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A review by jdhacker
Legion by William Peter Blatty
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.
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.