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.
His 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 …
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.
His 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.
A fun short novella by Brandon Sanderson. Took me an hour or so to read. The many lives of Stephen Leeds are intriquing to say the least. Will continue to read through the omnibus. Next up is Skin Deep.
Great setup and wonderful characters, but the ending leaves a few too many open questions
In the aftermath of [b: Oathbringer|34002132|Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)|Brandon Sanderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507307833s/34002132.jpg|23840254] I needed another quick dose ... this was a fun novella that makes me think that Sanderson for some reason is extremely interested in multiple personality disorders.
I am sure I‘ll read more about Mr. Legion soon.
Reasons I don't read short stories, just when the become intriguing there all over.
Reasons I love short stories when I read a good one, you're left with so many possibilities running around in your head.
That went by a lot faster than I anticipated. a quick, and non-stop story. but, I felt it was too short. it cut out right as the action hit it's peak and explained the twist in the denouement. definitely not Sanderson's MO. I'm curious to see how the second one stakes up.
Another fun worldbuild from Sanderson. I really enjoyed the concept of a genius who doesn't want the burden of being extraordinary and develops a unique way of getting what he wants. I look forward to the sequel!
4.5 stelle
sono proprio curiosa di sapere come continuerà la storia :)
Really great short story from Sanderson. The premise of multiple personalities working together to solve problems combined with a mystery plot really worked for me.
This is a short story/novella by Brandon Sanderson, a writer who manages to create a brilliantly original 'magical' system.
In this book there is no magic. Well, no real fantasy magic-y magic. The idea is still brilliant and original.
Stephen Leeds, the main character, has hallucinations. He sees and interacts with other people, people who aren't there. They live in his mansion and every one of them has a unique specialty. One is a history buff, one a gung-ho gun-nut, one a megalomaniac photographer and one of them is a schizophrenic . And there are many many more.
To Stephen "Legion" Leeds these people are very real, to the rest of the world they don't exist. He isn't schizophrenic though, nor is he suffering from DIS. He is just a normal, sane, man, but his hallucinations are a whole different ballpark.
Together they are for hire to solve complex mysteries. …
This is a short story/novella by Brandon Sanderson, a writer who manages to create a brilliantly original 'magical' system.
In this book there is no magic. Well, no real fantasy magic-y magic. The idea is still brilliant and original.
Stephen Leeds, the main character, has hallucinations. He sees and interacts with other people, people who aren't there. They live in his mansion and every one of them has a unique specialty. One is a history buff, one a gung-ho gun-nut, one a megalomaniac photographer and one of them is a schizophrenic . And there are many many more.
To Stephen "Legion" Leeds these people are very real, to the rest of the world they don't exist. He isn't schizophrenic though, nor is he suffering from DIS. He is just a normal, sane, man, but his hallucinations are a whole different ballpark.
Together they are for hire to solve complex mysteries. And that's where the story starts.
I usually don't read short stories anymore. Mainly because they aren't in audiobook format, and often because they just don't interest me anymore. Anything written by Brandon Sanderson interest me though, so I dove into this novella. It is very short, only 18.000 words. I finished it within an hour, I think. From the first paragraph it captured my attention and wouldn't let go until the very last words. I hated that it was finished, this is a story that left me begging for more.
Stephen is a very interestingly written person. His hallucinations are terrific and Brandon managed to create a surprising depth in the most important ones.
The plot itself isn't brilliant. To be honest, I couldn't exactly retell it if I tried :-) That doesn't matter. It was immensely entertaining, and that's what I think is the most important thing in a book. The concept of a camera well, flash actually that captures the past is nice and interesting. He neatly deals with the physics making something like that possible.
I really hope Brandon will one day return to this story and make a full book out of it. Or a series of books. And with 'one day' I obviously mean 'yesterday', because I want to read more about this interesting person. Well, only if he at the same time hurries a bit with Words of Radiance, of course, because that's one of the books I'm most looking forward to.
This book receives a full five stars. It's fresh, original, engaging and most of all, really leaves me wanting more, which is always a good sign.
has potential
