Best Plot I've Ever Read

[Hornbein]

I recommend The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson (2012). I picked up this book used expecting to kill some time with a potboiler but instead got the best plot I've ever read. When the heroine is in a very dangerous nearly impossible situation and has to make a desperate ingenious escape, the escape really is desperate and ingenious. The author's worldbuilding is both original and tight, both of which I say are rarities.

 

[berkeman]

When the heroine is in a very dangerous nearly impossible situation and has to make a desperate ingenious escape, the escape really is desperate and ingenious. The author's worldbuilding is both original and tight, both of which I say are rarities.

Can you say what the situation was and what her solution was? (in Spoiler tags) I was not able to see that in the Wikipedia article that I found with a search. Thanks.

 

[DaveC426913]

I read the Goodreads blurb on it.

This is set in a fantastical analogue of medieval China?

 

[jedishrfu]

Sanderson also wrote the last few books of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series after Jordan's death and at the behest of his widow.

Both men were prolific authors of great fantasy.

 

[jedishrfu]

For @berkeman


In the end, Shai...

(transmission lost @$#&*...)

(channel terminated, shutting down)

 

[DaveC426913]

For @berkeman


In the end, Shai...

(transmission lost @$#&*...)

(channel terminated, shutting down)

 

[Hornbein]

I read the Goodreads blurb on it.

This is set in a fantastical analogue of medieval China?

Sort of. That's not how I look at at.

 

[DaveC426913]

Sort of. That's not how I look at at.

That was a question, based solely on my perfunctory scan of the blurb.

Not sure if it is a China with magic, or if it is a wholly fictional land that's based on China.

 

[Hornbein]

It strongly reminded me of isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy in style. I'd say wholly fictional with a nicely done Chinese flavor. The plot could have been in old Europe. Not your typical fantasy novel, that's why it took me by surprise.

I own and have used a chop(Chinese seal). In Japan you can buy them from a vending machine that carves you one on the spot. It's use is legally binding. I once worked with a guy who had to fly back to China to put his chop on a document.

 

[Hornbein]

Can you say what the situation was and what her solution was? (in Spoiler tags) I was not able to see that in the Wikipedia article that I found with a search. Thanks.

She is imprisoned, under 24 hour guard, forced to do a secret task, and is smart enough to know promises of reward are phoney, she will be executed once it is finished. The escape is complicated and depends on her skills in magic and psychology, both of which her jailers are very aware and doing their best to neutralize. There was no simple way out.

I like the way the magic is a technology with strict limitations. Very well thought out, which I say is the exception.

 

[Ibix]

Sanderson also wrote the last few books of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series after Jordan's death and at the behest of his widow.

I have to say this was the only Sanderson I read for a long time, because I thought it misfired quite badly. I've only read one other of his which I enjoyed a lot more.

 

[DaveC426913]

I like the way the magic is a technology with strict limitations. .

Read a book many years ago where a programmer woke up in a magical realm and told he was now a magic -user.

"For i equals one to ten!"
"Fireball!"
"Next!"

"While monster-size greater than zero!"
"Monster-size equals monster-size minus ten percent!"
"Loop!"