I was interested in reading other books by Brandon Sanderson after reading volume one of Book 12 in the Wheel of Time. It took a while, but I finally sat down and read Elantris. Brandon Sanderson has done in this his debut, what many fantasy writers need to do - create a stand alone epic in one novel. This book is well written and portrays an interesting political and religious system, a broken magic system and great characters. While the book is more political than fantastical, the fantasy elements are present and tie the story together. I do find his writing similar to Robert Jordan's and at times this can be verbose and detailing things that don't necessarily need that much detail. 
 Positives: 
 Epic feeling fantasy work in one novel 
 Believable characters in believable situations 
 Well put together back story regarding the religious and political aspects 
 Negatives: 
 Probably 10,000 words too long 
 Some of the secondary characters not fully developed (only one novel)