Legion

Last updated on: October 11, 2012 at 11:01 am by Jeff Miller

Legion 2012-10-11T11:01:44-05:00 Jeff Miller

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Legion is a new novella by Brandon Sanderson who is best know for his epic fantasy novels. I’ve been quite impressed by his storytelling but usually his novels also have epic page counts. So when I first saw this novella I wondered how he would perform in a medium where you don’t have hundreds of pages for character development. Right now the audiobook version on Audible is available free for members, though the Kindle price is about right for a novella.

The story follows Stephen Leeds a man with multiple personalities that somewhat live together. He acts as a detective of sorts and converses with his inner characters who all have different skill sets. These personalities also seem to have their own problems and phobias and communication difficulties among them. For those familiar with Michael Flynn’s Spiral Arm series that started with “The January Dance” the character of Stephen Leeds reminds me of Flynn’s character Donavan in many ways. Leeds is quite aware that he is not sane and that these inner personalities are not real, he has just learned to use his problem to good effect. His understanding of his problem and how he interacts with others also provides some light humor throughout.

Part of the plot involves a scientific method that is to be used to prove/disprove Jesus’ resurrection. This plot line has certainly been seen before in regards to time machines going back to Jerusalem, though this plot does not involve this method. When I first realized the direction the plot would be heading I wondered just how annoying it was going to be. The subject of faith and science does come up in a bit of a ham-fisted way, but it seems this was more out of a problem articulating this than a sock-puppet attempt to lay the anti-science meme. I was happy to find that I was not annoyed by how this was resolved.

The novella certainly left me with wanting to hear more from this character and the ending certainly lead to further development. Though also I just want Brian Sanderson to put away all of his numerous side project and just get to work on the next book in The Stormlight Archive which is suppose to come out next year.

Review

Previous Post

October 10, 2012

The Chronicles of Elantra

Next Post

October 11, 2012 The Casual Vacancy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Bible Study Bulletin Board Catholic Church Excerpt Faith-y Stuff Funny Stuff Good Deals Listening Now Patheos Book Club Personal Reading Challenge Podcast Alert Random Bookishness Resources Review Uncategorized Well Said What I'm Reading

Select a Month January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz