Disclaimer: I received a preview excerpt of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So the Preview Excerpt for Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds allows us to once again love the fact that Sanderson is a great writer with intricate world-building and characters that are complex. Now we all have to wait for the book to be released in mid-September of 2018. argh!

This is a pretty solid novella. I have a hard time really enjoying the shorter format of a novella as even a succinct story always seems to lack the quick punchy satisfaction of a short story while not providing the draw of a longer more extensive treatment of the characters and premise. Of the novellas I've read however, this is probably one of the best ones and in some ways overcomes those qualms. As I've come to expect from Sanderson, the premise is comprehendible but interesting with a lot of depth that allows the story to play off it in a way that hits that basic level of "awesome," while allowing for a colorful and fun narrative.

Not surprising, my favorite thing about the book is the exploration of Stephen's different personalities both in their characterization and how Stephen is able to utilize them to solve problems. This feature is quite clearly Stephen's most defining psychological trait, which isn't surprising given how encompassing it is for him to have a host of different characters completely interactive in his perceivable world at all times. But beyond this, Stephen's personae also provide much of the story's cast in a paradoxical sense (given that none of these people are "real" in a sense). However, the vivid appearance and capacities of these personae and the depth of their personalities make them far more intriguing a concept than your run of the mill "inner voice" trope. To further expand on this, Stephen uses these personae essentially as a magical power that allows him to know and be capable of all kinds of things. In classic Sanderson fashion, it's an incredibly flexible power, but one with interesting constraints. This dynamic allows for much of the book to consist of just playing with and testing the limits of Stephen's abilities in a way that's rather engaging while still providing a springboard for exploring the brief plot of the story itself.

Ultimately, my biggest complaint, not surprisingly, is that the story feels a bit short. I consider this a good problem to have as generally, even with many novellas I like, I'm okay putting it down once I'm finished. With this one, I was eagerly looking forward to the next installment, which is great since he’s since continued the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the Preview Excerpt. The opinions herein are my own.

Great read. I found Stephen's outlook refreshing and am curious to find out more about the mystery woman he's looking for. I'll be reading more Stephen Leeds stories from this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds - Preview Excerpt is a brilliant peek at the intriguing work of an author, Brandon Sanderson, I’ve not read before. His fans are rabidly loyal and now I understand! Includes the not-to-be missed novellas Legion and Legion: Skin Deep, published together for the first time, as well as a brand new explosive finale to Stephen Leeds' story, Lies of the Beholder. 5/5

Pub Date 18 Sep 2018

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#Legion(previewExcerpt) #NetGalley

Reread of "Legion" as part of Sanderson’s upcoming Skin Deep, which will collect all three Legion novellas (the two previously published ones and a new, concluding one) under one cover. Upping my rating from 3.5 to 4 stars on reread, because the psychological elements in this story are just so clever and enjoyable.

Legion is a nifty science fiction/mystery novella, with the detective role played by Stephen Leeds and his legion of hallucinatory, brilliant alter egos. In the Skin Deep preface, Sanderson comments: "Psychology-as-superpower is a recurring theme in my works. I’ve always believed that the personality traits that make us each distinctive (the way we process information, the way we motivate ourselves, the way we shelter our psyche from the bad while learning to cherish the good) can be either our greatest strengths or our most dramatic limitations… The premise was simple: What if a man’s hallucinations proved beneficial to him in his life, rather than the typical distraction?"

Such a fun concept!

The mystery in this first story involves a search for a mysterious camera that can take pictures of people and events at any time in the past. Various shadowy groups get involved in the fight to control the camera and its inventor, pulling Stephen Leeds into the case. The time-shifting camera is a device that's been used before in at least a couple of classic SF works that I know of, Isaac Asimov's short story "The Dead Past" and "E for Effort," a novella collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume 2B. Legion doesn't really add anything new here, from a science fictional point of view. The story points out some of the problems with the theory of time travel (branching paths of reality; Earth not being in the same place in space as it was in the past you are traveling to, or taking pictures of) ... but it doesn't ever try answer those questions.

But the real attraction of this story is the main character, Stephen, and the hilarious and colorful cast of characters hallucinations surrounding him: J.C., the trigger-happy Navy Seal and weapons expert; Armando, the trick photography expert who thinks he's the rightful emperor of Mexico; Tobias the schizophrenic historian and philosopher; Kalyani the linguist; and so on. Stephen's hallucinations all are brilliant in different fields, all have their own different mental issues, and all are utterly real to him (even though logically he realizes they aren't real, somehow Stephen is able to compartmentalize that realization). Someone points out to Stephen:

"You create these delusions so that you can foist things off on them. Your brilliance, which you find a burden. Your responsibility -- they have to drag you along and make you help people. This lets you pretend, Mister Leeds. Pretend you are normal. But that's the real delusion."

But real or not, Stephen's legion of invisible experts are a whole lot of fun to read about.

As a teaser, it did its job to intrigued me to want to read the whole series.
The main character’s personality and his ‘creations’ are at least very ingrosing and so it was jarring when I realize the “Preview Excert” means just the first few chapter of the book and not the whole book. The book just stopped just when the story got interesting. Not fun.
Good thing my local libray has the book itself and now I can finish.

Brilliant as always. I have read the preview version. I would be waiting for a real thing to come out. This is a detective sci-fi trilogy that centers around a person whose hallucinations actually help him in a real life.

Yeah, I'm Interested in More

The book from which this preview is taken consists of the first three Legion novellas. This generous excerpt appears to be the first novella in its entirety. Now that's a generous excerpt.

Based on this it is certainly the case that the hero, the premise, the pace, and the tone all whet the appetite for more.

On the Sanderson scale, with the last volume of "Wheel of Time" on one end and books like "Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians" on the other, this looks like it will fall a little to the "Alcatraz..." side of the scale, but that's fine by me. There aren't a lot of really good slightly tongue in cheek spec-fi tales out there and this looks like it will most definitely be a fun one.

A good intro into this character from the Great Sanderson, Leeds mind is an interesting place not quite schizophrenic but close, and he uses those characters to help solve both his own and his clients problems.

SPLATTERGEISTToggle Sidebar
July 7, 2018
REVIEW: LEGION(EXCERPT) – BRANDON SANDERSON
Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It’s his hallucinations who are mad.

A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any new skill, vocation, or art in a matter of hours. However, to contain all of this, his mind creates hallucinatory people—Stephen calls them aspects—to hold and manifest the information. Wherever he goes, he is joined by a team of imaginary experts to give advice, interpretation, and explanation. He uses them to solve problems… for a price.

Stephen’s brain is getting a little crowded and the aspects have a tendency of taking on lives of their own. When a company hires him to recover stolen property—a camera that can allegedly take pictures of the past—Stephen finds himself in an adventure crossing oceans and fighting terrorists. What he discovers may upend the foundation of three major world religions—and, perhaps, give him a vital clue into the true nature of his aspects.

Legion-comp-y-1



It feels like I’m rereading an Eion Colfer novel with Artemis Fowl and his gang of underground fairies and dwarves having mutated and evolved into something…else. Something more mature, more aware of his own egomania, and definately quicker on the uptake for action than his distant (can I say that?) but similarly-minded counterpart.

As they say, it can only get better from here.

Unfortunately I was only allowed to read an excerpt of Sanderson’s latest crazy work of writing as the proper, fully developed trilogy-in-one set is yet to be released.

As the guy does with literally every book he’s written, Sanderson has created a world filled with mystery and wonder, given us complex characters, plenty of intrigue, and of course a plot that only he can pull off with his signature flair.

This is only an excerpt, it's the first novella in the book and introduces us to the main character. I'm not going to go into the plot because it's not the full book, but I will say that it's Brandon Sanderson so you're guaranteed an amazing world and even better characters!!! I'm so ready to read the rest of the book. Brilliant preview :)

This is preview excerpt. It's an amazing introduction to series. World building and characters are amazing. Brandan Sanderson did an amazing job. I definitely checking the full book.

This excerpt contains the first novella in the Legion series - our introduction to Stephen Leeds and his many aspects.

It's a fascinating introduction. We're dropped in at the deep end - only slowly do you realise that Stephen may not be interacting with people the rest of us can see. As the story goes on and we learn more of his abilities and limitations, the more intriguing he becomes; is this some sort of power? How exactly is he creating - or summoning - these aspects?

The central mystery had to be good to keep up with such an enigmatic main character(s); and it kept my attention without relying on flashy but insubstantial tricks. All around this was a great introduction to the series, and a collection I know I'll be picking up.

Wonderful read! I loved the atmosphere, the characters and the plot.
Look forward to reading the entire book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Since this is just a preview excerpt, I'm going to forgo my usual reviewing style and just tell you what I think. If/when I read the entire book I'll go into greater detail.
This preview contained the first of the three novellas that will eventually make up the full book. As such, it stands on its own. merits as a story and leaves the reader interested in more. Honestly, this story reads more like a television pilot than as a book. It introduces us to the characters Stephen Leeds, (a genius who can learn any skill, but copes with his manifold talents by creating a number of hallucinations people who are the ones who actually know the skills in question) and some of his many hallucinations. It introduces us to the set-up, (Stephen and his hallucinations solve mysteries using their accumulated skills) and provides us with a twist (which I won't spoil). If someone told me that this book was written as a pitch for a tv show, I would believe them.

Having previously read the first and second novellas in this series, I can hardly wait for the third - which I didn't even know was coming until now!

Stephen is a genius - but his way of managing his genius can be a little weary to some. He can learn anything because he has people and voices in his mind - hallucinations - always on hand to give advice or produce the skills he needs in that moment, whether it's the ability to shoot a gun or know the years of training a doctor would. And so what does he do with it, as Sherlock Holmes did? He gets people to pay him for it.

And it's all handled so very well.