Title: The Emperor's Soul Author: Brandon Sanderson Published by: Tachyon Publications Published on: October 10, 2012 Pages: 175
No matter how good you were, someone was better. Live by that knowledge, and you would never grow so confident that you became sloppy.
-- Day Two
Another day, another review, another Brando. Yayy!
Still in my ultimate mission of finishing off Brando's books (Cosmere, in particular), this review is about a novella I should've read eons ago but yanno how easily distracted one Delvirah can be. Anyways, still remember Brando's first published book which, despite its weaknesses, is still breathtakingly awesome (at least for me)? Yes, Elantris! The Emperor's Soul takes place in the sem planet as Elantris, i.e. Sel, but in a different region, with a sliiightly different magic system.
Compared to other Brando's novellas, I'd say The Emperor's Soul is quite thiccc. When I read it in my beloved e-book read with all too small font, the number of pages is 101. Considering Perfect State is about 50-ish pages and Sixth of Dusk is 70-ish, Brando had loads more space to dig deep into this world and especially towards its characterisation.
The story begins with our main character, Shai, who was pondering her fate in prison. Shai was a Forger, i.e. someone who could make a copy of basically everything by understanding the character, personality, and history of said thing. Hmm, this is a lot harder to explain in words. Let me try to use example. Say, you have an old, broken table with cracks here and there. With her power, Shai could convince said table that it was shiny and new.
What, convince? Personality? Dhee, you do realize a table is a thing, right?
Yup. Hence, the philosophy in this magic system is that even things have their own soul and history that it would remember. I may not have explained it well, but trust me once you read what Brando said it all makes sense.
Shai was imprisoned because she was caught in the act of stealing an antique and very precious painting. When we visit her, she was waiting for her execution. However, when the soldiers came for her, instead of being executed she was instead being brough to a room where the Advisers gathered. These were old men who acted as some sort of prime ministers and actually ruled the kingdom in the name of Emperor. But instead of one, we got three. Or was it four?
As it turns out, Emperor Ashravan was murdered by a group of people trying to assassinate him. Technically, they suceeded: Ashravan was brain-dead. It was his wife who died. But, if the news that the Emperor had been brain-dead was spread, there would be chaos and the Advisors would most definitely be chaos due and most likely coup d'etat to overthrow the Advisors because Ashravan had no heir.
This is where Shai came to the picture. As a Forger, she was asked to Forge the Emperor. The problem is, Forging a living thing, what more a human, had been close to impossible. But Shai had no choice: either this or death sentence. She had 100 days.
What Shai didn't expect was how she would get carried away in this project, which she initially intended to leave halfway to save her arse. Along the way, she learnt who Ashravan truly was and slowly resolved to really set things right by him. With Gaotona at her side, the only Advisor who wasn't corrupted, they grew close and began to respect each other. Gaotona became her mentor.
Thing is, Shai still wasn't sure if she could successfully Forge the Emperor that she would be left alive.
EGGLYSIS
The Emperor's Soul enjoyed many benefits to having more pages as compared to other novellas I mentioned earlier. Very technical, I know, but one can't deny that with more pages comes more character development hence more love and understanding towards the characters depicted.
When I first picked up this book, I had no expectation. It's just something to pass my free time with. Until Brando decided to grip us readers with his characterisation. Shai had a moral dilemma -- she's not all bad, but you can't also say she's an all-round good person. One thing for sure is that she was very, very clever in reading the situation and someone's true motive behind the smiles. She was an opportunist, wouldn't do anything if she didn't stand to gain anything. But unexpectedly even for her, she wanted this project to succeed so badly, not for herself, but for Ashravan because he intrigued her. How one Emperor whom she always considered as tyrannical actually was an idealist and had the potential to be better, yet situation didn't allow him to. How she slowly grew fond of Gaotona, whom she wanted to manipulate, and considered him a mentor.
Overall, The Emperor's Soul...
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