The Man of Legends

I came across The Man of Legends while perusing one of the many book groups on Facebook. The title caught my eye so I looked it up on Amazon, saw it was free on Kindle Unlimited and very inexpensive on Audible and figured I had nothing to lose; I’m always willing to read and review.This book was certainly not short on reviews and was already rated at 4.4 stars on Amazon with over twelve hundred reviews but I found I just had to see what the few bad reviews had to say. I’m always curious to see why someone rated a book badly when so many others did not.My conclusion in regards to the bad reviews is this, some didn’t really pay attention to the story and some are simply looking to be offended by a story with a religious vein because it doesn’t fit their view of things....and then again, not every story is for every person. I go in to this story as someone with knowledge of many religions but I am not “religious” myself, so it is easy for me to go wherever the author leads me.This story does begin in a bit of a confusing manner, at first I didn’t care for that at all...it was disconcerting to not know what was going on. I found that I wasn’t sure if Will was dreaming, time-traveling, remembering, or if the author was giving the reader glimpses of his past lives throughout the centuries, but as it turns out he was dreaming. However, it is an odd way to open a story that leaves the reader feeling off balance.Once the reader gets through that whole dream sequence the author begins to jump in to what some of the bad reviewers had a real issue with, character perspectives. Immediately we begin to be introduced to characters, almost each chapter really, and each time the characters were speaking in first person, from their own perspective. The reader learns who the character is, what they did for a living, and a little bit about them....and inevitably each character mentioned Will, W.J., or the man in the pea coat; each having had their own personal experience with this enigmatic man.So who is Will, W.J., the man in the pea coat and why are all of these people talking about their experiences with him? Well...that’s why you need to read the book.Will affects each person on a very personal level....but why? Why would this man go through his exceedingly long life continually looking for ways to do good things for others, to step in where he sees another person suffering, to right an injustice, or attempt to change their lives for the better?Well, I’m not going to answer that for you, no spoilers here.Suffice it to say that everything does come together beautifully in my opinion, and I loved having the insight to all these different characters but here’s one thing that really added to my enjoyment of this unique story...I listened to it on Audible. Perhaps if had physically read it this time I might have felt a bit lost but Audible was definitely the way to go for this one. Why? Well, I cannot believe I’m saying this because of how often I have complained about this very thing in the past; it’s because of the many narrators.Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know, in previous reviews I have really knocked some stories that have too many narrators because it gets distracting, but not this time. The producers of this audiobook did an amazing job with the narrators. Each one really brought their character to life in a unique way and they were each very interesting to listen to with just a few exceptions. I did find the one who voiced Will to be a little bit too much like William Shatner as Captain Kirk...but hey, we can’t win them all now can we? Over all I really enjoyed their performances.As for those who complained about it being an attack on the Roman Catholic Church and Christians, seriously? I have to wonder if they read this book looking for something to offend them. Yes, this story does deal with the Roman Catholic Church, when you read it you’ll understand why, but I never saw anything that remotely came across as an “attack” on that religion. Instead what I saw was an interesting story woven from religious history.So if you like a well told story I recommend checking this one out, I found I really enjoyed it....I gave it 4 stars on Amazon and Goodreads. Let me know what you think of it too, I’d love to know.

Ok, can I just say that I am sick of writing critical reviews. Nobody likes them. They don't make me happy. They don't make the author happy. I frequently have to deal with angry comments... The entire operation is about as fun as a kick in the teeth. But in this case, I don't know what else to say, because I hated this book. I quit at pg 83, and there isn't a single one of those pages I didn't have to force myself to read.Yes, there absolutely is a chance it got better past the point where I stopped...But quite frankly, life is too short to waste on a book that is incapable of engaging me in a whopping 83 pages, particularly considering all the books out there that are. Books capable of engaging me within the first paragraph of the first page. I want to spend my life on THOSE books. Also, I'd like to say up front here that, "the start of this book was boring/confusing/you-have-to-read-past-100-pages", is a common theme, even among five star reviews. If that’s ok with you, then get it!!! But again, life is too short for me.As to why I hated it, it's hard to put into words. I don't know where to start. The book opened on a dream, following the main protagonist (who I didn't realize was the main protagonist until page 50 or so) and I couldn't have cared less about him OR his dream. I didn't even know him, and the dream was completely irrelevant and boring. After he woke up, he almost immediately gave a description of himself by looking in a mirror--something I absolutely hate since I simply CANNOT connect with a character that way--and after that, the book launched into a literary ocean of frustration, confusion, and boredom.Seriously, I really do hate critical reviews, but at some point around page 60 all I wanted to do was start bashing my head against the wall.There were so many POVs I couldn't keep track of them all. It wasn't until around the aforementioned page 50 that I realized what I was following was: Will. And other random, irrelevant characters whose only purpose seemed to be to observe Will, for the benefit of the reader. And all of it was just one boring rehash after another of a point about Will’s character that had already been driven home. Honestly, how many times do you have to observe someone handing out charity money to understand that yes, obviously, he’s a good guy? OBVIOUSLY.That particular scene was repeated about 6 times, but I got it the first time, so the other 5 were epically unnecessary.And as for the rest, it wasn’t any better. I didn’t care about anyone, including Will. I hadn’t been given a reason to care. I couldn’t get into anyone’s head. I had no idea who was actually relevant to the story later on, and who was just a convenient prop for demonstrating bits of information or more of Will’s “character”. I didn’t care about the mystery either. It turns out (though I didn’t really get this from the description) that it’s a religious thriller. Off the top of my head I’d say like Angels and Demons, but that book had me hooked from the first chapter.This one only fed me vague hints about some mysterious darkness, in a manner that was prominent enough it was obvious I should care about said hints, but so vague and with so little information there is no way I could possibly know enough to feel genuinely disturbed as, yes, I so obviously should have.I cared about nothing and no one, and so finally, I allowed myself to quit. It wasn’t the too-many-POVs that got me. I recently read Into the Water (14 POVs) and gave it 4 stars. It was the fact that I was 83 pages in, and I still hadn’t been given a single legitimate reason why I should WANT to keep reading. Not. ONE!!!I give this 2 stars because while I hated just about everything else about this book, the writing was at least structurally solid. I’m absolutely positive a lot of people will love this book, and that it will get its fair share of glowing reviews.But I’m not one of them. And this review isn’t it.

I found this story to be very interesting and it kept my attention. It was not difficult to get through. I appreciated the honesty and candor in each of the characters descriptions and communication. I enjoyed unraveling the mystery. Although fiction, this is a thought provoking book.

The Man of Legends is a truly cosmic book. Its correct classification is metaphysical. Marketing this book as an occult thriller may target the wrong audience and lead to disappointment. The cover is also misleading. When I bought it I imagined that I'd be reading an adventure story, a mystery.To get the most out of this deeply felt story the reader needs to be able to tune in to a spiritual view of human existence and to have a belief in the reality of love and redemption. I'm extremely cynical usually, but I did enjoy the author's exuberant belief in transformation and especially, also, the last few scenes. If only it were true......

Difficult book to review. It leaps about from person to unknown person, as is the current vogue in novels these days. Here the narrative can often switch between the two people in a scene. I was enjoying the first half of the book, it has enough to keep you reading - "Our hero", supposedly not dying and moving from century to century escaping the Vatican. But after half way, the author started to rope every famous person in, "our hero" just happens to meet them and perhaps gives them their eureka moment, it became sycophantic and nauseating after a while and he may be wise after 2,000 yrs but he isn't omnipresent but putting that to one side, it is a good read if a bit apocalyptic.

Lord, does this book go on, and then not so much lead to a resolution but grind to an uneventful and unemotional finale.The fact that our immortal protagonist, despite certain plot hindrances, is a key player in inventing everything worthwhile ever invented, is ridiculous, insulting and childish. Basically we are asked to believe that some unremarkable ancient Roman becomes the worlds foremost genius. Along the way our clever clogs protagonist invents the microscope, relativity, the steam engine, Levi jeans, Cappacino and no end of other things, whilst also setting straight virtually all of histories great artists. Yeugh.Terrible nonsense.

I was expecting a Time Travel book according to the advertising blurb which is why the star rating is so low, because it is a time travel book only if you regard time travel, as moving throughout life at the same pace as everyone else, in other words, it is NOT time travel at all as we expect it to be. It's about a fellow (and the first I've heard of it) who basically tells Jesus to 'git orf his land' on the way to his crucifixion and is cursed to wander the planet until Jesus (or the next incarnation of same) re-appears. Not only that but he actually (apparently) thumps Jesus (Booo!) while doing so and so not only has he got enforced wanderlust, he has to hike the Earth suffering pains if he stays in one place longer than three days and moving a minimum distance of three thousand yards each time, not being able to return to a place for three hundred and thirty three years or something like that (see the pattern here folks). Along the way and over two thousand years he meets what seems like every major figure in history (Man of Legends, Geddit?) and has a hand in most technical, scientific and humanistic inventions along the way while being pursued by the Catholic Church who want to use him as proof of God's existence while treating him as a lab rat and, it would appear the Devil is also looking to recruit him. So to Recap, NOT time travel more a religious 39 steps. Have Fun.

I chose this as my Kindle First book for July; as it was free I stepped outside of my usual genre preference and I'm very glad I did. It's quite gripping.The basic premise - here is a man 'cursed' by God to live forever - contains its own mystery: who is he and why was he so cursed. The answers to this slowly become clear and are both clever and heartbreaking. A second layer is added to the story by the increasing sense of urgency developed by the Catholic Church's hunt for our man of mystery, the priest charged with this task never more than a few days behind and now literally right at his bedside.This is a good story, gently told. It delivers everything the reader requires and, vitally, the ending we crave.