''The Emperor's Soul'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

written by American author

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...

. It was first published in November 2012 by Tachyon Publications. It won the 2013

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

for best novella. The novella is included in the 2016 '' Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection''.

Plot

Shai is a thief and practitioner of magical

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

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 the two research the Emperor's past together, 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.

Setting

''The Emperor's Soul'' is set in the Rose Empire, a nation on the shardworld of Sel. This is the same world in which ''

Elantris ''Elantris'' is a fantasy novel written by American fantasy and science fiction writer Brandon Sanderson. The book was published on April 21, 2005, by Tor Books and was Sanderson's first published book. The book gained generally positive reviews, ...

'' was set, though few connections are made to that book within ''The Emperor's Soul''. In the postscript, Sanderson explains that he was inspired to write this story after visiting the

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum, also known as Taipei Palace Museum, is a national museum headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in Beijing in 1925, the museum was re-established in Shilin District, Shilin, Taipei, in 1965, later expanded with a S ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and also by memories from the two years he spent in Korea as a missionary for

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Audiobook

An audiobook version of the book was released on November 2, 2012 by Audible.com, read by narrator Angela Lin.

Reception

''The Emperor's Soul'' won the 2013

Hugo Award for Best Novella The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between ...

. ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online magazine, online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and non-fiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in S ...

'' called it "thoughtful yet exciting" and "difficult to put down," and judged that it deserved its award because of the questions it raises about the nature of

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

. ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' described Forgery as "one of (the) more intriguing (magical systems that Sanderson has created)", but noted that the magic is "far more developed than any of the characters"—while conceding that "the tale is never dull".Brandon Sanderson: ''The Emperor’s Soul''
reviewed by Samantha Nelson, at ''

the A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

''; published November 26, 2012; retrieved September 18, 2017 ''

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

'' similarly described the work as "enjoyable" and "a worthy addition to Sanderson’s bibliography", and recommended it to "readers who enjoy getting into the intricacies of a magic system", but faulted it as "abbreviated and a bit unbalanced", positing that it would have worked better as a full-length novel.Sanderson on a Smaller Scale: ''The Emperor’s Soul'', by Brandon Sanderson
reviewed by Stefan Raets, at

; published November 20, 2012; retrieved September 18, 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emperor's Soul Works by Brandon Sanderson 2012 American novels Tachyon Publications books American speculative fiction novellas Novels set on fictional planets Hugo Award for Best Novella–winning works