Brandon Sanderson's Elantris [review time]

It has long bothered me that the genre of Fantasy has become essentially formula fiction. Most Fantasy can be defined by its setting and plot: in a medieval world of magic, an unlikely hero saves the world from an unspeakable evil. Elantris cannot be said to be a part of this "Tolkienesque" tradition. The single book epic differs from much of modern fantasy in that the setting has a unique feel that cannot be placed in any single Earth timeframe, and encompasses its own religions, cultures and history. And the plot cannot be described in ten words, which is always a plus.