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A review by lesserjoke
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson
3.0
This new book collects the three novellas in author Brandon Sanderson's Legion series (technically unrelated to the X-Men character / FX show of the same name, although there are similarities that Sanderson maintains are coincidental). I had read the first two stories previously, but the third has so far only been published in this collection. Individual reviews below:
Legion: A strong introduction to the series, in which a troubled genius hallucinates manifestations of his expertise. These people are invisible to everyone else, but they advise and assist in the hero's work as a consulting detective, here tracking down a camera that can apparently take pictures of the past. Both the case and the character are fun concepts and a refreshing change from Sanderson's usual high fantasy. ★★★★☆
Skin Deep: The plot beats are very similar to the first story, and the new case, which involves encoding computer data into the human genome, feels like the most ludicrous pseudoscience this side of Dan Brown. Most disappointingly, there's effectively no movement on the overall series plot. ★★☆☆☆
Lies of the Beholder: A largely satisfying conclusion, hampered by how little work the previous stories have done at advancing the series narrative. There's a lot of additional backstory that Sanderson has to cram into this one, and not all of it lands effectively. Still, as a final adventure it's a fine send-off to the character. ★★★☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆
Legion: A strong introduction to the series, in which a troubled genius hallucinates manifestations of his expertise. These people are invisible to everyone else, but they advise and assist in the hero's work as a consulting detective, here tracking down a camera that can apparently take pictures of the past. Both the case and the character are fun concepts and a refreshing change from Sanderson's usual high fantasy. ★★★★☆
Skin Deep: The plot beats are very similar to the first story, and the new case, which involves encoding computer data into the human genome, feels like the most ludicrous pseudoscience this side of Dan Brown. Most disappointingly, there's effectively no movement on the overall series plot. ★★☆☆☆
Lies of the Beholder: A largely satisfying conclusion, hampered by how little work the previous stories have done at advancing the series narrative. There's a lot of additional backstory that Sanderson has to cram into this one, and not all of it lands effectively. Still, as a final adventure it's a fine send-off to the character. ★★★☆☆
Overall series: ★★★☆☆