Legion: Lies of the Beholder

by Brandon Sanderson
148 pgs  (Legion series #3)

Legion: Lies of the Beholder is the third and final installment in Brandon Sanderson's series of short novellas featuring Stephen Leeds, a brilliant (and possibly schizophrenic) man, whose unique mental condition allows him to create and interact with multiple personalities, each of which possesses a highly-specialized expertise or skill set, which he refers to as his "aspects."

This time around Leeds has to deal with two crises happening in his life simultaneously. The first is the disappearance of Armando, one of his aspects. The second occurs when Sandra, a woman from his past who shares Leeds's condition, and who taught him how to live with it by creating his aspects, contacts him with a cry for help.

All three stories in the series are fantastic, fun, quick reads. But for me, the best part of each of them was their overarching concept. I read them separately as they were each published, but all three just came out together in the omnibus Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Legion: Skin Deep

by Brandon Sanderson
207 pgs (Legion series #2)

When Sanderson published Legion a couple of years ago, I read it in about an hour and enjoyed it a lot. But I finished feeling unsatisfied. It was a short novella, but the idea and the character of Stephen Leeds were so good, that I finished wanting much more. Fortunately, Sanderson wasn't done and he continues Leeds's story with this second--and thankfully, twice as long--follow-up book.

Leeds is a fascinating character. He has the ability to become an expert in any subject in a very short amount of time. After he's studied a subject, his expertise in that area is stored in a separate and distinct personage, or aspect as he refers to them himself, that appears to him whenever he needs to call up information to use it, and that personage counsels or directs him. To outside observers, Leeds appears to be out of his mind, talking to himself and interacting with these other entities in his mind. But his neurosis has also placed him in high demand, both by those in the psychology world who want to interview and study him, and by those who have problems that only he seems to be able to solve.

In Skin Deep, Leeds is called upon to find a stolen corpse, a corpse that possesses information others are desperate to obtain. Leeds needs to call on many of his aspects and put all of their lives on the line as he gets caught up in this fast-moving story that could only have come from the mind of Brandon Sanderson.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Legion

by Brandon Sanderson
87 pgs  (Legion series #1)

Stephen Leeds is a very sought after man. Many seek him out because they want to study him, others seek him out because they need him to provide the type of help no one else can provide.

Stephen's brain plays constant host to an ever-increasing number of hallucinations. To him, these hallucinations are quite real, and he knows that no else can see or hear them. They are a collection of hundreds of separate and distinct characters, each one being an expert in a particular field or on a specific topic. Anytime Stephen needs to "consult" with an expert, his brain manifests a new hallucination who is immediately able to provide him with everything he needs to know on the subject.

The idea behind the story Sanderson tells is brilliant and the story itself is great. My only complaint is that it's far too short. It's a novella and only takes an hour or so to read, so I don't feel the need to summarize the plot. I know I've mentioned before how much I enjoy Sanderson's books and I understand that most of them require a time committment to read. This one does not. Pay a couple of dollars to download it and get a sample of Sanderson's creativity and the broad depth of the worlds he creates. I'm confident you'll enjoy it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆