I had never heard of Elantris until it came out on GA. I really liked it, but it is the first part of a book so it spent alot of time laying ground for future stories. Having said that, it is a great story. Mr. Sanderson (?) truly does have an unique vision which is rare to find in Sci-Fi these days. It kind of reminded me of Dune in setting and tone. I would recommend it, and I can't wait for the next installment.

 I found Elantris to be interesting. It seems to fall as much in the political thriller genre as it does in the sci-fi/fantasy realm. It was interesting, but there was only a hint of the fantasy side. I do hope that the fantasy aspect of the book blooms much more in the following books. I am really hoping to see Raoden unlock the magic that is hinted at in the first book.

 From a production stand point though, I wonder if GA shot themselves in the foot. This first book, as noted by the previous poster, is mostly setup of what's to come. As such, it really does feel somewhat plodding and when the end of the first book came, I really questioned whether to cut my loses on this series. I decided to stick with it, but it was a close call, and I don't often drop books. 

As a sci-fantasy writer myself, I have to admit that it is somewhat difficult to strike that balance between forward-moving action and providing enough information to make the story interesting and believable. I have not yet read this book, but I feel prompted to say that it may be benifitial to stick with it for the second part. A lot of writers will try to set the stage. It's true that some have a tendancy to info-dump. From a production standpoin, I'd rather see GA keep that stuff in, thus keeping the original book intact, rather than removing some and making it more action-oriented. Not that I believe that was what the above poster was getting at. Not at all.

Remy