The Emperor's Soul

Brandon Sanderson

Nov 2012 · Elantris Book 2 · Sold by Dragonsteel, LLC

About this ebook

WINNER, 2013 Hugo Award for Best 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 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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“Sanderson proves to be an exceptionally talented writer in the pages of this book. Complex as some of the background is, he never gets bogged down filling in details for the reader. Instead we learn everything we need seamlessly as the story unfolds. His prose is lyrical without ever getting in its own way … His characters are fascinating and fully realized. … The Emperor’s Soul is one of those rare high fantasies that feels fresh and is filled with a sense of wonder.” —Charles de Lint, Fantasy & Science Fiction

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A note from the publisher: Brandon will send a free copy of this ebook to anyone who purchased the Tachyon Publications trade paperback. See the title page in the ebook preview for details.

Ratings and reviews

Brandon Sanderson's works bring deep emotions (mostly conflicted) and sharp wit (always ironic) to the extremely serious plots he weaves with seaming ease. This novella is an outstanding example of his skills. I recommend it, and the related novellas, very highly. Extremely satisfying reading.

Amazing work as always from brandon. I might be biased but i have yet find his work that i dont like. This one, in just 7 pages, it made me hissed and felt a thousand feels--which could only be evoked by great books. It's a thrill to read brandon's works. I used to worry that the joy, the thrill of reading would one day be lost to me since i read so much, but brandon--every book that he releases, he always trigger that joy, that thrill, that addictive ecstasy in me.

In The Emperor's Soul, Sanderson reveals another intriguing form of magic from his Cosmere, commenting on the nature of art and beauty. The characters are not terribly dynamic, but they are intriguing and deep. A master of her art must prove to herself and others that she is capable of creating what no other can, through intense understanding of her subject - a human being she has never met. This novella, although short, kept me enthralled despite its predictability. This novella presents the reader with questions about the importance of art's audience. Is art subject to the whims of its creator? Does art belong to its audience, or its creator? If no one knows that a work has been done, does that diminish its importance or its impact? Overall, a thought-provoking read with an interesting, original setting.

About the author

Brandon Sanderson was born in 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska. By junior high he had lost interest in the novels suggested to him, and he never cracked a book if he could help it. Then an eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Reader, gave him Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. Brandon was finishing his thirteenth novel when Moshe Feder at Tor Books bought the sixth he had written. In 2005 Brandon held his first published novel, Elantris, in his hands. Tor also published four books in Brandon’s Mistborn series, along with Warbreaker and then The Way of Kings, the first in the planned ten-volume series The Stormlight Archive; the second volume, Words of Radiance, is a March 2014 release. Four books in his middle-grade Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series were released by Scholastic. Brandon was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series; the final book, A Memory of Light, was released in 2013. That year also marked the releases of YA novels The Rithmatist from Tor and Steelheart from Delacorte. Currently living in Utah with his wife and children, Brandon teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He also hosts the Hugo Award-winning writing advice show Writing Excuses with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells.