The story follows three main characters: Prince Raoden of Arelon, Princess Sarene of Teod, and the priest Hrathen of Fjorden.

At the beginning of the story, Raoden is cursed by an ancient transformation known as the Shaod and secretly exiled to the city of Elantris just days before his betrothed, princess Sarene of Teod, arrives for their wedding.

Near the end of the book, Sarene helps Raoden discover that the shapes of the Aons coincide with physical landmarks and natural features located around the country.

A mysterious figure named Hoid appears at some point in each of Sanderson's full novels and series, including in the last chapter of Elantris.

In October 2015, a "tenth anniversary author's definitive edition" was released in trade paperback and hardcover, containing "10,000 words of additional content".

[3] In December 2015, the Elantris Tenth Anniversary Dragonsteel Leather Edition was released, which included full-color pages of Elantris-related art, new maps, and two-tonal typeset.

[4] It has been translated into Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, French, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

[7] Orson Scott Card, American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist, states on his website that "Elantris is the finest novel of fantasy to be written in many years.

Brandon Sanderson has created a truly original world of magic and intrigue, and with the rigor of the best science fiction writers he has made it real at every level.

"[9] Publishers Weekly praised Sanderson's fantasy debut as being outstanding and free of the usual genre clichés, noting that it offers something for everyone, including mystery, magic, romance, politics, religious conflict and robust characters.