This review will be divided into two: The Emperor’s Soul & The Hope of Elantris. Both are novellas from the world of Elantris. (And I am warning you that this might be a long review so bear with me.)
RATING:🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑
Published: Nov. 04, 2012 (First published on October 11, 2012)
Publisher: Dragonsteel Entertainment
Format: e-Book
Pages: 144
“You can’t always write what you know – not exactly what you know. You can, however, write what you see.”
SYNOPSIS:
A novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Emperor’s Soul showcases a fascinating magic system as the clock ticks down for a condemned criminal.
When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.
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.
Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape…
THOUGHTS:
Brandon Sanderson’s mind is truly brilliant. Reading this book does not feel like it is a novella. It is short but the story is well written. It does not feel rush and even though we only get to see a glimpse of the world that the main character lives in, I did not feel like the story is lacking big time. But I wished that the book was longer because I want to know more about the world and the magic system which is from STAMPS.
Talking about the magic system, it is quite complex and it is confusing at the beginning (like the first 2 chapter) because there is no preamble as to how it works. However, throughout the story, we get to see the whole process of how the magic that the main character used works and all the process that comes along with it. There are other magics at play in this story, although we only get to have a glimpsed of it.
And even though the story is short, I feel like it speaks a deeper topic. It is truly knowing one’s self or soul. And it makes me question as to how one could truly know someone’s soul? Each person shows different part of themselves to different people and you think you know someone but you only know a part of them. A person indeed is a curious thing. You can never figure them out no matter how much you study them. And I think that is the biggest problem that the main character stumble upon in her task.
And I think if I were to truly sit down and contemplate about it, this will be a book reflection rather than a book review.😂 So all in all, this book is amazing. And you don’t need to read Elantris to read this novella because it is a different story entirely. So do check it out.
RATING: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
Published: 2006
Publisher: Brandon Sanderson (Published online)
Format: e-Book
Pages: 25
THOUGHTS:
(Nope I did not forget the synopsis. I just don’t feel like putting the author’s description about this book because it’s too long.)
The Hope of Elantris follows the story of the Elantrians and what happened before and during the event that happened in the New Elantris near the end of the book. But it focuses more on the children in the New Elantris.
I like this short but informative story about a certain even that happened in the novel. I was really intrigued to know what happened and how the Elantrian might feel about everything that’s going on. I think this novella is a must read if you have read Elantris. Plus Brandon Sanderson has told this story and managed to omit to brutal scenes that I did not want to know about.🤣
So that’s it for this novella review! I hope you will both give this a shot.
Until next time.
Maria❤
A Daughter of Parchment and Paper 
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