Reviews

Legion: A Novel from the Author of the Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

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avalinda's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

angethology's review against another edition

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1.5

"He believed in wonders but not in the impossible: not in an infinite regression in contingencies, or that love and acts of will were reducible to neurons firing in the brain."

I didn't realize a horror—mystery of this type of premise could bore me to death. Kinderman's consistent tirades and rambling make the already wayward plot difficult to follow, although it does get slightly more interesting toward the end.

I also found the comic relief moments/occasional quips by Kinderman strangely misplaced; they just didn't feel organic. The suspense is nothing like The Exorcist, and even with its genre shift in mind, it's just a snooze fest that I trudged through.

charlottedando's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

ajsquilla's review against another edition

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2.0

Not too long ago I read The Exorcist, being a huge fan of the film. I found the novel to be quite enjoyable as it gave you more insight to the characters that surrounded the possessed child. One of these characters, Detective Kinderman, was interesting. While he had a slightly annoying personality, I found it intriguing the way he could talk anyone into circles in an attempt to extract out information. So, I thought Legion would be a fun and exciting dive into this character and at the same time enjoy a supernatural thriller crime mystery.

But instead, I got a very annoying protagonist, with uneven pacing, a slow moving and thin plot and unsatisfying conclusion. For more than half of the book you get very little plot details about the homicide, then Kinderman muses and ruminates about science, religion, intelligence, instincts, and the problem of evil amongst other things, then a sprinkling of plot, then musings, plot, then musings, over and over in this tiring pattern.

The plot doesn't start actually moving until more than halfway through the book. Once the main antagonist is revealed, the answer to the homicide is pretty obvious. Then the author utilizes the famous trope where the antagonist explains his whole evil plan *snore*. The book ends with Kinderman musing, because duh.