The Emperor's Soul (Elantris Book 2)

Brandon Sanderson, popular author of various epic fantasy works can certainly be called “prolific”. He has, in just a few short years, written numerous books. Some short novellas, but most lengthy novels – between about 600 to 1,000 pages long – each of which usually take a couple of years a piece for most writers. What's more, the quality doesn't suffer at all. His work is really good. I have not heard this from his mouth personally, but I wager that he genuinely loves writing, and that that is why he can put out so much material.He has done it again in his novella *The Emperor's Soul*. The story takes place on the same world in the “Cosmere” - the universe where all of Sanderson's works (not including his novels completing Robert Jordan's *The Wheel of Time* books, which takes place on a future/past earth) take place – as the novel *Elantris*. In an empire in a different location of that world, a “Forger” named Shai has been arrested in an attempt to steal the Emperor's scepter. Forging is essentially a system of magic whereby one can create various “stamps” that, when applied to an object or an animal, will rewrite the history of what is stamped, in order to make it something else. This can work on people as well, but this is *much* more difficult and prone to error. The only caveat is that the new “history” must be something believable about that which it affects, or it will not take. As a side note, Sanderson has stated that he got this idea from the seals that he saw stamped onto some ancient artifacts when he visited a museum on a trip to Taiwan one time.The penalty for such an attack (such as Shai's attempted theft) on the person or attire of the emperor is execution. But Shai is offered a chance to survive. It is revealed to her by the Imperial advisers (called Grands) that assassins from a rival political faction have murdered the Empress and rendered the Emperor vegetative. If she can rewrite his past to forge him a new soul during the 100 days in which he is officially “in mourning”, so that his state of health is not discovered, then she can go free. If not, she is to be executed.Shai sets to work, but she doesn't believe the Grands for a minute. She knows that they will kill her anyway. Whether this be when she is finished, or beforehand when she is far enough along to have another forger complete her task, she isn't sure. But she is already planning her escape. Then the unexpected happens in that she begins to care about the welfare of the Emperor she is tasked with restoring to life, and about the one honest Grand who assists her in her work. Can Shai finish her task and escape before she is quietly executed?This book is not so much action as it is a work of philosophical and psychological suspense. I say philosophical in a specific way. Sanderson does not engage in the level of commentary that he does in the *Mistborn* novels (not even that of *The Alloy of Law* the similarly short *Mistborn* novella). His commentary applicable to our society is brief. This isn't a preachy book at all. What I mean is that the story of Shai and how she uses her magical “art” to set about restoring the Emperor and escaping is tied up in philosophical and psychological aspects of that specific plot. It really is interesting. It's like some films that have a person mostly in one room undergoing days, weeks, or months of adversity, but the difference is that this story has a happy ending. I hope that's not too much of a spoiler to say that. ;)The characters, other than Shai, the one kinder Grand, and the Emperor, were not exactly well-developed, and these three were not given a ton of development either. Of course, given the brevity of this story, that is not surprising, and it is certainly not the negative it would be for a longer work. They received sufficient attention for the needs of the story.Once again, Sanderson designs a rather ingenious system of magic. While Sanderson does have his faults in that he can be a tad too wordy (just like the late Robert Jordan could be), and he sometimes doesn't give the proper “breathing room” of some positive aspect amidst the darkness of some more depressing stories (see the first of his *Stormlight Archive* novels, though his *Mistborn* books don't fall into this trap), but he is ingenious at developing characters just enough for what the story needs, and at creating unique and interesting systems of magic.I would actually compare Sanderson's impact on modern epic fantasy in terms of how he handles magic to Isaac Asimov's impact on science-fiction in how he handled robots. I'll be the first to say that the man has faults, and to roll my eyes at some of the more extreme Sanderson fanboys that apparently think he is some sort of god of fantasy literature, but he does deserve his due as a prolific, talented, and creative author. *The Emperor's Soul* makes this abundantly clear.Highly Recommended.

I read an article where the author suggested five short literary books that could be read in a day or two. One of them was the Emperor's Soul. I am not a reader of fantasy novels at all but I decided to read it and I was so amazed that I loved this book! It's a fun adventure with good character development. I think this would be great book for teens too especially if you are trying to get your kids to read more. Put the phone down and read this book!

The writing of Sanderson is simply amazing. Such creativity! In so few pages not only is there an incredible story offered for our enjoyment, but we are all invited to reflect on key themes such as honesty, integrity, choice and change. Wow.

I very much enjoyed this. Largely a one room story, with thoughts about art, creation and human influences. Rather lovely.

While many of Brandon Sanderson’s books are epics, this one encapsulated the entire world in 5000 words or less and was insightful in it’s brevity.

Though known for his epic fantasy, Brandon Sanderson has now released The Emperor's Soul, the second of two novellas scheduled for late 2012. While the first, Legion, was fun, it was too short - at 88 pages - to let Sanderson really develop the story as well as he usually does. In The Emperor's Soul, Sanderson takes a more robust but still quick 176 pages to tell a fantastic story that really gets you into the protagonist's head, while also giving fans of his previous works some fun ties to his first novel, Elantris. Sanderson seems to have found his novella "sweet spot" with The Emperor's Soul, and it's well worth reading.Our protagonist is Shai, a master Forger who is caught by the palace guards during a heist. Fortunately for her, instead of being executed outright, the Emperor was recently seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, leaving him alive but a vegetable. The Emperor's closest advisers, despite their repugnance at her skills, are desperate enough to ask Shai to Forge the Emperor a new soul. Shai takes the job because it's better than a short drop an a sudden stop, hoping to find a way to escape while working on the impossible task before her.Instead, the challenge consumes Shai, and we learn a lot about who she is, why she does what she does, and how her talents work as she works away at the problem. No simple thief or charlatan, Shai considers herself an artist, and we see just how accurate that appraisal can be as she approaches the Forging of the Emperor's soul.Shai is the focus of the book, but the secondary characters are well-rounded, especially considering the space Sanderson has to work. We learn as Shai does just who the Emperor really was, and we get a lot of interesting interaction between Shai and Gaotona, on of the Emperor's advisor's, and Gaotona himself is very compelling, given his personality and role. The other characters are less of a focus, but Sanderson still develops them well, giving the reader a good view of everything from the politics of the Empire to why the guard captain especially doesn't like Shai.As I mentioned, there are ties to Sanderson's first novel, Elantris. If you haven't read Elantris, don't worry, that won't slow you down at all. If you have, you'll appreciate the little touches that show the Empire is part of the same world, even if far away, and you'll have fun puzzling out how Shai's Forging ties into the magic system seen in the parts of the world depicted in Elantris. Sanderson always delivers great magic systems in his fantasy books, and the magic here is different enough from Elantris to be interesting while still be consistent with the logic of the other book.Sanderson has done an amazing job with The Emperor's Soul. It retains the brevity and speed of a good novella, while also delivering deep characters, an interesting plot, and great world-building. Sanderson manages to get a lot more of his usual talents to come through in this novella than his first attempt at the shorter format in Legion. Maybe it's a matter of size, with this book being twice as long, or that it's fantasy, which Sanderson does more of than the science fiction / thriller genre of Legion. In any case, Sanderson knocks another one out of the park with The Emperor's Soul, and I'm much more excited about the idea of novellas from Sanderson now than I was after Legion, which was fun but just felt too short and not quite as deep as I'm used to from Sanderson.If you're a Sanderson fan, you'll enjoy The Emperor's Soul, and if you're not, it's a good way to give him a try without committing to one of his longer epic novels or trilogies. Either way, I highly recommend The Emperor's Soul.

Was a very enjoyable read

It arrived in wonderful condition, just finished Elantris and found out this book was set in the same world, I just had to get it. I've not read it yet but will update this review when I have.Update: Dear lord how did he manage to perfectly pace and convey such a gripping and fulfilling tale in 130 pages? This is one of the most original, unwaveringly detailed and beautiful works of literature I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I read this alongside the GraphicAudio audiobook and it enhanced the experience greatly. I can see why people want more, but I think focusing on someone other than Shai would be preferable, it's such an intriguing world, rich with potential, it would be a shame if he doesn't plan on revisiting the world of Sycla (Opelon). Buy this, it will leave you fulfilled!

I have become a huge fan of Brandon over the past few years. And this novella did not disappoint. The book had a very interesting magical theme based around stamps. He talks in the PostScript as this was based on an idea he had a museum.This also presents us with a interesting examination of personality and change. Do we become the people we are destined to be or does Life changes too much?Thoroughly recommended to all

This story takes the issue of forgery to a whole new level and I loved it - the concept. The story itself fell flat. I felt it was really only just getting going when it came to an abrupt end. It's too long for a short story but far too much lightly sketched detail for a novella. It deserved to be at least twice as long. More than that I wanted to see the aftermath, and I was left feeling I'd read a snippet from a work in progress - or even a summary of a larger story - and left dangling - it took a long time to really get going and then suddenly it was over. I would love to see this expanded or more stories in this world. The concept deserves it.

Having read a few duds lately, I really enjoyed the quality writing from this author. The story was clever, the characters well developed and the protagonist wasn't a 'violence first act later' (which can often happen).I'm hoping this is part of a bigger series in this 'world' that I can really sink my teeth into.So glad I found an writer I can get behind here!

Before reviewing this, I've got to go back to Sanderson's first novel, Elantris. While not the best written fantasy novel of all time, it did have one of the coolest uses of magic I'd ever read, and that made me go on and read his other stuff. Sanderson really has set himself up as Mr Magic in fantasy. His magic systems are always innovative and well designed.The Emperor's Soul is set in the same world as Elantris (so those reviewers saying they'd like to have seen more--go read that!) and there are parallels between the magic systems. Clearly the same magic underlies both, and the practitioners have developed different methods for tapping into them.Structurally, it uses the "ticking clock" device. Shai has to complete her task within 100 days or else. This provides most of the conflict. There is also an internal element: she wants to escape, but the artisan in her wants to complete the job and won't be satisfied unless it is as good as she can do in the circumstances. This story gives us two interesting characters to care about and an intriguing magic system, plus a strong narrative, all in a relatively short piece.Some of Sanderson's novels are very long, so if you are new to his work and want to sample his writing style, this may be the book for you. I suspect you'll want to try more, once you've dabbled!