Elantris: Chapters 11-15

We continue our look at Elantris with Chapters 11-15.

Chapter 11
Sarene is able to manipulate here way into Raoden's all boys club for a better government.  She meets all the important folks that followed Raoden and wanted a better Kae.   Not surprisingly her Uncle Kiin is a member.

She is able to give the group a solid plan of changing the government for the better and appears to have become a rallying point for the group.

Sarene after a somewhat bland intro has really picked up in terms of character development.

Chapter 12
Focus shifts back to Hrathen.

Dilaf makes a passionate sermon that even has Hrathen impressed.

A plan forms in Hrathen's mind to tackle the takedown of Kae.


Chapter 13
Raoden is beginning to feel the pressure of bearing the burden of keeping everyone's hopes up.

Things come to a head with Karata's gang as they visit Raoden's place.

Not wanting to get his people hurt Raoden agrees to sneak Karata into the palace.

We get to see Karata's background.  Her husband and kid are still at the palace.  She's sad that her husband no longer remembers her.

Karata puts two and two together and realizes Raoden is the prince.

They get back to Elantris through the front door upon Raoden's insistence.  Karata is surprised.

"You made it sound as if we wanted to be in here.  Like it was a privilege."


Raoden:
"And that is exactly how we should feel.  After all, if we're going to be confined to Elantris, we might as act as if it were the grandest place in the world"

Karata goes on to show her greatest secret:  She has been getting all the shaod-ed kids and have been keeping them safe.  Raoden sees the children as a sign that you can overcome the pain and hunger of their condition.

Karata joins her gang with Raoden's people.

One of my favorite lines from the book is here, no surprise it came from Raoden:
"Nobility is in one’s bearing as much as it is in one’s breeding. If we act like living here is a blessing, then maybe we’ll start to forget how pathetic we think we are. "

Chapter 14
We shift back to Sarene.  Sanderson seems to be having fun in playing up Sarene's lack of talent in the arts as we chance upon her desperately trying to do some needlework.

Sarene has just realized that the women of Kae's court is a rich source of information is spending more time with them.

We get to see Sarene contrasted more with the archetype of the women in court.

Apparently the noble men of Kae find it beneath them to learn how to fight, believing it a task fit only for peasants.

Sarene convinces the women to practice swordplay.

That night Sarene attends an extravagant ball hosted by Lord Telrii.  She tries to use her "stupid"mode to fish some information from Iadon but is outmaneuvered by the Gyorn.

Sarene returns to the palace late in the night to find the aftermath of Raoden and Kanata's foray into the castle.

Chapter 15
Hrathen turns his thoughts to Elantris and evaluates the status of his plan to bring down Kae.

Duke Telrii meets with the Gyorn as they plot to bring down Kae.

Hrathen makes it clear that Kae does not have any decent fighting force.

Telrii with the funding of Hrathen agrees to a plot to overthrow Kae's current leadership.

Sanderson ties in the return of Raoden and Karata to Elantris as Hrathen hears the noise they make.

The Gyorn sets up a deal with the captain of the guards to send some Elantrians his way.



Notes:

Things are finally picking up.  The major characters seem to be in place and their major motivations laid out to the readers at this point in time.

I'm now very excited for the story to unfold.