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Skin Deep (Legion #2)
by Brandon Sanderson
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the new story begins, Leeds and his “aspects” are hired by I3 (Innovative Information Incorporated) to recover a corpse stolen from the local morgue. But there’s a catch. The corpse is that of a pioneer in the field of experimental biotechnology, a man whose work concerned the use of the human body as a massive storage device. He may have embedded something in the cells of his now dead body. And that something might be dangerous…

Why can I say with with absolute confidence that Skin Deep is an highly satisfying SF thriller?

Let’s start a quick investigation…

Evidence #1 : ♟The plot is brilliant.

“Yeah, great, whatever,” J.C. said.
” Emotions and metaphors and stuff. Look, we’ve got a problem.”

Captivating and fast-paced, this thriller kept me enthralled from the beginning to the end. I didn’t guess who the bad guys were, well, to sum-up, I hadn’t any clue of anything before Stephen.

What have we got here?

– Some computers genetic engineers who drove some weird experiments and lose a corpse – and we follow Stephen and his aspects while they investigate about it.

“Freaks,” J.C. said, shifting uncomfortably.
” This is going to be about zombies. I’m calling it now.”

Noooo. That’s more of a data encoding process you know? Completely harmless, I’m telling you.

“Speak dumb person, please,” J.C. said.”

Evidence #2 : ✎ The writing  is compelling, precise without never being heavy, making our reading experience pretty addictive.

“It was an unintended result that is perfectly managable, Laramie said, ” and only dangerous if used maligny. And why would anyone want to do that?”
We all stared at him for a moment.
“Let’s shoot him,” J.C. said.”

Evidence #3 : ✌ The characterization  is So. Damn. Good.

That’s crazy when we think about it, but these hallucinations are more flesh-out than many characters we find in a lot of books. I loved every single of them, and especially J.C who appears to be completely delusional but whose comments and reactions were so enjoyable I couldn’t help but root for him. And pat his head sometimes. Brave J.C.

Icing on the cake, the fact that this book deals with insanity makes the reader properly think about what being crazy really is.

At what point does the society decide that we’re crazy?

When we have hallucinations?
When we provide them rooms to live in?
When the differences between you and them are becoming increasingly blurred?

I’ll let Stephen gives the speech here :

“The longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve realized everyone is neurotic in their own individual way. I have control of my psychoses. How about you?”

Conclusion : That was quite impressive! There’s better be another book someday.

You can find the fun picture here.

Legion (Legion #1)
by Brandon Sanderson
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Stephen Leeds, AKA 'Legion,' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society.

Now, that was pretty awesome.

Wow. Stephen Leeds is the most intriguing and fascinating character I’ve read about for a very long time. Slightly disturbing – but in a good way, if that’s possible, as he kept my interest with his multi-layered personality that we can’t easily simplify. Now that I think about it, he gives a whole new meaning to the word multi-layered.

“The thing is, I’m really only the reclusive part. And maybe, admittedly, the jerk part. When you have that mix, people generally assume you don’t have morals either.”

I was hooked at this : “I didn’t know what would happen if one of my hallucinations shot me.”

Oh, yeah, that’s on page two. That was that striking. *nods vigorously*

Moreover, that was fast-paced, and the thriller kept me enthralled, despite the fact that what enraptured me the most was definitely his hallucinations.

Can I have some hallucinations too? What? I’m so jealous right now. I totally want :

– Ivy to tell me if my pupils are lying
– Tobias to help me remember of all the books I read – and to help me during some dinners, yes, that would be great. Oh, and he could totally be useful as a travel guide.
– Audrey to run writing investigations.
– Kalyani or any translator to – well, The possibilities are endless, right?
– Armando because. Hum. Not sure I want him actually. I don’t think that I have room for Megalomania in my life.

“Can I shoot him?” JC asked me softly. “You know, in a place that’s not important? A foot, maybe?“

– Sigh. Yeah, JC, you can come too because you cracked me up. But NO GUNS IN THE HOUSE. No, I don’t know how we’ll deal with intruders. No, even not that little one. I said no gun. End of story. You can have darts if you want. I know that’s not the same thing, I – Oh, whatever.

“I’m not going more mad, ” I said. “I’ve stabilized. I’m practically normal. Even my non-hallucinatory psychiatrist acknowledges that.”

Basically, it is a short story which does not fall into the traps of the lack of characterization or others shortcuts, and that’s why I loved it. Oh, and because that was deliciously funny.

Oh, and am I the only one to think about Bruce Wayne? Must the mansion. Or an obsession. And, of course, Sherlock. Sigh.

What is it that decides you’re insane by the way?

Edit : For all the French readers out there who want to read in French for a change, I ordered the French version for my BF and you know what? The translation is pretty good (yeah, because that’s not always the case, by far). So no excuses. Read it.