Reviews and mentions of Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo award-winning THE EMPEROR’S SOUL keep appearing throughout the web.

A WRITING ROBIN names the story a Top 5 Fantasy Novellas.

This novella does everything right. A compelling character, an impossible expectation, a world of magic and intrigue and a bigger picture that slowly comes into focus. I would say I only wish this was longer except it’s perfect as it is.

The Tunisian site LES ESCAPADES
CULTURELLES DE FRANKIE praises the book.

After reading the 1300-page pavement, THE WAY OF THE KINGS, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL seems very short and reads very quickly. But even in a hundred pages, Brandon comes to concoct us an excellent story, very engaging and yet original while remaining in the mind of the Cosmère.

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In conclusion, I found this exciting novella to read and was delighted to discover a new Cosmere place and new magic. My only regret is that the book is not longer because frankly I would have stayed longer with Shai. But I hope the author will write a story about her because I really want to know what happens to her afterwards. In any case, if you want to know if it succeeds in forging the soul of the emperor and especially to escape the sentence of death then read it.

Translation from French courtesy of Google

Brandon_Sanderson (Photo: Ceridwen [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

FROM KRISTEN’S BRAIN explores, in both video and written form, the books she hopes to tackle in Reading Quest.

Brief summary, for those of you who didn’t read that post: Each person participating chooses a character (to start out as) between the 4 listed above. Each of those characters has specific challenges that take up one side of The Quest Board. Your goal is to travel around the outside of the board, completing the challenges for as many characters as possible, while also completing optional side quests. But, you have to fully complete a character’s path before starting a different character’s path. There are several more specific rules, but those are the basics. Like I said, check the original posts for more of the details.

Below is the quest board. Predictably, I’m going to be beginning as a Mage (and then moving clockwise from there). I’m sure that I’m not going to get around the entire board and complete all of the challenges, but I AM going to create a TBR with options for each and every challenge, which will be updated as I continue along. At the very least, I’m hoping to fully complete the Mage path before the end of the quest.

Expansion: Companion Novel or Short Story

THE EMPEROR’S SOUL by Brandon Sanderson

This is a companion to Elantris that’s meant to be read after it, so I’ll probably end up just reading The Emperor’s Soul right after finishing Elantris. Like I said earlier in the post, I mean to get to a lot more of the side quests than the actual character paths. 

Orsolya Anna Tóth is reminded of a valuable lesson.

I still think knowing when to stop is a valuable lesson: in certain circumstances, you must cut your losses and however hard, gift a fresh start to everyone involved. But maybe my reasoning didn’t really come together because I knew there must be something more interesting and productive I’ve acquired from being in leadership roles. Well, I needed a fantasy book to remind me, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL by Brandon Sanderson. His heroine, Shai, is a Forger and thief of exceptional skill and knowledge.* In moments of the gravest danger she has a mantra, become the person who can deal with this.

For more on THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Alexander Nanitchkov.

Design by Elizabeth Story