The Emperor's Soul
by Brandon Sanderson · first published 2012
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
A short, self-contained novella with a clever magic system and a satisfying ending. It serves as a low-commitment entry point to Sanderson's Cosmere, quick to finish and a good taste of his style.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
WINNER, 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella! Nominee, 2013 World Fantasy Award for Novella! From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor's Soul showcases a fascinating magic system as the clock ticks down for a condemned criminal. 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
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…read anything else first. I think there are 4 books now with 10 planned, I haven't read the latest one yet but I enjoyed the first three. It's been a couple of years but I remember really liking The Emperor's Soul, and it's a $5 ebook novella so you're not investing too much time or money to check it out. DRM free from Kobo, not sure if that's the case via Amazon/Kindle.
on “Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter” ↗…http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/may/20/fanta... And I would cite Brandon Sanderson as a good example (and good counter-example to the original article) - smaller ideas get novellas (Legion, Emperor's Soul), medium-sized ideas get novels (Elantris, Rithmatist, Warbreaker), epic ideas get large novels in series(Mistborn, Way of Kings). All excellent, by the way...
on “Fantasy must shake off the tyranny of the mega-novel” ↗Within the cosmere universe, there is a one off novella that Sanderson wrote called "The Emperor's Soul". It is quite good, and it won a Hugo award. I very much disagree about his worlds lacking authenticity. It seems you have some strange suspension of disbelief resulting from Shallan's dialogue (which…
on “Earthsea – A Rival to Tolkien and George RR Martin (2015)” ↗I was also surprised not to see Sanderson on the list. The Emperor’s Soul may be my favorite book of all time however I do think it is technically classified as novella.
on “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade” ↗Emperor's Soul is a fantastic book along with Warbreaker. The world building Sanderson does is amazing even in his shorter books.
on “Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson” ↗Sanderson fan chiming in to promote The Emperor's Soul over Mistborn as a primer. From another comment: "It's a short novella, so you can finish it in a 2-3 hour reading session. And it will give you a taste of his writing style as well as a metaphysical…
on “Sanderson shares intimate details about contracting with publishing industry” ↗