Spoilers for Brandon Sanderson’s The Emperor’s Soul,
I was lethargic with reading this short story. I’ve been gradually parsing Arcanum Unbounded between reading Sanderson’s various worlds and while I love the short stories of Edgedancer and The Eleventh Metal, I just can’t say the same for Secret History (which I really didn’t like) or, unfortunately, The Emperor’s Soul.
Unmet Expectations with The Emperor’s Soul
It’s not that I don’t like The Emperor’s Soul, it’s more that I was confused about what was I reading when I started this story. As you can see from my review on Elantris, I absolutely adore the world that this story is set in, and I think that made it harder for me to get into it.
When I opened The Emperor’s Soul in Elantris’ Selish section of Arcanum Unbounded, I expected more that I would recognise from Elantris, and when I didn’t immediately see that, I ended up flicking back to the contents page to check I was in the right section of the book.
I did this for every other page of reading. Then I started flicking about the story, looking ahead to try and better understand what I was reading. Perhaps, more than anything, I was missing a blurb for this story. I knew that The Emperor’s Soul was award winning, so I wasn’t sure what I was missing.
What I can now safely confirm, is that my expectations were what was wrong, and I’m not quite sure whether that could (or should) have been better handled. Was my rough start with Emperor’s Soul a marketing problem? Or just a me problem?
Either way, I was thoroughly disappointed when I saw absolutely zero mentions of Sarene and Raoden, and the further I went along in Emperor’s Soul, the more ‘meh’ I felt about continuing.
At least for a while.
I Don’t Quit on Books
Ok, so that statement isn’t entirely true, but for me to give up on a book, it has to be seriously offensive, not what I was looking for, and long. Giving up on Emperor’s Soul when it’s barely one-hundred pages long would have been an insult to my scholar’s soul. It would have been a defeat.
Now, there are some times where my pride works against me and I finish a book that I really wish I hadn’t wasted time on, but this wasn’t the case with Emperor’s Soul. Over the course of about two months, I read a few pages every week and I finally finished it.
And once I’d accepted that it’s barely related to my beloved Elantris, I was able to settle in and enjoy the story for what it really is; An illegal artist pouring everything into her work—and that’s a story I’m going to love to read.
The Best of The Emperor’s Soul
Of course, it’s more than that, but that’s the aspect that speaks loudest to me. Shai’s dedication to her art is something I would love to replicate. Her ability to control her physical surroundings as easily as she manipulates others is also enviable, particularly when I feel like my own life is so lacking in control right now.
This would have been the perfect story to read over lockdown. Shai spends most of her time locked in one room or another, doing her best to work with what she has, and the small network of people afforded to her. Namely, a couple of guards, her jailor, and a test subject for her art.
In my case, it’s post lockdown in my local area but I have unfortunately few reasons to leave my flat, so the aspect of physical containment still resonated with me, and perhaps inspired me to clean up my flat a couple of times. It’s the least I can do if Shai can turn her miserable imprisonment into a room fit for a princess.
The Ending and Final Thoughts
Shai’s need to see the final truth of her work at the end of the book was nothing short of beautiful. It created a fantastic tension, without breaking the illusion that had she not needed to see Ashravan live, she was smart enough to have gotten out of that situation with far less trouble. It allowed us to continue to see Shai as the brilliant mind that Sanderson paints her to be, but perhaps a little more human for having had such strong desires that eclipse increasing her own chances of survival.
Overall, once I got past the beginning, I really enjoyed reading The Emperor’s Soul, and I can see why so many people like it. I just wish someone had briefed me beforehand that it had nothing to do with Elantris.
Beyond The Spine Reviews 
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