WINNER, 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella!Nominee, 2013 World Fantasy Award for Novella!From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor’s Soul showcases a fascinating magic system as the clock ticks down for a condemned criminal.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 … has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, 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 less 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…
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I loved the development of the characters, the irony in the story, and the story concept. Well written. My favorite Sanderson book (and I like nearly all of them).
I have read this previously and we just finished the audible today. I loved the story when I read it and this narrator added a lot of personality to the telling that enriched the story even more.
Though this takes place on the same planet as Elantris, don’t expect there to be a deeper tie in than a few references to other countries. This is a fabulous Brandon Sanderson that doesn’t get nearly as intense as most of his others. It was perfect for my kids as a palate cleanser between more epic novels of his.
Sanderson’s best short story IMO.
If you read only ONE thing by Brandon Sanderson…it should be The Way of Kings. If you only read one SHORT thing by Brandon Sanderson…it should be THIS.
The world-building is fantastic, the characters are wonderful, the premise is original.
In a world where broken furniture dreams of being lovingly cared-for, a girl who forges (against the law) to make fakes is tasked with restoring a HUMAN to his self before he was brain damaged.
The story manages at once to be wildly entertaining, easy to read, gripping with suspense, and beautiful in it’s execution and climax. There’s a bit of everything here from action and adventure to idealism and hope (that may bring a tear to your eye).
This is simply a wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL novella that every fan of modern fantasy should own.
This is a quick and very entertaining read, couldn’t put it down.
This is the story about a forger named Shai, she is the best at what she does, she can make perfect copies of everything, but since she had been captured by the empire while trying to steal in the palace of the emperor, now she’s facing a death penalty… Unless she can save the emperor who had been attacked by creating a new soul for him…
I definitely recommend this book.
If you like fantasy you will enjoy this book
Say what you will about Brandon Sanderson, he is not afraid to write from a female perspective and he does it well. In this case, the protagonist is Shai, and she is a thief and a forger. In the world that Sanderson has created, a forger doesn’t just recreate the surface appearance of a work of art, they use stamps to recreate the soul of that object. It’s a mind-boggling concept, but somehow the author, in just 157 pages, gets the reader to a place where they get it.
After being caught in an act of thievery, Shai faces the impossible choice between execution and using her forgery skills to rebuild the soul of the emperor, whose mind has been irreparably damaged in an assassination attempt. In learning what it is she does, and how she feels about rebuilding the emperor, the reader discovers that Shai, while a criminal, has a moral compass that many of those who judge her should strive to attain.
The Emperor’s Soul is an excellent novella, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves the fantasy genre.