So many books, so little time

I had never read a fantasy book before because most of them were either a series of books or were catering to kids. I searched for some standalone fantasy novels and that's when I stumbled upon Elantris.

I haven't read any of Sanderson's other works but I can say he is a great/engaging writer. It took probably two pages to get me involved and it was smooth sailing. This is also one of the most consistent books I've read - the flow of story was smooth without major highs and lows. While we may expect a story with a deep lore and tons of characters, Elantris thrives in its simplicity. It doesn't complicate things and tries to make the narrative as simple as possible. While I didn't mind this simplicity, one will for sure wish the lore had been explored more.

The book is a great read but has its own flaws including the one I have stated above - the lore is unexplored and unexplained. This also ties up with all the loose ends at the end of the book. I just came to know that Sanderson has been working on a sequel and hopefully it answers the question as there are many.

Another issue I had was pacing. I read this in a kindle so I don't know about the page number but the third part, which comes almost after 85% of the book, is very rushed. Things happen all of a sudden. The well structured narrative goes for a toss and acts like a camera panning from one place to another in a movie to show the chaos. While it may look good visually, it is not as good in text. The book could have been another 50-100 pages long with better build up and explanation which would have made it better. But maybe the answers are waiting in part 2.

Overall a solid book. Doesn't have a complex world building like that of LOTR but still quite entertaining.