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The Emperor's Soul - The 10th Anniversary Special Edition

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By Brandon Sanderson

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Publisher Description

NEW 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION FEATURING BONUS CONTENT
HUGO AWARD WINNER

Includes: Deleted prologue: "The Imperial Fool" Prologue commentary from the acclaimed podcast Writing Excuses
An original introduction from the publisher
When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan comatose, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.

Shai is given an impossible task: to create--to Forge--a new soul for the emperor in fewer than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai's only possible ally is the emperor's most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent.

Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape...

142 Reviews

4.0

Max Garniss

Created 14 days ago

“The world-building and magic system Sanderson creates in just 100 pages is incredible and so well-crafted that it’s almost offensive. The introspection after reading this is also really interesting. If you could forge souls and rewrite parts of them, what would you change? Would that soul truly be the same?”

Chlo ✌️

Created 19 days ago

“Incredible. 120 pages and he has created a whole story, magic system, range of characters with their own experiences and intentions and still managed to round it off where it feels completed. No cliffhangers or unfinished storylines, just a desire for more of it.”

ariaslibrary

Created 27 days ago

“[ Read in the Cosmere collection Arcanum Unbounded ] “People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take one step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off the path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.” “Emperor’s Soul” is a standalone novella found in Brandon Sanderson’s greater Cosmere Universe. It is found in the world of Elantris. While it is not required to have read the other books, having read them could help you see the magic system connections if you are interested in understanding the greater Cosmere world. The plot follows Wan ShaiLu, who has been arrested for Forgery. I know I say this all the time but Sanderson’s magic systems are so unique and interesting. As Shai tells us, “To Forge something, you had to know its past, its nature.” While the magic is connected to the access of Dor, from Elantris, the type of Forgery we follow here requires an intimate knowledge of materials, carvings and Soul stamps. Training is required to be a Forger and Shai happens to be among the best. Unknown to the public, an assassination attempt has claimed the Empress’ life and the Emperor Ashravan lies on death’s door. In a bid to save her own life from execution, Shai agrees to work for the Emperor’s Arbiters. The task: replicate the emperor’s soul. A difficult task in itself and with a time limit for success. She is forced to work with one of the Arbiters, Gaotona, an old man who’s fallen out of the Emperor’s favour for it is he who knows the Emperor best. I loved their relationship. In a short amount of time, Sanderson had me believing in Shai’s relationship with Gaotona and Gaotona’s relationship with the Emperor. “True for the others,” Shai said, “but that is not your personal motive.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “You just want Ashravan back,” Shai said. “You refuse to accept that you’ve lost him. You loved him as a son—the youth that you mentored, the emperor you always believed in, even when he didn’t believe in himself.” This is one of Sanderson’s best works. It proves that he doesn’t need pages and pages of slow character work and worldbuilding to create a beautiful world. The small snippets are enough to build a country full of culture, full of beliefs, full of life. The characters are not caricatures: the cruel Emperor, the benevolent mentor, the emotionless torturer—they’re more than that and I loved them. Shai, Gaotona and surprisingly Emperor Ashravan. And the emotions! The way this short story has me crying by the end! Again, this is one of his best works and I’m happy to say Sanderson said we’d see more from Shai in the future. “He found himself weeping. Not for the future or for the emperor. These were the tears of a man who saw before himself a masterpiece. True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation. It was boldness, it was contrast, it was subtlety.” [ As for the dramatized adaptation, I don’t know what it is about them but the emotion they put into them has me teary every time.]”

MiahReadsTooMuch

Created about 1 month ago