Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson, is one of those books that I started, read a few chapters, then put down, only to pick up again recently. I probably put books down too quickly when they don’t grab me, but then there are so many books.

The city of Elantris was once a magical city, inhabited by people with near godlike powers. Then, ten years ago, the magic vanished, leaving the city crumbling and those who survived the riots that followed its fall losing their minds to the pain of their accumulated injuries. They are stuck in a half life where they don’t have to eat and where pretty much nothing kills them but where they never heal. The inhabitants of Elantris always spontaneously appeared among the population, transforming overnight from ordinary people to demigods. Now, though, when they are transformed they become the same half dead men and women that Elantrians have become and are cast into the rotting city.

The book follows, for the most part, three characters: Raoden, the Crown Prince, who awakens to find himself transformed into an Elantrian and who is thrown into the ruins of Elantris, with its gangs of desperate, feral people; Sarene, a princess who was travelling to marry Raoden, but who finds herself supposedly a widow before she is even married; and Hrathen, a high priest of a fanatical religion sent to convert the country and given only three months to do it. If he can’t, the country will be invaded and the population slaughtered by the armies of his religion.

Elantris was Brandon Sanderson’s first novel, and he is a more mature and accomplished storyteller now. Nonetheless, this is an impressive debut. It is complex, satisfying, and told with a lightness and energy that many other fantasy writers would envy. Despite a few missteps, this is a very satisfying read.

You can see Sanderson developing themes and character types that he will return to in his later work, particularly in his absurdly epic Stormlight Archive series. For example, there are echoes of Raoden in the Stormlight Archive’s Kaladin. Raoden starts as a prince, falls to less than a beggar, and builds a new, loyal group from the dispirited dregs of Elantris. Kaladin begins as a doctor’s son and leader of an elite army squad, becomes a slave, and then forges a new, loyal group from the lowest of low slaves sent on suicide runs for the army. Sarene is a young woman heading to a foreign land in order to forge a political alliance through marriage to protect her country and who becomes a pivotal figure in her new country struggles. Shallan from the Stormlight Archive leaves her family to form a political alliance through marriage to save her family and, again, becomes a pivotal figure in her new country. Galladon, Raoden’s new friend and right-hand man in Elantris, certainly shares some DNA with the Stormlight Archive’s Rock. This is not to say that the characters are the same. Raoden doesn’t share Kaladin’s crippling depression, for example. But it is interesting to see how the character types have developed in Sanderson’s writing.

As I said, this is not flawless. At least one character, for example, is introduced too late on and then doesn’t really do anything, and one of the revelations near the end seems rather pointless. But it is highly entertaining, imaginative, and has enough originality to stand out from the bulk of debuts.

It also shows that I shouldn’t give up so quickly on books.

4 stars. A very impressive debut, by an author who has become one of the major stars of fantasy.