Book Review-The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

Review: The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson

No one does magical systems better than Brandon Sanderson. That’s a pretty absolute statement but one that I am comfortable with¹. This novella is an exploration of a magical system and of what I means for each of us to be human.

Boom, yeah that’s a big premise. But as Shia works out how to counterfeit a human soul her exploration of the complex origins of that individuals personality is both beautiful and revealing. We are complex. That small word said to us by the person we liked as a pubescent teenager sometimes sticks with us long into adulthood. How many of us pursue life and career to somehow earn the approval of a parent we’ve sought since childhood?

Yeah. It’s a short but deep book. Well short for Sanderson.

If you are a reader of other Cosmere books you’ll recognize the magical system from the final book in the Wax & Wayne cycle, where it appears in the hands of a Ghostblood. But the exploration of how it functions is carried out here. So worth reading.

It’s also a fun exploration of the result of small decisions and how they could have played out differently.

Normally I point people to Mistborn, or Tess of the Emerald Sea as good entry points to the Cosmere. But this is a good entry point as well, and shorter than either of those.

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