Your sins are Legion…
… and now you belong to him.
***
Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer.
A madman.
Born in the blood of a dying mother, raised in the underground hideout of an insane father, he travels the world looking for those who keep secrets and sins. He finds those who have fallen short, and teaches them the lessons they need to leave their mistakes behind.
And if he has to teach a lesson that ends in death, well… sometimes that’s the cost of proper education.
That’s why, when he sees a man kidnap two people on the side of the road, Legion knows it is time to teach again.
Soon he finds himself caught in the crossfire of a coup in a Russian crime syndicate. Legion is captured, beaten, bleeding, in chains; cut off and alone.
It’s just the way he likes it.
Legion has his students. And the lessons are about to begin…
Title: Stranger Still | Author: Michaelbrent Collings | Publisher: Written Insomnia Press | Pub. Date: March 10th, 2020 | Language: English | ASIN: B085NLX937 | Source: Received from the author for review consideration | Starred Review
Stranger Still Review
I will admit that it took me a little longer to get into Stranger Still than I would have liked but mulling that over it feels more like a me problem than the book’s because when I went back to it I got sucked in immediately.
I really liked the characters and Collings always seems to have a knack for creating villains who are interesting and are not just cardboard cutouts. Like a man trying to overthrow his mob boss being into Dungeons and Dragons and an argument between the same man and a hitman over Lord of the Rings.
Speaking of the hitman…Sheldon was a very interesting character. He was always interesting whenever he was on-page. He felt like a very unique character (well, of course, he did…Sheldon is excellent at being an interesting and unique character).
Danielle was a decent character to root for. There were a few moments that seemed a tad unrealistic but were also balanced by some darker moments to even it out so it didn’t stand out too much in an unrealistic way. Unfortunately, her character is a little bland and sometimes got dwarfed by the stronger personalities in the book such as Sheldon and Legion.
There were a lot of shifting character moments that genuinely took me by surprise. Legion (and Water and Fire) were definitely the characters I was interested in the most. I had no idea they appeared in a previous book, Strangers, so Stranger Still works very well as a standalone book instead of a sequel and I am certainly going to be reading Strangers to learn more about Legion and how Water and Fire became, well, Water and Fire.
The pacing stays pretty steady throughout the story and the flashbacks do not interrupt the flow or slow it down any. Even though this book was more in the thriller genre I still really enjoyed it. The plot was twisty and turny but never turned so much that it left me on the wrong road. I would have liked a slight bit more explanation of the Odessa’s culture near the end but it was still fairly clear on what was going on.
I highly recommend Stranger Still and will certainly be looking for Strangers to see Legion’s previous exploits and how One became Three again.
You can find Stranger Still via its Goodreads links or, if you’d like to help support literacy programs, Better World Books
GracieKat was the first co-host of Sci-Fi & Scary, Lilyn’s partner-in-crime, and sub-head of the Kali Krew. She reviews horror books, movies, and games for the site. She also does a weekly Focus on the Frightful feature, and is the site list-maker. She is also in control of the Sci-Fi & Scary podcast which will relaunch soon.
