The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

The Emperor's Soul (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?

Reviewed by adamfortuna on

5 of 5 stars

Share
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?

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 30 July, 2014: Finished reading
  • 30 July, 2014: Reviewed