Reviews

Legion by William Peter Blatty

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apstrikesback's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

njdarkish's review against another edition

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3.0

My experience with this book was kind of interesting. Obviously, as most readers of the work, I had some pretty high expectations for it, seeing as it was a sort of sequel to the (justly) legendary The Exorcist, which is probably the scariest book I've ever read. And the book started pretty strongly, with a mock-crucifixion as part of a murder, so I felt like this might at least come close to living up to its predecessor--
But then it just got slow, which feels weird to say about a 330-page book. The story just started meandering around, spending more time than made sense proving that yes, it had some characters from the previous novel. And then even more time showing that the main character is, in fact, Jewish, by using a constant interweaving of Yiddish in his dialogue. Unfortunately, the effect that ended up having was more of making Kinderman to seem more like a cartoonish Jewish stereotype than a living, breathing character. The book spent long bouts digging into Kinderman's interesting philosophies on God and eternity, but not enough time on the connecting points in his investigation and so I felt quite confused when he started looking into someone-- I didn't see why they caught his attention in the first place. It might have even been in the text, but my mind probably just had it meld in with the Yiddish and naval-gazing.
That's not to say this was a bad book, but it never achieved the greatness that I feel it warranted. Honestly, it was a really cool idea, it just got bogged down significantly during part one, and then in part two the reason for things being resolved got a bit unclear. But generally the second and final part of the novel was quite good. The doctor's letter to the priest that kicked off part two was genuinely creepy and was as strong as any scene in The Exorcist.
So, I guess my final thought on the novel is this: it was a decent horror novel, but if you're going to pick it up know that it isn't to be held to the standard of its precursor.

jdhacker's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

Prefacing this with the fact that I haven't actually read The Exorcist and I think this may have been more disappointing by comparison had I done so.
This is an odd one. Ostensibly a slow burn detective story framing a horror story, its ultimately unclear whether we're talking about demons or ghosts or a psychological phenomena. And in fact I think that's sort of the point. A *lot* of the book is given over to internal and external philosophizing by our main character, Detective Kinderman. If you're buying in and on board for the ride, that's fine, but just a rough estimate here...at least half the novel is theological speculating rather story telling and that's going to fall flat for a lot of readers.
I enjoyed it, both the dialogue and the internal monologue almost felt mamet-like in their pacing, sometimes it feels like Kinderman is doing a caricature of himself. Characterization as a whole is handled well, and the the relationships, especially the clear love between our male protagonists, is beautifully portrayed.
Ultimately, it does feel like Blatty was trying to work out some of his own thoughts and feelings regarding the afterlife, supernatural, god, and the meaning of life though, and the maybe that should have been saved for a separate dedicated work.

cynthialwho's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

evaromero's review against another edition

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3.0

Guay pero confuso, jajaja. Cabe mencionar que a mí Kinderman ya me caía regulinchi desde El Exorcista, pero es que en este libro he sentido unas ganas terribles de gritarle "por favor puedes centrarte de una puta vez???". Dios. Lo peor es que en realidad todas sus divagaciones me parecían interesantes, pero a la vez me sacaban muchísimo de la historia de los asesinatos. Para mí este señor es el típico zumbado con TDAH, pero que si te paras a escucharlo dices... pues no le falta razón al tío. Lo que pasa es que si lo pones de detective igual te desesperas un poco. Y luego hay una subtrama que no entiendo que relación tiene con todo lo demás. En fin, mejor lo dejamos aquí, jaja.