"The Emperor's Soul" by Brandon Sanderson (novella; 2012)
**Very pleasant intro to the current reigning king of "hard" fantasy. If you're curious about Sanderson, this is where to start** Much has been discussed on the difference between "hard" and "soft" science fiction. Hard science fiction is one in which the author sat down and worked out the science for the novel's futuristic technology. These authors tend to have the mindset of predicting the future, or at least future technological trends. Meanwhile, soft science fiction generally isn't bothered with this, the futuristic setting is just that--a setting for the story the author wants to tell. That's not to say that "hard" scifi is serious and "soft" scifi is fluffy (Le Guin in particular was more than happy to park herself in the "soft" category while still churning out timeless, enduring classic works) However, this distinction works in fantasy as well. There is "soft" fantasy in which the magi...