Elantris being Brandon's first published book, I didn't expect much from it, even more so because I started to read Elantris right after finishing Words of Radiance, where every single sentence is a small work of art in a bigger masterpiece. 
 And I had to actually force myself to continue reading the book for around 14 chapters. 
 Then it happened, the world drew me in, absorbed me, the immersion came to life and the riddle needed to be solved. 
 And I could not put the book down anymore... 
 "The Shaod, it was called. The Transformation... When it came, the fortunate person's life ended and began anew; he would discard his old, mundane existence and move to Elantris. Elantris, where he could live in bliss, rule in wisdom, and be worshiped for eternity. Eternity ended ten years ago." 
 10 years ago the home of gods, inhabitated by people holding divine powers, it is now a quarantine 
 for walking corpses, people affected by the so called "Shaod", whose souls still live while their hearts no longer beat, their bodies no longer heal, but they can still feel the pain of every little injury they get, causing them to lose their minds after some time and transforming them into so called "Hoed". 
 Prince Raoden of Arelon wakes up five days before his planned wedding with Princess Sarene and finds himself affected by Shaod. 
 His own father, King Iadon, exiles him into Elantris, keeping this a secret from everyone else, since getting rid of Raoden was a political convenience for him. 
 Sarene on her part arrives in Arelon, hearing that her fiance is dead, but she is still legally bound to their wedding by the contract and thus now a widow. 
 Sarene quickly suspects that Iadon is hiding something and tries to figure out what actually happened to Raoden, at the same time trying to save whole Arelon, while Prince Raoden attempts to make Elantris a better place. 
 Then there is Hrathen, a Fjordell gyorn (sort of a priest) who arrives in Arelon with a three month deadline to convert people to his religion, or else the Arelish people will get roasted by his god or something. 
 Memorable (side) characters: 
 Eondel, Roial, Ashe, ... But my favorite was Galladon, the grumpy Dula with the problem to every solution, 
 who kept on making me laugh out loud with his rants. 
 "I'm Galladon, from the sovereign realm of Duladel. 
 I'm most recently from Elantris, land of sludge, insanity, and eternal perdition. Nice to meet you." 
 As gloomy as Elantris was painted, I was totally fascinated by this world inside a world, by the 
 mysteries to solve, amused by Sarene's initial conversations with the King ("I am painting, father"), 
 imagining a bunch of noble ladies fencing in their fancy dresses, and I really felt with those beings in Elantris, and some loved and hated characters. 
 Definitely worth the read if you have a little patience with the partially slow pacing.