Legion: Lies of the Beholder

Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is the series’ hero, 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. The third entry in the series, Lies of the Beholder, begins with two seemingly unrelated events: the disappearance of Armando, one of Stephen’s many “aspects,” and an unexpected cry for help from Sandra, the woman who, many years before, helped him learn to live with his condition. These events lead Stephen, along with several of his aspects, to a sinister high-tech firm specializing in advanced methods of human incarceration.

Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is the series’ hero, 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. The third and final entry in the series, Lies of the Beholder, is perhaps the strangest, most unpredictable installment to date. The story begins with two seemingly unrelated events: the disappearance of Armando, one of Stephen’s many “aspects,” and an unexpected cry for help from Sandra, the woman who, many years before, helped him learn to live with his condition. These events lead Stephen, along with several of his aspects, to a sinister high-tech firm specializing in advanced methods of human incarceration. The result is a visionary meditation on the mysteries of the human personality. Like the volumes that preceded it, Sanderson’s latest is original, challenging, and utterly absorbing. In Stephen Leeds, a man constantly struggling to understand and control his own divided nature, he has created one of the most compelling heroes in recent popular fiction. Like the best of Sanderson’s work, Lies of the Beholder is something special. It is the clear product of a master storyteller, and it is not to be missed.