From the bestselling author of the Mistborn Trilogy and co-author of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series comes the tale of a heretic thief who is the only hope for the survival of an empire. Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Though condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Despite the fact that 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 from the attack of assassins. Delving deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that her forgery is as much artistry as it is deception. Skillfully deducing the machinations of her captors, Shai needs a perfect plan to escape. The fate of the kingdom lies in one impossible task. Is it possible to create a forgery of a soul so convincing that it is better than the soul itself?

Wow, how did this one slip by me? Before you get too excited (or heated because you’re desperately waiting on the sequels to The Way of Kings, this is a ‘short novel’ from Sanderson, about 30,000 words, so less than half the length of The Alloy of Law. Now, with that out of the way, it looks like this story is set in Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, meaning it will have ties (though not necessarily directly) to his other novels in that universe, including The Way of Kings and Mistborn, and should fit into the overarching narrative he’s constructing throughout his various series. The ‘novel’ itself sounds like it has all the juicy magic that we’ve come to expect from Sanderson.

And how gorgeous is that cover? I’ll be sure to post a larger version if I come across one.

The Emperor’s Soul will be released by Tachyon Publications (a great coup for the small publishing house) in December 2012.