Legion by Brandon Sanderson

If television networks are allowed to ... remake (?) Sherlock in a million different ways *coughElementarycough*, book authors should be given the same right, right? I'm not saying this is based on Sherlock but if it was, it's a pretty good and original one. Contradicting, I know. Let me elaborate.

The Sherlock comparison was made because Stephen Leeds is a rich, eccentric guy, hired to solve mysteries by different organizations and entities (that's pretty much the gist of the story, too). What separates the guy from the usual crime fighting, mystery solving Sherlock remakes is that Leeds is a schizophrenic. Saying he was eccentric was actually an understatement. Whereas Sherlock's knowledge in various subjects are stored in his head (he deletes some stuff to make room for new ones, if I remember it right) and he uses deduction in solving mysteries, Leeds assigns an "aspect" to a specific subject he learns. Simply put, he's a genius who has gone crazy. He is well aware that he has hallucinations, though, so it's not like a dissociative identity disorder ... or however you spell that.

I actually didn't understand the book's blurb. I just know Brandon Sanderson writes a lot of scifi and fantasy but the reason I picked this up was because I saw most of his books were rated 4stars and I wanted to know why. Well, now I know why. I love how his descriptions and ideas are vivid and narrative but at the same time ... entertaining? I don't usually associate narrative with entertaining. Maybe it has something to do with his hallucinations. I guess I picked the right first book to read. I enjoyed "meeting" Leeds' different aspects. If I made my own aspects I would also imagine them with different ethnicities and persona depending on their specialization. With accents and all that shit. That must be fun.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I took off one star because [of the part where Tobias (one of the hallucinations) said he hasn't heard Monica's theory before. That Leeds make up the hallucinations because he doesn't want the burden and responsibility of being brilliant. I mean, come on, a lot of different organizations have been publishing studies about him for years and no one's ever thought of that? It's like, the idea/scene was thrown there to be a filler. But that's just me. I still think the story's brilliant.