The Emperor's Soul

By: Brandon Sanderson

Narrated by: Angela Lin

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

Lovely and unexpected

I loved this book for several reasons. It looks into an artist's soul in a way that is illuminating. It looks into who we could have been if we were someone else. And it's a look at court life that is probably quite accurate if distasteful. It made me wish the world worked the way that the writer described.

This is very possibly Sanderson's finest work

Brandon Sanderson is at his best in this short story. He uses a magic system called soul forging as a means to explore the various elements that define a personality. This seems to be a theme Sanderson likes to examine quite frequently. Shai, in the Emperor's Soul is able to redefine her own personality similar to other Sanderson protagonists, specifically Stephen Leeds from Legion, and Shallan from Stormlight. Because this is a short story less time is spent on defining the magic system. There is still quite a bit of exposition as Shai explains what she can do to one of her captors who is skeptical of her abilities. Some people do not like this approach, but I think it is employed effectively in this story. This story is set on the same world as Elantris, but is in no way connected to that novel. I would love to know what happens to these characters after the events of the short story. I'm not sure a sequel is warranted, but I am still curious what happens to them.

Clever and engrossing

I really enjoyed this and will now look for other books by this author. The premise is unusual, thought-provoking (but not overly so if you know what I mean - not pretentious) and well executed. Very diverting to listen to, with exciting bits.

A good short one!

I am not a Brandon Sanderson devotee, but I enjoyed this one. He did a fine job of presenting some decent depth to a fantasy world in a short span of time, which is a difficult thing to do. I don't know if this is related to any of his many worlds, but if it is, you don't need to read them first, or even afterward. This does a good job of standing alone.

The performance was decent. I'm a woman and yet I find it difficult to listen to female narrators; somehow I find the way women do male voices a lot more grating than the way men do female voices. This isn't really a knock on her -- the main character is female, so there's really no argument that she was appropriate -- it's just a personal thing.

It's not an airtight story, but it's a good, quick escape that's worth a listen.

Not a good narration

I am not a fan of this narrator. She sounds like she is always on the edge of tears.