The Emperor's Soul by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The future of an empire rests in the hands of a heretical magic user who is tasked with restoring the Emperor or else. The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson is a novella set on the same world as his first novel Elantris, but far away from that magical city in the capital of the Rose Empire.
Shai is a thief and practitioner of magical forgery who has been arrested and sentenced to death. The Emperor's corrupt advisors offer to free her if she agrees to forge a new soul for the Emperor, who has been left brain dead by an assassination attempt. She agrees but plans to escape. She is given 100 days to forge the soul, given only official histories, the Emperor's diary, and Gaotona, the only non-corrupt advisor, a task even she deems impossible. As they research the Emperor's past, Gaotona learns more about forgery, a generally detested practice, and the two develop a grudging respect for each other. During this task, Shai realizes the Emperor had once been idealistic, but a life of leisure resulted in his recent indulgence and resolves to create and tweak the soul as her masterpiece, setting him on a better path. Though many opportunities present themselves, Shai puts off escaping until the work is done, whereupon Gaotona helps her win her freedom against his colleagues' treachery. The Emperor, with the forged soul, resumes his rule.
At approximately 175 pages, this novella is a very quick not only thanks to Sanderson’s writing style but also because Shai is an interesting character that the reader wants to follow. The subplot of Gaotona’s relationship to the Emperor and his view of “art” is a nice addition that adds to the novella without attempting to stuff too much in too little space.
The Emperor’s Soul is a quick reading novella following an interesting character set in the same world as Brandon Sanderson’s first novel but in no way connected to the events of that book.
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