"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 magic is the setting, not particular explained, just enjoyed.  And then there's "hard" fantasy, or whatever you want to call it, in which the author sits downs and works out the rules of this fantastic world.  The magic system, in these kinds of books, is as defined as any real-world science, and done properly it can give depth and character to the entire world.  In fact, in a book like "The Emperor's Soul", I'd say the magic system itself is almost the main character

So, let's talk about this book, and about Brandon Sanderson in general.  He's unquestionably the current standard-bearer for "hard" fantasy.  Amusingly, I mentioned him as an example of this genre back when I reviewed Nghi Vo's "Siren Queen" as one of the very first posts on this blog, and am just now getting around to reviewing a Sanderson book

For fans of Sanderson, his world-building is second to none, and it's what makes his novels really stand out.  In addition to an almost Tolkien-level of history and backstory (ok that's an exaggeration, no one touches Tolkien.  But still), he creates fantastically detailed magic systems across multiple series.  These systems are fantastic and fun, and they allow the reader to feel like they are actually learning something, mastering an new art.  And of course, there are twists and turns, and unexpected tweaks, because in addition to being an organized world-builder Sanderson is a pretty damn good author

"The Emperor's Soul" is a short one, a novella with basically two major characters and honestly readable in an afternoon if you're ambitious.  Certainly, could get it done over a weekend.  (as an aside, I think it would be fantastic as a stageplay.  Just, I'm just saying)

(also, I'm tagging this as Standalone, even though it technically takes place in the world of some of Sanderson's other novels.  Really, you can read it on its own no problem)

The setup is quite elegant, and it's driven by the book's main system of magic, which is called Forgery.  Inspired by East-Asian seals and stamps, a master Forger can great a stamp that, when applied to an object, rewrites that object's history.  Even within the novel, this magic is often understood as merely transforming an object, but it's more subtle than that.  Our main character Shai, a master Forger, explains repeatedly that it's about creating a story, mapping out (and then subtly rewriting) an object's history, in tune with that very object's soul:

Attempts to Forge the window to a better version of itself had repeatedly failed; each time, after five minutes or so, the window had reverted to its cracked, gap-sided self.

Then Shai had found a bit of colored glass rammed into one side of the frame. The window, she realized, had once been a stained glass piece. It had been broken [and] rather than repairing it as it had been meant to be, someone had put ordinary glass in the window and left it to crack. A stamp from Shai in the bottom right corner had restored the window, rewriting its history so that a caring master craftsman had discovered the fallen window and remade it. That seal had taken immediately. Even after all this time, the window had seen itself as something beautiful.

Or maybe she was just getting romantic again.

Done properly, a stamp can last for hours or even permanently, turning an object not into a completely new one, but into simply a different version of itself

And thus, metaphor happens.  Yeah, you didn't think this was just going to be about objects, did you?  Because if objects are the products of their history, god knows that applies even more to humans.  So much of what we do and who we are is created by an uncountable number of events in our past, some large and some small:

There was rarely an obvious branching point in a person's life. People changed slowly, over time. You didn't take on step, then find yourself in a completely new location. You first took a little step off a path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away. Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.

Thus, the highest level of the Forger's art:  Human Forgery.  The ability to rewrite a person's history to turn them into a different version of themself, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" style.  And that's where the plot of the story picks up

The Emperor has been the near-victim of an assassination attempt, and is left in a coma as a result.  Desperate, his advisors are willing to indulge in what is to them the greatest of heresies, Human Forgery, in order to heal him.  They turn to Shai, imprisoned for attempted art theft, and demand that she create a stamp which will heal the Emperor

They of course don't realize the monumental task they are asking of her.  Because in order to create a stamp that will "take", she needs to understand the Emperor's full history--all those tiny events that added up to create the person he is today.  That's where the novel begins

I loved this book, among other reasons, for the elegance of its structure.  As I said above, this novel has basically two characters:  Shai, our imprisoned Master Forger; and Gaotona, the Emperor's most senior advisor and longstanding mentor.  The book is more or less a series of conversations between the two of them, as she learns the Emperor's history and uses it to craft more and more intricate stamps, working towards the final one that will eventually be used.  And yes, I suppose a third significant character is the Emperor himself, because as Shai converses with Gaotona as to what formed the Emperor, Gaotona himself is forced to confront where exactly the idealistic young man he once knew became the vain and self-important man who ended up sitting on the throne

Where we go from there is a fun ride, I give this book my highest recommendation.  Just as Shai finds clever ways to understand the history of the objects around her and Forge them into better versions, the book asks us to understand our own histories and wonder how we can be better versions of ourselves

I loved this book

Control yourself, she told herself forcibly. Become someone who can deal with this. She took a deep breath and let herself become someone else. An imitation of herself who was calm, even in a situation like this. It was a crude forgery, just a trick of the mind, but it worked.