The release date for the English version of 'The Emperor's Soul' by
Brandon Sanderson is Oct 2012. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection also has it accessible.
In this intriguing story set in the same universe as the well-known book Elantris, a heretic thief is the empire's last chance.
Shai is a Forger, a foreigner with the ability to magically rewrite any item's past in order to reproduce and recreate it perfectly. She has one chance to redeem herself before she is executed for attempting to seize the emperor's sceptre. Shai will try to give the nearly-dead emperor a new soul, even if her captives see her talent as a forger as an abomination.
She learns the actual nature of Emperor Ashravan and how to take advantage of it by delving deeply into his life. A true emperor loyalist is her last hope for an ally, but councillor Gaotona has to go over his preconceptions in order to see that Shai's fake is both an artistic creation and a deceit.
This expertly constructed tale, full of magic and political intrigue, explores the essence of a living being.