May 30, 2006, and the ebook followed in April 2007. In October 2015, a "tenth anniversary author's definitive edition" was released in trade paperback and hardcover, containing "10,000 words of additional content".
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