The Digital Renaissance: Review: The Legion

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Review: The Legion

The Legion by Melissa Delport
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Legacy was clearly a setup for this book; and if you made it here, the issues the I had with The Legacy (Legacy Series, #1) {1st person POV - present tense, Drama, et. al} didn't bother you as much as they did me. This review grades on a curve (no stars deducted for issues in the series previously noted).

The Legion can stand on its own (and in fact I would recommend starting the series here); although some comparison is probably warranted. To start with, there is a much more "showing" and less "telling," making this story much easier to engage with. World building is also much better as the Rebecca, and party, wander across the landscape. In addition, there appears to be more dialog that enables the narrative to show off more range with each character; even if the default cadence and intonation still bugs me.

As we wander through what is supposed to be an apocalyptic landscape, but really doesn't feel all that different except for a few feral humans and mutants (rados), we get a fair amount of action to offset the more detailed character building that still relies too heavily on "info-dumps." There are a few mysteries/surprises make the story much more interesting than it otherwise would be ... with more than a few unresolved at the end (cliff-hanger).

Still ... most of the story remains frustrately predictable, given some of the poor decisions made by the heroes. That makes this an amusing diversion, but not much else. (Psst ... evil villian here; pardon me while I reveal my villianous plan in sequential, gloating monologues. It's not like you can esca ... wait, where'd ya go?).

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.