Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books, 2018), containing
Legion (2012)
Legion: Skin Deep (2014)
Lies of the Beholder (2018)
My grandson, with some assistance from my brother, has been pushing me to read Brandon Sanderson. I've been intimidated. Me, intimidated by books? I read voraciously, averaging five and a half books each month since I began keeping score in 2010. I read fiction and non-fiction, short books and long books, books for all ages—though not of all genres: you'll find little or no Romance or Horror on my lists, and I loathe Coming of Age novels. But Sanderson doesn't appear to fall into any of the hated genres; why am I intimidated?
It's probably the commitment involved. They want me to read the Mistborn series: six books, running between five and six hundred pages each. Really, I could do it. It's less than two months' worth of reading; the issue is what books would I not be reading in that time? (That's two months' worth of reading for me; my grandsons seem to be able to polish off these books in a day or two.)
So I started small, with The Rithmatist. Fewer pages, and just one book. By the time I was finished, I was anxious to read the sequel, but since that hasn't yet been written, I'm safe for a while. I won't go through the reasons getting Mistborn has eluded me at the library, but its time will come. Instead, the last time I was browsing the library shelves I found Legion. It's actually three books, but all together only 352 pages, so not intimidating at all.
Not intimidating, but gripping. The premise—a man of unparalleled genius whose mind keeps him from descending into madness through the creation of hallucinatory people who contain and control his knowledge—is unique as far as I know. I see an opportunity here for a very interesting TV detective series.
Sanderson calls these his "most personal" stories. I think he would be a fascinating person to know.
We know now what Jonathan will be doing in April! This series is not in any library in New Hampshire. But of course, at only 300 pages, it won't take up much of the cousin time. (:
For Jonathan? An hour and a half maybe? :) I'll make myself a reminder to check it out again in plenty of time.
Oh, the presumption! I had no idea what Jonathan would be doing in April... But he did get this book for Christmas, and we have both read it now.
Interesting idea, isn't it?
