The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

 

Return to the Cosmere world of Sel in the novella of The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson. The story of Elantris and this one both take place on Sel, but are not overtly connected and don't rely on each other narratively (at least at this point). This novella was recently released in the collection of stories, Arcanam Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson.

In The Emperor's Soul we are introduced to a new magic system and a new civilization. We meet Shai who is a thief and a Forger, who is being held captive for theft by a group of nobles who need her to restore the Emperor's soul to him. The Emperor was attacked by assassin's, and while he still lives, he is in a coma and unable to speak. A bargain is struck with Shai that if she is able to restore the Emperor, they will let her go.

The magic system that Shai is able to use is called Forging. This requires that the Forger learn all she can about her subject and recreate memories, habits, opinions, etc. and put them into a soulstone stamp so that the individual can use this soulstamp on a daily basis to remind them of their lost memories.

Most of the story takes place in Shai's room that she is being imprisoned in while creating the soulstamp for the Emperor. While this sounds kind of boring, it's actually filled with great character development, political intrigue, and interesting world building. The story takes place over a period of 90 days, but moves really fast and has great pacing.

While The Emperor's Soul is only a novella and takes place in such a confined area, there is so much information learned about this newly introduced Rose Empire of Sel. The devil is in the details as they say. I guarantee you'll be reading this one over and over to try and figure out how it not only connects with Elantris, but the rest of the Cosmere.