The Emperor's Soul: A Cosmere Novella (Cosmere Universe)

by Brandon Sanderson

From the bestselling author of the Mistborn Trilogy and co-author of the final three books of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series comes the tale of a heretic thief who may be an Empire's only hope for survival.

Shai is a Forger: a foreigner who can flawlessly re-create any item by rewriting its history using skillful magic . . . although she's currently condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor's sceptre, she has one last opportunity to save herself. The emperor has barely survived an assassination attempt, he needs a new soul and, despite viewing her skill as a Forger an abomination, her captors have turned to Shai for help.

Skillfully deducing her captors plans, Shai know the first thing she needs is a perfect escape plan. but in the meantime, her fate and that of the empire lies in completing an impossible task: is it possible to create a forgery so convincing that it's better than the soul itself?

• ISBN10: 1473212642
• ISBN13: 9781473212640
• Publish Date: 17 December 2015 (first published 10 October 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 144
• Language: English

Reviews

[Tobin Brown]

The Emperor's Soul is an incredibly written short-form story that takes place in Brandon's Cosmere. For anyone looking to get a feel for Brandon's magic systems and writing style, this is a very quick introduction to both.

Instead of a weeks or months commitment, this story will only take up an afternoon! Being able to sit down, learn an entire magic system, instantly love the main character, and complete a story in just a few hours was very refreshing.

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a quick intro to the Cosmere and look forward to more short stories like this from Sanderson.

My only complaint about this book is that it is way too short. I normally don't read books under 300 pages because I know that I will be disappointed, because I want to know more. Hence, the four stars.
There is an interesting magic system, interesting characters, interesting concepts, definitely read this if you like Brandon Sanderson's work or if you like shorter books.

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

Like many other reviewers, The Emperor's Soul was my first Brandon Sanderson novel, but I hope it won't be my last. Sanderson is an author that I've always aspired to hear, but whom I've also always been a bit intimidated by. Most of his books are 20+ hours long and although that may not intimidate me in other genres, Epic Fantasy is something I've struggled with for the last couple of years.

I began The Emperor's Soul in August, when I was feeling particularly spontaneous and optimistic. However, I didn't realize that it was basically a spinoff novella from Sanderson's Elantris universe. I saw that this title was significantly shorter than his others and thought it might be a good entry point into Sanderson's work. I'm pleased to say that this tactic worked in initiating me into this world and his writing style.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was able to not only enjoy The Emperor's Soul, but also follow it. That's been a sticking point for me when listening to epic fantasies in the recent past. Many of them are so dense in their world building that I inevitably become overwhelmed and throw in the towel. But sometimes, I just want to be immersed in another world and this was one of those times when I wasn't just immersed, but completely swept away. If this is what Sanderson is capable of, then sign me up for more!

I would have begun the main series immediately after finishing The Emperor's Soul if not for the fact that I suffered a personal tragedy (my cat died) just after finishing this audiobook which definitely broke me out of its spell and put me off listening to anything for a while. However, I completely intend to return to Sanderson in 2020 and I'm looking forward to it!

Note that The Emperor's Soul is connected to the Elantris universe, but can definitely be heard alone. I don't often make that recommendation, but in this case, I'm comfortable making it out of personal experience. I heard The Emperor's Soul without even realizing it was connected to another series. I'm not sure if there are any cameos from characters seen elsewhere in the main series, but from what I've gleaned from Goodreads, the two are pretty separate, apart from the world they inhabit.

Narration review: From what I recall, Angela Lin provided an excellent listening experience. I remember being particularly pleased with her characterization. There were a number of characters, of all ages and social statuses, and she provided subtle, but distinct vocalizations for each of them. It doesn't look like she has narrated anymore for Sanderson, which is a shame, because I would love to hear her work again. ♣︎

[writehollydavis]

I'm so grateful for Audible's deal of the day emails. Without them, I would have missed out on this gem! Although it is set in an already established world by Branden Sanderson, I never felt confused as he immersed us into the story. The plot was clever and unique! I rooted for Shai to forge the Emperor's Soul and still escape, not knowing what would happen until the very end. Excellent novella I'd recommend to anyone!

Brandon Sanderson can do no wrong. One of his shorter stories but also very good. I love that it's set in the same world as Elantris yet is totally different. I'm just sad that this is the last work currently set in that universe. I hope he releases more stuff from Sel at some point!

[ross91]

So good.

[KitsuneBae]

Actual: 4.5 stars

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

I would have appreciated this more if it's a full length novel. Can Sanderson really do no wrong? With Emperor's Soul, Sanderson proved once again that his talent for creating interesting magical system (for lack of a better term) is endless. The world of Emperor's Soul tells the story of a talented forger Wan Shai Lu. And I'm not even talking about you know, copying the signature of your employer. The forgery in this story is much more complex, say forging even a person and that person's personality so even if that person died, you can still pretend that he's still very much alive.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

As much as I enjoy Brandon Sanderson’s series (his plot twists between installments are unparalleled), he truly shines when he’s writing standalones. The Emperor’s Soul is a masterpiece, fast-paced and tightly written, counting down the days until protagonist Shai is set to die.

In a short space, Sanderson builds readers a world. One with magic and history and a fraught political system. Whereas in his series Sanderson tends to the extremes with details of world-building, here he tells readers what’s necessary—and it works. He focuses on explicating Shai’s Forging, as other characters ask her about her magic and her work, and brings in information about other types of magic or other characters only when pertinent to the plot. The information is amazingly complete without being overwhelming.

The story is also characteristically thoughtful. Sanderson explores human motivations, the origins of prejudice, and the definition of art. As Shai strives to craft a soul, he asks what it is that makes us human and how much we should be allowed to play with other people’s lives. Important issues and fundamental questions lie deeply embedded in this compelling and fast-paced tale.

This is the place to start for anyone looking to begin reading high fantasy. Sanderson is a skilled wordsmith with a breath-taking imagination. But he also looks to the core of human emotions in ways that will remind readers of J.R.R. Tolkien or Chaim Potok.

This review is also posted on Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

[leahrosereads]

With less than 200 pages, THE EMPEROR'S SOUL was able to tell a fully developed and highly interesting story. Brandon Sanderson is clearly a freaking master of fantastic fantasy, and while I’m pretty new to his writing, I’ve been extremely impressed by his stories so far.


Shai is the main character, and as the blurb says, she’s a Forger. Forger’s in this society aren’t regarded very highly, but when the Empire needs her, Shai is given the incredible task of saving the Emperor by using her skills, all the while being looked down on and used. She was such a strong, well written heroine, and again, I have to say how impressed I am by Sanderson’s ability to create such an excellent character in so few pages.

The plot and story were excellently written, and I was completely invested in the story from pretty much page one, and I stayed interested until the end of the book. The pacing felt perfect to me. There was enough informative background that I wasn’t confused as to what Shai was doing for the Empire, and there was enough dialogue and/or action that kept me focused fully on Shai and her situation. Let’s face it, I sometimes have Reader ADD, and if I get bored, I scan. I didn’t scan any sentence. Heck, I sometimes re-read wonderfully written sentences, because I liked them so much.


This is such a fangirling review, but it really was a great story. I highly recommend it. I’m not sure if you need to read another of Sanderson’s novels first, as THE EMPEROR'S SOUL is set in the same world as his novel [b:Elantris|68427|Elantris (Elantris, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388194739s/68427.jpg|2908871], but I haven’t read that novel yet, and I wasn’t confused or put off by this one.


I think this could be a great teaser story to get people into fantasy, and I’d suggest giving it a read.

[adamfortuna]

A short story by Sanderson which earned a Hugo award. Much of the feel from this seemed to be the inspiration for the soulcasters in his Stormlight Archives series. Like other worlds, this has a magic element which allows for "forging" -- modifying the history of an object to change how it appears today. For instance -- rewriting the history of a neglected table to have been cared for in order to make it strong a beautiful today. What about rewriting the past of a person? Would that change their soul?