Emperor's Soul, greatest story ever?

[Jorville he/him]

I am curious what other people think about this. I have only read it twice but that's because I can only read it when I am in for a good cry after. I would have to say that if it's not my favorite it would definitely be in my top 3 all time favorite stories.

The interplay between Shai and Gaotona is just amazing. There wasn't a character in the story that I felt was boring or I didn't have an opinion on. The whole thing is just beautiful.

[Stormrunner1730]

It's definitely Brandon's best work language-wise.  While I favor Mistborn and Stormlight because of their scope and characters, Emperor's Soul is a great story.

[Wandering Investor]

Agreed, I favor the others, but Emperor's Soul is a fantastic read, and considering the size, I've probably reread it more times than any other book.

[Toaster Retribution he/him]

I´ll be contrary here: I think it is pretty overrated. Granted, I should probably reread it, but as it is, I think it´s good, but not amazing. I don´t love any of the characters, and the story didn´t do much for me. The magic was cool, and I liked the lore it gave us on Sel, but otherwise, I didn´t find it that great. 

I am happy a lot of other people like it so much, but I don´t understand the greatness, personally.

[king of nowhere]

While I also don't rate it as sanderson's best work, there is one thing I greatly admire: so, the plot was set up with the protagonist having to achieve an impossible task in 100 days. But laws of storytelling state that of course she would succeed, so there was a serious risk of losing any tension. I mean, I never even remotely doubted that the emperor soul would be fixed. Restoring tension to that by all the interplay with the arbiters and gaotona was really well done

[Avandar]

I definitely think it ranks up there for best novella. And I too, as a 50 something-year-old man, tear up every time I read it