The Emperor's Soul

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Angela Lin

Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

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 counselor, 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...

©2012 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC (P)2012 Recorded Books

How does Brandon come with these things???!!!!!

To start it with, it is a really good novella. Loved the new way of thinking in it and how to change history for anything..... i don't want to spoil it or anything but lets just say that certain people could learn how to change the history of creating a certain object to change its present state. its very interesting.

Narration was good, and the story was great although it was short , it still felt a satisfactory.

Have a listen to it and enjoy it, Brandon Sanderson is my top author and his imagination is unlimited.

I wanted to love it

If you could sum up The Emperor's Soul in three words, what would they be?

'twas almost amazing

If you’ve listened to books by Brandon Sanderson before, how does this one compare?

This wasn't Sanderson's best work. I felt like the story was too constrained and limited with boring scenery and what amounted to a brief description of a different magic system. I felt as though there was more story in Legion, although this is significantly longer. It was definitely a good story... it was just lacking compared to Sanderson's other works, which I consider to be stellar.

Any additional comments?

It's worth the credit and the listen, but pales in comparison to Sanderson's other novels.

The wonderful performance uplifted a ho-hum story

Where does The Emperor's Soul rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book ranks somewhere in the middle of the books I've listened to. The story is so-so. It is rescued by the amazing reading.

If you’ve listened to books by Brandon Sanderson before, how does this one compare?

It ranks somewhere in the middle of Brandon Sanderson's works. Like Neil Gaiman, Sanderson excels in creating fully fleshed and believable fantasy worlds. Perhaps because of his association with Robert Jordan, Sanderson specializes in the nominally medieval societies still powered by horses. In this story, Magic (or science) is wielded by various skilled craftsmen and is expressed as a form of art. Reproductions are not by Xerox, but rather by skillful manipulation. Our heroine is a manipulator of "souls", and her job is to craft the most challenging object of her craft, while under the most restrictive and brutal environment she's ever worked under.

While the world, and its magics are captivating, most of the supporting characters (like the captain of the guards) are very one dimensional. The story is completely predictable, and poorly echoes the Shawshank redemption.

Fortunately, the narration is so good that the listener is lost in this world for just a little while. I left hoping for a more substantial story set in this world.

Have you listened to any of Angela Lin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first Angela Lin performance for me. Will look into her other books.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

You have a hundred days in captivity to rebuild the emperor's soul. Succeed or fail, you die. Go.

A great story for a ride or afternoon

I am a huge Sanderson fan and his style and themes are readily apparent in this story. I found the the setting and premise refreshing and interesting amid his varied works of epic proportions.

If you’re craving a touch of Brandon Sanderson, this will hit the spot!

Extremely Entertaining

Loved this story, a short listen.
The author, Brandon Sanderson, has a remarkable tale to tell.
My favorite part of the story is how Sanderson describes what makes up the soul and how the soul's memories of life's experiences, thoughts, intelligence that can be forged.
The main character is the soul forger who has been captured and is forced to do her fantastic magic under duress by those who would want to control the Emperor in the end, with the Empire in tact. She is better than those who hold her to the task.
The story has a beginning that is difficult to grasp at first, typical fantasy. But once the listener begins to understand how the forgery will work, the results are entertaining, with action and adventure included in the end.

Enjoyable and Engrossing

I used to say that I’m not a fantasy fan, but perhaps I am. I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in Shai’s plight and marveled at the Sanderson-created world and its possibilities.

Maybe because this is a novela, I felt less time was spent on the minute, stage-setting details of the "world", which allowed us to get to the heart of the story sooner. I like that aspect of this being a novela; at the same time, I would have loved for this to be a series. I want more Shai!

I thought the narrator's voice was ideal for Shai and that she did very well with the other characters as well, making each one distinguishable.

A very enjoyable and engrossing listen - even if it is fantasy! ;)

Great but short!

I loved this story but I was sad when it was over. I wanted the story to keep going.

The Emperor's Soul is a glimpse into our own soul.

Brandon Sanderson has done it again!

As I read The Emperor's Soul, I reflected upon my own life and who I am. The events that have shaped me and my opinions of myself and the world around me. Do we not all have some of the forger within us? Do we not reforge ourselves everyday, anew? If not, we are missing an opportunity. An opportunity to become more and to grow and to increase in knowledge and understanding. Or, we could choose to be one of the pets of the blood sealer. We could be things that are acted upon but never to act for themselves.

It is our decision, but decide, we must!

This book is the perfect balance of artistic storytelling and interesting characters with a splash of adventure.

wonderful

Perfection in a petite gem. I’ll admit this is my first Sanderson book, and I’m grateful for it. I haven’t been drawn to read his full size books to determine if I’m interested in his writing. This was compact enough, and well constructed enough, to draw me in to complete the reading and check out more Sanderson.
Angela Lin’s narration perfectly complements this story.

Excellent Novella

Sanderson masterfully paints a beautiful picture of this world in such a short space. Once again, he exudes originality in a magic system rich with suspicion, moral conundrum and artistry. The narration was spot on. Sanderson proves he is as talented with shorter forms as he is with epic faantasy novels.