Book Reflection: The Emperor's Soul

I'm not going to pretend that I'm even a little bit qualified to write a review on a book that's won a Hugo Award, but I was super impressed by this one! I know I want to talk about / reflect on books I've read more often. After reading The Emperor's Soul, I found myself thinking about its deeper meaning and was inspired to start writing my thoughts. So here it goes!

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Dates Read: 12/9/24 - 12/11/24
My Rating: (5/5)
Storygraph Description:

Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Although condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor's scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Despite the fact that her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead from the attack of assassins...

SPOILER WARNING

I'm not a fan of spoilers, so spoiler warning if you haven't read the book yet! I'll also be talking pretty loosely about other Sanderson books I've read and the Cosmere as a whole. So if you don't want Cosmere spoilers, don't read ahead.

Summary using SPOOC

I'm a few pages into The fantasy fiction formula by Deborah Chester and the concept of the SPOOC is introduced early on. It's an acronym for Situation, Protagonist, Objective, Opponent, Climax and guides writers at the beginning of their story. I'm not writing The Emperor's Soul, but I thought using a similar framework could provide a more succinct summary:

Situation: There is an attempt on the life of the Rose Empire's Emperor - they are able to physically heal him, but he is otherwise comatose. Shai, a prisoner, is asked to heal the Emperor by forging a new soul for him.
Protagonist: Wan ShaiLu (Shai) is thought to be one of the best forgers alive. Though Forgery is seen as an abomination by her captors, she views it as a beautiful art.
Objective: Shai's objective is two-pronged:
1. Complete her task of restoring the Emperor's soul—she sees it as an opportunity to create a Forgery that is viewed by the masses
2. Escape her imprisonment - this begins as her main objective, but we find out later on that she is willing to take risks in order to complete Objective A
Opponent: A group of political leaders called the arbiters (especially Arbiter Frava) offer her freedom for forging a new soul for the Emperor. Shai suspects that they actually plan to eliminate her once the task is complete. She also has 100 days to complete her task - otherwise, she will be executed by the other factions who took the throne.
Climax: A few days before the deadline, Shai manages to forge a new soul for the Emperor and begins to escape. She risks captivity again by stamping the new soul on the Emperor to see if her Forgery works. Ultimately, she finds that her soulstamp restores the Emperor to his previous self and she is able to escape.

That's the gist of it! I'll dig in deeper to the bits that really interested me below.

Story Elements

Characters

The majority of this novella is told from the POV of Shai, but that doesn't mean the other characters aren't interesting as well. I'll comment on the characters that really stood out to me.

Wan ShaiLu

When we meet Shai in the first chapter, she's already a master forger. We find out she was caught trying to steal the Moon Scepter, an important device coveted by the Rose Empire, by replacing it with a forgery. She cares deeply about her craft, but I think the most interesting forgery that tells us a lot about her character is the one she does to her mind:

Shai to herself

Control yourself, she told herself forcibly. Become someone who can deal with this. She took a deep breath and let herself become someone else...It was a crude forgery, just a trick of the mind, but it worked.

Bars! This isn't magic powered by a Shard ¹ (even if Shai actually thinks it's due to her ability to Forge), it is a display of Shai's will and mental fortitude. I know there are times in my life where I tell myself "I'm going to get through this" or "I'm capable of X, Y and Z", and it seems to actually help. It's not a fantasy superpower, but I think it is a real-life superpower to be able to do this and do it well. I love that we get this insight into Shai. It makes her relatable and shows her vulnerability, even if this particular dialogue is to herself.

We also find out why Shai developed the will and mental fortitude that she displays throughout the story. I thought this particular insight into her character was important:

Shai remembering what Uncle Won taught her

No matter how good you were, someone was better. Live by that knowledge, and you would never grow so confident that you became sloppy.

As she works to forge the Emperor's soul, Shai becomes suspicious that there is a second Forger that the Arbiters have that may be able to finish the job. Her suspicions motivate specific actions - like keeping a vague journal of what she's done and repeatedly expressing how difficult this task was to derail the second Forger from taking over.

It's insight into her past like this that explains why Shai is who she is. I think back to Vin from the original Mistborn trilogy, who we meet at one of her lowest points in life. When we meet Shai, she already displays the confidence and will that we see Vin eventually develop. Even though her past isn't explored thoroughly (a novella naturally won't allow for this), we get enough through tidbits like this.

Arbiter Gaotona

Gaotona is probably one of, if not, the standout character to me in this book. He's part of the political faction that put the Emperor on the throne, and we find out later that he and Ashravan have a complex relationship.

Shai to Gaotona's claim that you can't manipulate with genuineness

"You can't? Is that not how you've made your entire career? Speaking honestly, teaching people what to expect of you, then expecting them to be honest to you in return?"

From the beginning, you get the sense that Gaotona is different from the other arbiters. I think it's his honesty and genuineness that set him apart, as explained by Shai above. Gaotona truly cares for Emperor Ashravan, and I can't help but see the relationship between the two of them as father (Gaotona) and son (Ashravan). A disrespectful, unappreciative son to add to it. But isn't that the reality of some relationships? I know it made me think of my own father and how I could treat him better and catch the times I might embody Ashravan's attitude.

Gaotona's reaction to reading Shai's soulstamp for Ashravan

True art was more than beauty; it was more than technique. It was not just imitation. It was boldness, it was contrast, it was subtlety.

Gaotona is a man who is confused by Forgery, he doesn't understand why someone wouldn't create their own original work if they had the skills to forge like Shai did. However, he is open to learning what it's about, learning why Shai does what she does. When he finally understands the beauty in the work that Shai does, he weeps.

I think about our experiences when we find that a deeply-rooted belief/perspective of ours is changed. How we might feel similar emotions to Gaotona in this scene. I also think about our resistance to change, and how certain situations might decrease that resistance. Gaotona will do anything for the people he loves, which puts him in a situation where he is exposed to a point of view he originally deemed heretical. Without the love for Ashravan guiding him, he might not have changed his views on Shai, Forgery, or Art as a whole.

Emperor Ashravan

We don't get too much actual exposure to a conscious Emperor Ashravan, but we learn a lot about his past through Shai's task of forging his soul. Early on, Shai gets access to his journal, and I thought this particular insight was helpful for some background:

Ashravan from one of his journals

I have decided, at long last, to agree to the demands of my faction. I will offer myself for the position of emperor, as Gaotona has so often encouraged.

We learn two things from just this one quote:

Ashravan didn't always want to be the Emperor
Gaotona was constantly pushing Ashravan for the position

I talked about the potential father-son relationship between Gaotona and Ashravan, and I think this pushes that narrative even further. As an Asian American, I know how pushy parents can be and how they want to impact your career, goals, etc. Kids feel pressure to live up to expectations, and it sometimes creates resentment in the form of "My parents really wanted me to be a..." or "I wish I was able to pursue...".

When Ashravan is healed by Shai, we get a glimpse of actual interaction between him and Gaotona. We see that resent come out, and Ashravan makes a comment that he only keeps Gaotona around because he feels a sense of obligation towards him. This is a father-son relationship that is broken, and I'm impressed that Sanderson was able to capture the nuance of these broken relationships in a few sentences / interactions.

Magic System

Coming into the novella, I knew this book was set on Sel. I was expecting some tie back to Elantrian magic, but I was pleasantly surprised to find new magic systems. I probably sound like a Sanderson stan at this point, but I always find that the various magic systems he creates are well thought out. I'll speak on the two different types of magic that I saw in the book, and I might even be missing a few!

Forging

Thankfully, I read this novella through Arcanum Unbounded and that helped build some context for what Forging is. How I understand it, Forgery is a magic that is powered by the Dor (see Elantris), and it allows users to rewrite the history of people or objects. The most important prerequisites to Forging are:

A soulstamp
Knowledge of the history of the object / person

Shai to Gaotona

“If you were the wall, what would you rather be? Dreary and dull, or alive with paint?"

Although the main plot (and arguably many of the themes of the book) relate to the application on people, there are many examples of using the magic on objects. By the end of the book, Shai's palace room looks vastly different to what it started at in the beginning because of her forgery.

This particular use of the magic didn't appeal to me as much as soul forging, but thinking of the different things you'd be able to do in real life is pretty cool. Imagine if you could reforge a beat-up house into something beautiful? Or imagine if you could reforge the toy your toddler broke? Bye bye tantrums

Shai

There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take on step, then find yourself in a completely new location.

I found the ability to reforge a soul super refreshing in the context of the different systems in the Cosmere. So often the protagonist in a novel has the ability to wield lightning, or manipulate their strength, or some other really cool ability. This particular power (soul forging) has so many deeper implications for the user. You could change your entire history. Make it so you were a master martial artist, or someone who knew everything about farming. As long as it was plausible for your life to go down that road, you could do it.

Shai herself had five different essence marks, soulstamps she would use to reforge herself depending on the situation. The most intriguing one was her "way out". One where she would forget her life as a forger and live a more simple life of farming and cooking. I'm sure we all find ourselves at different times questioning if our profession is exactly what we want to do. Maybe I should speak for myself. Either way, I found myself reflecting on the concept of being forced to live a simpler life because that's all you knew. And I wonder how many people would jump at the opportunity if they could.

Bloodsealing

Our only real exposure to Bloodsealing is through the Bloodsealer that is hired to ensure that Shai doesn't escape her captivity. I might have missed some important details, but it seems that the guards that watch Shai aren't particularly fond of Bloodsealing. They weren't fond of Forging either, but they seemed to dislike the Bloodsealer more.

Shai on Bloodsealing

There was no subtlety to what the Bloodsealer did; they didn’t traffic in subtlety. Instead of skill or artistry, they used tricks and blood. However, their craft was effective.

Bloodsealing is similar to Forging in the sense that it utilizes stamps powered by the Dor. The difference with Forging seems to be in the materials required and the uses described in the novel:

Blood is required as ink
Used for warding or re-animating bones

I didn’t find this magic system as well developed, but I don't have any qualms with this because of the length of the novel. I think Sanderson likes for different forms of magic to come from the same thing (see Allomancy, Feruchemy, Hemalurgy), so I understand the purpose this serves to contrast Forging.

Setting

The novella takes place in the Rose Empire, which is on Sel - the same planet as the book Elantris. We don't really learn too much about where the Rose Empire is in relation to the known parts of Sel from Elantris. I think from the map below, we can assume that it's on the same continent as Teod (where Princess Sarene is from) and to the North / North East of the Sea of Fjorden.

It's not super clear to me when this book takes place, but when Shai is making her escape she almost runs over a "southern ambassador in red priest's armor". From just freshly reading Elantris, this is a pretty subtle call out to a Derethi Gyorn. I previously came into the novel thinking that the Fjorden Empire and the Rose Empire didn't know of each other, but it seems like that's not the case. Perhaps Wyrn is starting to make his move here after failing in Arelon!?

Other than that, we're pretty scoped to the setting of this book being in the capital of the Rose Empire. And Shai spends most of her time in captivity, so we're not able to learn much more about the Rose Empire and its surroundings. However, it sounds like Brandon might be writing some Elantris sequels so perhaps we’ll learn more about the nations north of the Fjorden Sea then!

The Good & The Bad

This wasn't the shortest (see The Hope of Elantris) or longest (see The Well of Ascension) Sanderson offering I read this year, but I think it was the best paced one. Or maybe I just like the novella length? Either way, this is near the top of the list for me for books I've read in 2024. With that being said, there were still some things I (an amateur reader and unexperienced book reviewer) thought could be better.

The Good

The characters - for such a short novel, I thought the characters had an incredible amount of depth
Forging - such a fun magic system with different applications
Pacing - I was hooked from the beginning and didn't want to put the book down!
Conclusion - it was satisfying and left me wanting more at the same time

The Bad

Bloodsealing - could be my lack of understanding, but I didn't see that it served much purpose other than contrasting Forging
Tricking the guards - Shai tricks the guards by forging a letter from the Bloodsealer. I wasn’t entirely convinced by the plausibility of the effect the letter had and confused that the guards would do something to the bloodsealer knowing how vital they were to the job
The other arbiters - we don't find out too much about them, and they weren't as important to the story for being some of the most powerful people in the empire

Conclusion

I had to really think about some of the things I thought could be better - it's hard to critique an award winning author when you haven't written anything substantial yourself. It even feels weird to call these things "bad", I mean maybe they were done on purpose? It's just the things that didn't sit well with me after some reflection.

Anyways, I really enjoyed this book and I think it's going to be one of the first books I recommend to people looking to get into Brandon Sanderson / Cosmere. That spot was previously held by Mistborn: The Final Empire, but I think this one is so much more digestible and accessible. Especially for people who don't want to commit to a > 500 page novel.

I still don't know enough about Shards to be dropping this in so casually. I read Mistborn: Secret History far too early and I know they exist and that they are responsible for the various magic systems in the Cosmere ↩