Ya os advierto que los 15 euros de inversión que supone el libro (si optáis por el formato clásico) os van a durar bien poco. Dos sentadas si las administráis bien. El problema, por llamarlo de alguna manera, es que las dos historias son francamente adictivas: ‘Legión’ nos entra antes por el ojo, con una frase inicial que debe estar entre las más simpáticas del género: “Me llamo Stephen Leeds, y estoy completamente cuerdo. Mis alucionaciones, sin embargo, están todas bastante locas”. La entrada a ‘El alma del emperador’ es más suave, pero a las pocas páginas ya nos damos cuenta de que estamos ante una historia mejor y más profunda, con un final tan redondo que parece que va a echar a rodar en cualquier momento. El alma del emperador es un relato "corto", corto para ser Sanderson, de unas 150 paginas. Esta historia creada por el magnifico Sanderson, esta ambientado en Asia, ya que como nos cuenta en la nota del autor, cuando vivió allí es cuando empezó a escribir esto. I especially enjoyed the questions raised on the nature of art. Must art necessarily be original, or does the skill of forgery also constitute an artform? Is it possible for a forgery to improve upon the original work? As a master of forgery, can Shai herself be considered an artist? The Bad? This is actually a first. I don't have anything bad to say about this book. There isn't anything I can complain about. I might count its short length as a negative, except for the fact that the story was exactly the length it needed to be. Adding in more scenes would have been unnecessary and would have clogged the story up with things that the plot just didn't need.

Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart,The Emperor’s Soul, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings. This meta article is still missing information. Please help The Coppermind by expanding it. The Emperor's Soul ( Sel) This is without a doubt the best short story I've read in my life. Sanderson proves he's yet again a master at characterization and through this book, we get a glimpse of how he also thinks when writing his characters. It's also a standalone and romance free which was nice. Although part of the Cosmere, it can be easily read if you're new to this world too since it's not related to any of his other books. You can’t always write what you know—not exactly what you know. You can, however, write what you see.” –Brandon Sanderson

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Shai is given an impossible task: to create - to Forge - a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai's only possible ally is the emperor's most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent. El alma del emperador narra como Shai, una falsificadora de entes o elementos es recluida para realizar una reconstrucción de la mente del emperador, el cual ha sufrido un atentado por una facción rival, a lo largo de 101 días. Ambientado en el mundo pseudomedieval de Sel, mundo perteneciente a la novela Elantris, Sanderson nos narra esta historia de gran calidad que derrocha imaginación y fantasía, con un trasfondo muy rico y un mundo construido en muy poquitas páginas. Lo mejor de la novela es la evolución en la relación entre los dos personajes principales de la novela, Shai la falsificadora y el sirviente del emperador, Gaotona. Obviamente, también es maravilloso el sistema de poderes o habilidades que Sanderson describe en este relato, que según tengo entendido, aparecen en futuras novelas ambientadas en el Cosmere.

The Emperor’s Soul is Brandon Sanderson’s Hugo Award-winning novella inspired by his visit to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. Sanderson was duly impressed by the hundreds of thousands of artifacts on display, covering eight thousand years of Chinese history, and he was particularly drawn to the red stamps used by Chinese artists, scholars, and nobility. Sanderson developed a magic system based on these red stamps, giving them the ability to alter an object’s history, thereby recasting its future. With this, the central idea for The Emperor’s Soul was born. Impressive storytelling, unique premise, vivid and immersive prose made The Emperor’s Soul a phenomenal novella that won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novella category justifiably. I totally recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a short and superb reading experience. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Cosmere fan or not, you don’t want to miss this reading this gem.

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Nuestra protagonista, es una Falsificadora, que será "obligada" a falsificar el alma del emperador, el cual ha sido atacado y esta a punto de morir, y aunque quienes la obligan a falsificar el alma están en contra de este método, su interés político esta por encima de todo. Este hecho, de falsificar el alma de alguien nunca se ha hecho y será un gran reto para nuestra protagonista. El alma del emperador sigue la historia de Shai, quien es cautiva y está a punto de recibir un juicio luego de hacerse pasar por una noble de alta alcurnia, falsificar unas pinturas y robar algo del Imperio Rosa. Sin embargo, recibe una propuesta por parte de los árbitros (quienes manejan parte del trono y la política del imperio) que será la única oportunidad para salvarse el pellejo y a su misma vez beneficiarlos a ellos con el mantenimiento del orden y el poder sobre el imperio. A cambio de su libertad, la misión de Shai es hacer una falsificación del alma del emperador luego de que este mismo hubiera recibido un atentado que lo dejó inerte e inservible mentalmente y en el que murió su esposa, la emperatriz. Para ello, debe copiar cada aspecto de la vida del emperador Ashravan, desde sus gustos más sencillos hasta lo más particular como sus actitudes y comportamientos para que absolutamente nadie sospeche de que es una copia exacta o al menos, casi perfecta.

The world feels real, the characters feel real, and they do things for very real motivations. The forgery magic system, and the religion of the Empire that teaches that it is an abomination are both very interesting, and allow for some very interesting discussions on morality and points of view. We go on a fast, very fast paced adventure that manages to also include some complex and intelligent questions such as; the nature of time, Our protagonist is Shai, a master Forger who is caught by the palace guards during a heist. Fortunately for her, instead of being executed outright, the Emperor was recently seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, leaving him alive but a vegetable. The Emperor's closest advisers, despite their repugnance at her skills, are desperate enough to ask Shai to Forge the Emperor a new soul. Shai takes the job because it's better than a short drop an a sudden stop, hoping to find a way to escape while working on the impossible task before her. Nevertheless, the Emperor’s advisors recognize Shai’s unmatched talent and give her one chance at freedom, which involves the greatest forgery of all: recreating the soul of the Emperor himself. Shai is given one hundred days to complete the forgery, the traditional grieving period for the Emperor to mourn the loss of his wife. The Emperor's Soul takes place in an Asian setting. The Emperor Ashravan's wife, the Empress, was murdered. This led to a period of mourning for the Emperor, but one he didn't/couldn't get out of. This has an impact on his psyche, his mental health. The regular healers were found neither worthy nor skilled enough to heal the Emperor. That's where Shai, a Forger, comes in. She was previously captured for stealing and forging the Moon Scepter, a very important and expensive painting. She's offered freedom if she can manage to create (forge) a new soul for the grieving Emperor. The population is kept at bay with excuses, so as not to cause chaos. But the arbiters, whom you could consider the real leaders, like the government, have their own reasons for helping the Emperor through a forger. They want to influence him. So Shai is provided an offer, but not the proper amount of time for this project. All has to be done in three months; a normal period is at least one year, if not two.Again another great story from BS, I could hardly pull myself out of the story to even submit a status update. Whil Shai is an interesting protagonist, the true star of the show is found in the character of Arbiter Gaotona, an old, powerful man in the upper echelons of imperial society. While his colleagues are merely grabbing for retained power, the soul of Gaotona, the oldest of them, is much deeper than that.

One of the things I love so much about his writing is the size of the books, and the knowledge that he’s a prolific writer, so I never have to wait too terribly long for more of the story. And yet, somehow, this tiny novella is now one of my favorite things he’s written, right after The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. It was beautiful and profound and made me think deeply. I just wish there had been more of it. This is going to be less of a review than a “deep thoughts inspired by a story” session, so bear with me. Die Geschichte spielt zwar wie Sanderson angibt auf der Welt Sel, wo auch Elantris stattfindet, hat mit dem Buch allerdings sonst nichts weiter zu tun. Sobre los dos libros de esta reseña. Del primero ("Legión") decir que me lo leí del tirón. Y del segundo ("El alma del emperador"), que no me lo leí del tirón porque no tenía tiempo de hacerlo, pero que siempre que podía "me escapaba" para leer ni que fuera un poquito más. Así de enganchado me han tenido. Y aunque suene contradictorio, por un lado me quejo de la pereza que da empezar una saga/trilogía, y ahora me voy a quejar de que es una pena que estos dos no fueran más largos (aunque "Legión" tiene continuación, por ahora en inglés). Me habría encantado leer más "aventuras" sobre los protagonistas de los dos libros. Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skilful magic. Condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor's sceptre, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Though 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.El alma del emperador es un relato un poco más largo y complejo. En él, el alma de distintos objetos puede ser "modificada" mediante unos artilugios especiales llamados "sellos de alma", siempre que se conozca su pasado y su historia, pudiendo así modificarlos para que ese elemento se "vea y se sienta" de otra forma. Nuestra protagonista, Shai, deberá intentar restaurar o "falsificar" el alma del emperador, que ha sido atacado y dejado en estado casi vegetal, para que todo su imperio no caiga en el caos. Para ello tendrá un tiempo muy limitado teniendo en cuenta la dificultad de la tarea, y será vigilada constantemente, ya que los hombres del emperador la consideran una aberración... Pero una aberración necesaria en esos difíciles momentos. The Emperor’s Soul takes place in the Rose Empire on the same world as his epic fantasy novel, Elantris. Although The Emperor’s Soul connects to Sanderson’s greater Cosmere universe, it is a standalone story, and hence it is unnecessary to read any of his other work to understand and appreciate this novella. Two independent short stories: Legion, which seems to exist in a separate version (see here), and The Emperor's Soul, of which there's also a separate version (see here). The latter is a stand-alone story set in Sel, the world in which Elantris: Definitive Tenth Anniversary Edition also is part of. I've yet to read this one, as well as The Hope of Elantris and his Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set. Stephen has the ability to call new hallucinations at will for certain purposes and when he becomes mixed up in a top-secret situation which went wrong, he uses the help of his many 'friends' to solve what has happened and work out what to do...