Customer Reviews

Legion (The Exorcist, No. 3)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mr. Blatty, please don't let the previous reviews bother you. Some of us understand what you were getting at. No great(ie.intellectually satisfying)horror novel or movie should ever show us the face of horror directly. Madness yes, horror no. In Legion Mr. Blatty continues and deepens the mystery of the Exorcist by indirectly hinting at what makes the "demons" of Legion/The Exorcist tick. And it is this legion of evil spirits that we are really interested in when we read these books. Thankfully you will not find much in the way of demonologic details about them, but would we find the eerie mystery of The Exorcist/Legion as mesmerizing if for instance we were told the true meaning behind: "I am no one"/Exorcist; "I am someone"/Legion; "Feel the blood, how it sings!"/Exorcist; "Let us warm in the body"/Exorcist; "They will punish me for this"/Legion ? Would we be as terrified if we were told exactly why a monstrous serial killer would exhibit abject terror at the mere thought of his benefactors (the demons from the Exorcist)? NO! In Legion Mr, Blatty continues with his attempt to explain and explore not only the concept of evil, but the cosmology of physical/ spiritual good and evil as well. And all of this is entwined in a taut medical murder mystery full of lilting resonances that hint at the awesome and mysterious forces encountered in The Exorcist. Remember folks, The Exorcist and Legion are not in the same vein as "Kolchak the Night Stalker". If you need things sewn up neatly in the end then read some Stephen King. But if your musings of the spirit world go beyond "Poltergeist" or the "Psychic Friends Network", then you will love Legion and you will spend many a night rereading it and the Exorcist in an attempt to better understand..."the Other Side". EXORCIST 5/5 stars LEGION 7/5 stars . By the way, Legion the movie sucked. Sorry Mr. Blatty, but I am sure the Studio Bosses forced you to "Dumb Up" your book to ensure greater movie appeal for the "Bonehead" masses.

In this (much toned down) sequel to "The Exorcist", you follow the lone detective from the first book. It is much different than the first book, and if you are looking for a book that is like "The Exorcist" then you wont find it here.

But I am not saying that this book is not good. In fact, it is wonderful, and just as scary as the first. I found "Legion" to be much more of a psycological thriller than a flat out horror novel.

I delete a star from this great book only because there are some parts that can be boring for a chapter or two.

I read this novel when I picked it up at a bookstore in Hagerstown. I loved the novel, mainly because they talked about how Damien Karras was kinda-sorta still alive, only possessed with the spirit of the Gemini Killer, a.k.a. James Vennamun. I thought the movie made for a great interpretation of the novel, which of course I saw after I read the novel. I mainly wanted to see the movie because I heard that Father Karras somehow survived his fall down the infamous steps in Georgetown, I thought it was cool to see his character again. Overall, I thought the book and the movie deserve more credit than I've seen some people give it. 5 stars all the way.

"The Exorcist III: Legion" brings back Lieutenant Kinderman - the detective from the original "Exorcist" - and this time makes him the central character of this new story. Father Dyer - Father Karras's friend from the first one - is also back.

Kinderman may not have encountered anything like the Regan events in the years since the original novel, but he's been active on the force investigating homicides and all the other, more mundane, evils that go on. Now there's something extraordinary happening again. A series of unusually vicious murders are rocking the city, but they're the work of the Gemini killer - a murderer who's been dead for twelve years. They have all the trademark signs and fit all the patterns, including the stuff the police never let out to the general public. At first there is, of course, the obvious possibility that someone knows all the secret parts of the Gemini's modus operandi - a previously unknown associate? - and is copycatting the crimes, but as the book progresses the police know and the readers know that it's not that simple.

This novel is not afraid to follow a non-direct path. It veers off at times and devotes a lot of detail to aspects of the story and the characters, that a novel would usually skip over. But these are strengths, not weaknesses, in my opinion. The dialogue takes on a rich life all its own; the internal philosophising and mental processes of the characters - Kinderman in particular are fascinating; the police proceedurual work is intriguing and the sudden appearances of logically impossible hints that proceedural work uncovers at the least expected times is believable and eerie. The secrets, when revealed, are of that glorious type that you never see coming but wonder how you could have possibly missed it. A great horror novel, and a great mystery novel.

I just have to put my 2 cents in about the movie first. Everybody is dogging it and I can't really see why. I've always considered it as one of my favorite horrer movies of all time, if not my favorite. Also, I found the movie to be very complimenting to the book. Just look at the book for a minute... OK, it is obviously a very good read and very thought provoking. However it just doesn't have the qualities that would make a good movie if the screan play were taken directly from the text... OK now that I have ranted and raved, about the book, It is a very good read and I would suggest it to anyone, however, It is just not on the same vibe as the excorcist... so when you start reading legion don't jump in with any preconcieved notions of what it is about and what you think should hapen.... That is the beauty of legion, - it is very eirie on an intellectual level but not on a steriotypical horror novel level. Peace.

I had this book twice but lent it out and didn't get them back (so annoying). It's not to everyone's taste but it is a very thoughtful book.

Forget the original 2 films and open your mind to the intelligence behind this book. I paticulary liked the sub-plot about recording the voices of the patients/spirits, which wasn't used at all in the film. (By the way, I love the film up to the point where it stops being like the book and tries to put all the horror in at the minute- a typical Hollywood Producer tatic)

I genuine scare, much missed but I will try and find again.

DON'T SEE THE MOVIE BEFORE YOU READ THE BOOK!! This book is one of my all time favorites. I found it at my local library's used book sale. I would not clasify this as horror. This is a Genre defining book. Even if you haven't read or seen the Exorcist, this book is captivating and inspiring at the same time. Above all the violence and iltellectual discussion, Blatty adds bits of comic relief. The text contains innumeral subplots, and incorperates a true Washington, DC setting. The movie is terrible because they butchered the script like the killer of this book would...

I read the book, it was not even anywhere
close to the "Exorcist." But it was still a
good book. If you read the book then I would
suggest you see the movie too. Because the
the movie, I thought, was a lot better than the book. I still wonder what it would have turned into if there had been an exorcist 4.
Legion didn't really put an end to anything.

This book is about Giminy killer, I didn't read my book yet, but it should be about the movie. There should be movie tie-ins.