A good, solid read. Liked it. 
 This is one of those books where I like to play "Spot the Mormon themes". As a marginally earlier work, they appear a lot more apparent to me than later works like Words of Radiance. (view spoiler)[There are the two male heroes who are humans who have become gods and the two tough women who exhibit grit and determination. (hide spoiler)]. Surprisingly for such a traditional structure though, there's quite a bit of open minded thought about what a religion is and what a god is. 
 There's also a crazy talking sword. Who cannot love a crazy talking sword. 
 The book doesn't feel as well put together or refined as newer volumes but it shows a lot of the creativity, spark, imagination, and promise that Sanderson brought home to later books. 
 Yes, I still loathe Elantris but I'm sure that's because the book is really gross and not because it's a bad book. 
 Off to read Cowboy Mistborn!