Legion: Skin Deep
Ratings10
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings10
Average rating4.1
Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the new story begins, Leeds and his “aspects” are hired by I3 (Innovative Information Incorporated) to recover a corpse stolen from the local morgue. But there’s a catch. The corpse is that of a pioneer in the field of experimental biotechnology, a man whose work concerned the use of the human body as a massive storage device. He may have embedded something in the cells of his now dead body. And that something might be dangerous…
What follows is a visionary thriller about the potential uses of technology, the mysteries of the human personality, and the ancient human need to believe that death is not the end. Legion: Skin Deep is speculative fiction at it most highly developed. It reaffirms Sanderson’s place as one of contemporary fiction’s most intelligent—and unpredictable—voices.
Featured Series
3 primary booksLegion is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1999 with contributions by Brandon Sanderson, Max Epstein, and 2 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
I am a huge fan Sanderson's prose which manages to be both witty and tense at the same time. In Legion, Sanderson takes the interesting concept of a mental disease as a form of super power. The super sleuthing through multiple hallucinations is an interesting plot device. I can see this novella working well as the basis for a tv series! It has echoes of Joss Whedon's Doll House in its structure.
Ultimately I am looking forward to continuing the series. The premise opens up plenty of interesting possibilities and the novella format means they are presented in nice bite size chunks.
I was excited to continue the story of Steve and his ‘aspects' in this second Legion novella, and I certainly enjoyed the story and characters once again, but thought that the payoff wasn't quite as good as the first one. Don't get me wrong, it is still definitely worth reading and right up until the end I was invested and interested in everything that was happening, but when I got to the end, I guess I expected something a little more than I got. Not to mention I was hoping there would be more to the end of the last one explained in this volume and it never was. Despite those quibbles, it is still quite a good short story full of mystery and again some interesting concepts, leaving behind some of the more ‘magical' stuff that Sanderson is known for and going for something a little more sci-fi and techy was actually a breath of fresh air. Overall worthwile if you enjoyed the first one and of course anything by Brandon Sanderson, even when it doesn't quite meet all your expectations, is still pretty darn good.
