The Emperor's Soul

( 48 )

Overview

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 ...

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The Emperor's Soul

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More About This Book

Overview

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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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Elantris is the finest novel of fantasy to be written in many years. Brandon Sanderson has created a truly original world of magic and intrigue, and with the rigor of the best science fiction writers he has made it real at every level."  —Orson Scott Card on Elantris

"Fantasy fans will love both the compelling story and the creative magical setting." —www.LibraryJournal.com

"The Emperor's Soul is a worthy addition to Sanderson's bibliography: a new magic system with some interesting implications, a couple of fascinating characters, a focused plot, and a subtle link to the much larger picture he's been painting for years." —www.tor.com

"This story had such a wonderful balance with the world, characters and magic building, that I truly hope the author will explore it more with Shai and the world she lives in." —www.OpenBookSociety.com

"A fascinating study of clashing beliefs, another inventive magic system, and highly entertaining action sequence. . . . This is an easy recommendation to every fantasy reader out there." —www.FantasyBookReview.co.uk

"Sanderson proves to be an exceptionally talented writer in the pages of this book. . . . The Emperor's Soul is one of those rare high fantasies that feels fresh and is filled with a sense of wonder." —Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 2013)

Fantasy & Science Fiction - Charles de Lint
Sanderson proves to be an exceptionally talented writer in the pages of this book. ... 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.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781616960926
  • Publisher: Tachyon Publications
  • Publication date: 10/10/2012
  • Pages: 176
  • Sales rank: 31,693
  • Product dimensions: 4.90 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 1.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is the bestselling fantasy author of Elantris and the Mistborn Trilogy. He was chosen by Robert Jordan’s widow to complete the epic Wheel of Time series and has authored The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight in that line. He lives in American Fork, Utah.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 48 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(39)

4 Star

(8)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 48 Customer Reviews

  • Posted December 2, 2012

    more from this reviewer

    Highly Recommended!

    Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy

    Beware of spoilers!

    Wow, what a lovely well written novella, I loved it ! There was a contest on goodreads that I signed up for when I saw the cover. I know don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but the cover is beautiful and after reading the book it fits perfectly to the story. I didn’t win the contest, I did get lucky and am thankful that it was a book on the OBS list of books to review. This is the first book by this author I have read and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to do so.

    One of things with the Fantasy genre for me is, that in other reads in the past there are the over abundance of odd names for people etc. In this story I was able to follow the characters without any trouble, the author made things so clear. With Sanderson’s style of writing when introducing someone into the story you felt like you knew them. The way he describes things makes you see and feel it. Clearly a super skill and one which will have me checking out his other books.

    My favorite character of course was the always observing Shai, her way of looking at things was interesting and very Zen like, in fact the whole book really took on some of the Zen and no Zen differences throughout the whole story.

    “No person was one single emotion: no person had only one desire. They had many and usually those desires conflicted with one another like two rosebushes fighting for the same patch of ground.”
    This concept could be found in one of my philosophical /Buddhist books. All of the prose was strong and made things very visual. The way the author explains the magic is amazing, how Shai was able to change the window back to it’s former glory, how everything has an identity is a great concept. Then there were the ruling people who didn’t look at the full picture and wanted to abuse their power for selfish gains or the soldier who was one dimensional in his passion to protect the Empire and his hatred of Shai. That was great, he never changed in the story. One of my favorite parts, there were many, was when Gaotona fully understood why Shai had to burn the painting. He understood her pain and how she still had to do it.

    This story had such a wonderful balance with the world , characters and magic building, that I truly hope the author will explore it more with Shai and the world she lives. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for future books.

    I highly recommend this book for young adults and to anyone who enjoys the Fantasy genre and magic.

    This review and more at openbooksociety dot com

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 2, 2012

    Highly Recommend

    I love this story. No wasted words, gripping story and a lot of new information to ponder for the Elantris world. The main character is great!

    4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 25, 2012

    Another excellent work from Sanderson

    This book was the perfect one evening read. If you like Sanderson's other works, you'll enjoy this one too.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 1, 2012

    Good short story

    Good short story

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 30, 2012

    The usual amazing read!

    Sanderson continues his fascinating habbit of coming up with unique and mind blowing magic systems. Being more of a novelette, The Emperor's Soul is a fast yet exceedingly satisfying read...one of Sanderson's best...which incidentally he says so too on his blog!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 22, 2012

    A great read

    A great little book for an evening's read.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 18, 2012

    This is a very good book. Great detail for a short story. I can'

    This is a very good book. Great detail for a short story. I can't add anything that the other reviews haven't already stated.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 26, 2012

    Fantastic

    A must read.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 8, 2012

    Engrossing

    If you need a little snack. A light morsel to tide you over between two bigger books. Dive right in.

    This is classic Sanderson. A new magic systems that draws you in. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I HIGHLY recommend it.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted November 7, 2012

    I loved this book

    I loved this book

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 19, 2013

    Shadow

    Whistles

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2013

    Soul

    Left to result one. With a life plan in mibd

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 10, 2013

    Star

    Sighs silently and leaves the umbrella...she flies back to res 1 wishin shw could stop his pain

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  • Posted April 24, 2013

    AWESOME book! This is a wonderful story, as always Mr. Sanderson

    AWESOME book! This is a wonderful story, as always Mr. Sanderson weaves an incredible tale. Always new and orginal I have enjoyed reading many of his books and this was no exception!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 12, 2013

    Great short story. Typical brilliant exposition by this author.

    Great short story. Typical brilliant exposition by this author. Innovative and exotic magic system. Fabulous characterization for such a short novella. Easy to read. Eventual outcome was somewhat expected but the method of getting there was not at all easy to anticipate. So, the tension remained high until the very end.

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  • Posted April 2, 2013

    I read this in a day, a very fun and short read. The story is we

    I read this in a day, a very fun and short read. The story is well mapped and keeps you entertained. The skill of this book however is its location. Literally the entire work happens in one single room. What skill is shown by Mr. Sanderson in his making the events of one room as enthralling as any other fantasy novel.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 16, 2013

    Absolutely put my stamp on this one!

    Absolutely luvs it!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 11, 2013

    The Soul of an Artist

    As a person who has drawn and painted a number of portraits I know first hand what goes into the work is more than just recording what is seen. Sanderson has captured the essence of a master artist and then taken it to a whole new place. While it is shorter than I like.. could a story that amazes you at every page turn ever be long enough? It is proof that the beauty of a creation should never be based on size or length.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 4, 2013

    A well written Story.

    Sanderson has written a very complete and well thought out novella here. The characters are well describes and have depth to them. The plot is unique and entertaining. While I see the connections to Sanderson's novel "Elantris", it is not necessary to have read Elantris to follow this story. Definitely worth reading.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 23, 2013

    Yet another entertaining read from Sanderson.

    Oh, how I wish this could have been a full length novel! A slight tie-in with the Elantris universe that still carries Sanderson's theme of unique forms of magic, The Emperor's Soul is intriguing to say the least. A more fleshed out 500-page novel for this story would have been amazing, giving Sanderson an opportunity to build on top of the foundatiin laid by Elantris. This is a great jumping off point, both for Sanderson's work and for 21st century fantasy in general.

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 48 Customer Reviews
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