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The Left Hand of God #1
Lewa Ręka Boga
Niezwykła, wymykająca się klasyfikacjom powieść z elementami fantasy Paula Hoffmana, amerykańskiego pisarza i scenarzysty. „Lewa ręka Boga” otwiera epicką trylogię o młodym Thomasie Cale, niepokornym akolicie Powieszonego Odkupiciela.
W Sanktuarium nie ma miejsca na litość i miłosierdzie. Ci, którzy trafiają do kamiennego labiryntu sal, mają tylko jedno zadanie: walczyć aż do śmierci o Jedynie Słuszną Wiarę. Tomas Cale ma piętnaście albo szesnaście lat – nie pamięta. Nie pamięta również tego, jak nazywał się, nim trafił w ręce okrutnych braci. Niezwykle utalentowany, zarówno czarujący, jak i zdolny do niebywałego okrucieństwa, w chwili słabości pozwala sobie na nieodpowiedzialny czyn. W odruchu litości zabija pastwiącego się nad młodą kobietą odkupiciela, podpisując na siebie wyrok śmierci. Tomas musi uciekać przed karzącą ręką Powieszonego Odkupiciela i jego fanatycznych wyznawców. Wraz z ocaloną dziewczyną i przyjaciółmi, Henrim i Kleistem, opuszcza Sanktuarium, by stawić czoła rzeczywistości poza jego murami. Niełatwy charakter, porywczość i budzące niepokój zdolności nie ułatwią mu ukrycia się pomiędzy normalnymi ludźmi…
W Sanktuarium nie ma miejsca na litość i miłosierdzie. Ci, którzy trafiają do kamiennego labiryntu sal, mają tylko jedno zadanie: walczyć aż do śmierci o Jedynie Słuszną Wiarę. Tomas Cale ma piętnaście albo szesnaście lat – nie pamięta. Nie pamięta również tego, jak nazywał się, nim trafił w ręce okrutnych braci. Niezwykle utalentowany, zarówno czarujący, jak i zdolny do niebywałego okrucieństwa, w chwili słabości pozwala sobie na nieodpowiedzialny czyn. W odruchu litości zabija pastwiącego się nad młodą kobietą odkupiciela, podpisując na siebie wyrok śmierci. Tomas musi uciekać przed karzącą ręką Powieszonego Odkupiciela i jego fanatycznych wyznawców. Wraz z ocaloną dziewczyną i przyjaciółmi, Henrim i Kleistem, opuszcza Sanktuarium, by stawić czoła rzeczywistości poza jego murami. Niełatwy charakter, porywczość i budzące niepokój zdolności nie ułatwią mu ukrycia się pomiędzy normalnymi ludźmi…
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2010
571 people are currently reading
11179 people want to read
About the author
Paul Hoffman
16 books627 followersNote: Paul^^Hoffman
Possibly the only novelist of his generation to be born by the light of a paraffin lamp, Paul Hoffman spent much of his childhood on airfields all around the world watching his father – a pioneer of sports parachuting and European Champion – jumping out of aeroplanes. After a long battle with the English educational system which involved avoiding school whenever possible he was offered a place to read English at New College, Oxford when no other university would interview him. After graduating he worked in over twenty different jobs, including boardman in a betting shop, messenger boy to a City merchant bank and teacher. He was also senior film censor at the British Board of Film Classification.
His first novel, The Wisdom of Crocodiles took thirteen years to write. Among other things it predicted the re-emergence of international terrorism in the 21st Century and the precise nature of the collapse of the world financial system. Part of the novel was made into a film starring Jude Law and Timothy Spall. His second novel, The Golden Age of Censorship, a black comedy based on his experiences as a film censor, was published in 2007. As a screenwriter he has written or co-written three produced films and worked with, among others, Francis Ford Coppola.
Possibly the only novelist of his generation to be born by the light of a paraffin lamp, Paul Hoffman spent much of his childhood on airfields all around the world watching his father – a pioneer of sports parachuting and European Champion – jumping out of aeroplanes. After a long battle with the English educational system which involved avoiding school whenever possible he was offered a place to read English at New College, Oxford when no other university would interview him. After graduating he worked in over twenty different jobs, including boardman in a betting shop, messenger boy to a City merchant bank and teacher. He was also senior film censor at the British Board of Film Classification.
His first novel, The Wisdom of Crocodiles took thirteen years to write. Among other things it predicted the re-emergence of international terrorism in the 21st Century and the precise nature of the collapse of the world financial system. Part of the novel was made into a film starring Jude Law and Timothy Spall. His second novel, The Golden Age of Censorship, a black comedy based on his experiences as a film censor, was published in 2007. As a screenwriter he has written or co-written three produced films and worked with, among others, Francis Ford Coppola.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,417 reviews
December 24, 2011
Tis the season…
...and this book sorta grinched my jolly with some flaws, faults and literary faux pas that marred what could have been a terrific tale. However, before I hand the keyboard over to Captain Critical for the inevitable feeling-bruising remarks to come, let me start off chummy and Kris Kringley by stating that the novel’s literate prose and compelling main character were of sufficient quality to raise this to the 3rd floor of the Rating Star Building. That is the "I like it" floor. Not bad.
Barely, mind you….
…by the scantest, wispiest measure of the barest of slim, tiny, microscopic margins did this story scratch and claw its raw, dysfunctional way up to the lowest stratum of level 3. Still, on the whole, it got here and I can say with almost 100% honesty that I liked it. That said, I don’t plan on forming a serious relationship with the book and I will pummel it soundly if it doesn’t get its groping hands off my ass. However, our time together was mostly satisfactory and I think we can remain friends....without benefits.
PLOT SUMMARY**:
** Note: a chunk of my description of the world-building is deductive conjecture as this is an area where the exact nature of the setting is not entirely revealed. That’s not necessarily criticism as I don’t mind a slow reveal, but it does make my description more of an educated guess.
Thomas Cale is a teenage orphan living a brutal existence in a monastery/prison/military academy/shithole-of-abuse run by a group of sadistic, uberlyUBERzealot religious warrior monks known as the Redeemers. Cale is also, as it turns out, the baddest badass in the Kingdom of Badassia and is equally adept at asskickitude, nutstompness and “at my signal, unleash Hell” ery. This quiet, “Clint Eastwood” cool as the other side of the pillow personality really endeared Cale to me and his character profile growth was one of the big plus signs for me in the book.
Now for some conjecture…
The world appears to be a future, post-apocalyptic Earth in which civilization has reverted to a pre-industrial society of horses, swords and such. The setting seems to be the US of A as there are references to cities (e.g., Memphis). As for the Redeemers, they are followers of the Hanged Redeemer who, rather than a cross, hangs from the Holy Gibbet:
The Sanctuary, as the monastery is ironically named, takes in young boys andbrainwashes & conditions indoctrinates them in the mysteries of the Hanged Redeemer and savagely trains them to be warrior disciples to fight the enemy from the east known only as “the Antagonists.” More than half of the children do not survive the “training” and boys are routinely tortured and killed as “acts of faith” for the rest of the group.
You get the idea...not a pleasant vacation spot.
So Cale, after witnessing a particularly brutal and “secret” atrocity which I shall not divulge here, manages to escape the Sanctuary (something no one else has ever done) along with two other boys, Kleist and Vague Henri (plus a 3rd mystery guest that I can’t tell you about without spoiling the atrocity). Cale travels and finds himself among a violent warrior race and we spend considerable time learning about this new people as well as clues about the wider world (though not enough to really understand what’s going on).
Meanwhile, it turns out the Redeemers (one in particular) believe that Cale is the most important human being in the world and will stop at nothing to secure his return. Cale has a destiny that is not revealed until the end, but we do learn that, as the result of a particular “talent,” he’s virtually unbeatable in combat. Nice….
So Redeemers searching for Cal, Cale searching for a new life, a fairly clumsy love interest and a group of “could have been” interesting supporting characters that are just not adequately developed.
THOUGHTS:
This book is structurally a mess. There is some nice prose that fits comfortably in the ear and I really liked Cale. However, the story-telling is confusing, unfocused and clear as the bottom of an overused outhouse.
To further gum up the works, the book had its own identity crisis and kept jumping between YA coming of age and adult “Abercrombie/Erickson” wannabe. This Jack of two trades mastered neither as well as it should and the juxtaposition of the two was enough to make my brain cry uncle on several occasions.
Finally, as the icing on the cluster-fudge cake, the story is told through multiple viewpoints with transitions as clumsy as a high school boy “scoring” for the first time. It just made the narrative hard to follow.
Overall, there are some very good aspects to the story and a terrific main character with tons of room to develop. However, these quality pieces are trapped in a murky mire of clumsy confusion that made connecting with the story difficult for me.
I am certainly interested in reading more from this author at some point because there is clearly talent in this man. There were just too many flaws for me to rate this higher.
3.0 stars.
...and this book sorta grinched my jolly with some flaws, faults and literary faux pas that marred what could have been a terrific tale. However, before I hand the keyboard over to Captain Critical for the inevitable feeling-bruising remarks to come, let me start off chummy and Kris Kringley by stating that the novel’s literate prose and compelling main character were of sufficient quality to raise this to the 3rd floor of the Rating Star Building. That is the "I like it" floor. Not bad.
Barely, mind you….
…by the scantest, wispiest measure of the barest of slim, tiny, microscopic margins did this story scratch and claw its raw, dysfunctional way up to the lowest stratum of level 3. Still, on the whole, it got here and I can say with almost 100% honesty that I liked it. That said, I don’t plan on forming a serious relationship with the book and I will pummel it soundly if it doesn’t get its groping hands off my ass. However, our time together was mostly satisfactory and I think we can remain friends....without benefits.
PLOT SUMMARY**:
** Note: a chunk of my description of the world-building is deductive conjecture as this is an area where the exact nature of the setting is not entirely revealed. That’s not necessarily criticism as I don’t mind a slow reveal, but it does make my description more of an educated guess.
Thomas Cale is a teenage orphan living a brutal existence in a monastery/prison/military academy/shithole-of-abuse run by a group of sadistic, uberlyUBERzealot religious warrior monks known as the Redeemers. Cale is also, as it turns out, the baddest badass in the Kingdom of Badassia and is equally adept at asskickitude, nutstompness and “at my signal, unleash Hell” ery. This quiet, “Clint Eastwood” cool as the other side of the pillow personality really endeared Cale to me and his character profile growth was one of the big plus signs for me in the book.
Now for some conjecture…
The world appears to be a future, post-apocalyptic Earth in which civilization has reverted to a pre-industrial society of horses, swords and such. The setting seems to be the US of A as there are references to cities (e.g., Memphis). As for the Redeemers, they are followers of the Hanged Redeemer who, rather than a cross, hangs from the Holy Gibbet:
A man hanging from a gallows with a rope around his neck, his body hatched with scars from the torture before his execution, his broken legs dangling at strange angles beneath him.The Redeemers believe life is sin and salvation only comes through blood and pain. Thus, torture is a common form of discipline and the methods used would cause shivers in most and give a full on chubby to the Marquis de Sade.
The Sanctuary, as the monastery is ironically named, takes in young boys and
You get the idea...not a pleasant vacation spot.
So Cale, after witnessing a particularly brutal and “secret” atrocity which I shall not divulge here, manages to escape the Sanctuary (something no one else has ever done) along with two other boys, Kleist and Vague Henri (plus a 3rd mystery guest that I can’t tell you about without spoiling the atrocity). Cale travels and finds himself among a violent warrior race and we spend considerable time learning about this new people as well as clues about the wider world (though not enough to really understand what’s going on).
Meanwhile, it turns out the Redeemers (one in particular) believe that Cale is the most important human being in the world and will stop at nothing to secure his return. Cale has a destiny that is not revealed until the end, but we do learn that, as the result of a particular “talent,” he’s virtually unbeatable in combat. Nice….
So Redeemers searching for Cal, Cale searching for a new life, a fairly clumsy love interest and a group of “could have been” interesting supporting characters that are just not adequately developed.
THOUGHTS:
This book is structurally a mess. There is some nice prose that fits comfortably in the ear and I really liked Cale. However, the story-telling is confusing, unfocused and clear as the bottom of an overused outhouse.
To further gum up the works, the book had its own identity crisis and kept jumping between YA coming of age and adult “Abercrombie/Erickson” wannabe. This Jack of two trades mastered neither as well as it should and the juxtaposition of the two was enough to make my brain cry uncle on several occasions.
Finally, as the icing on the cluster-fudge cake, the story is told through multiple viewpoints with transitions as clumsy as a high school boy “scoring” for the first time. It just made the narrative hard to follow.
Overall, there are some very good aspects to the story and a terrific main character with tons of room to develop. However, these quality pieces are trapped in a murky mire of clumsy confusion that made connecting with the story difficult for me.
I am certainly interested in reading more from this author at some point because there is clearly talent in this man. There were just too many flaws for me to rate this higher.
3.0 stars.
May 27, 2011
The premise sounds great, but that's all. Don't get cheated. This book is poorly written, the characters and their feelings are flat and unbelievable and their decisions often unreasonable. It lacked suspense, I was just bored and didn't care about the characters. Yeah, true, it had its bright moments, yet it wasn't enough to keep me interested.
I don't know, where and when the story happens. Normally I woudn't mind it, but there occurred some cities and countries which exist. Was it just a coincidence?
Love. Such a nice word. However, you will find here only the word. I was trying to understand the essence of the Cale's relationship, but I quickly gave up, because there wasn't any. She is beautiful, respected, from a good family and the most gorgeous girl in Memphis, from the start hates Caleb and is scared of him and then out of the blue she is all in love. Besides I would say Caleb (whatever the author says) wants her only as a prize, a trophy that he can win first (because of her hatred and fear it becomes a kind of challenge) and if she wasn't the prettiest girl he would ignore her. Or at least this is how I see it.
There are loads of things, that don't make sense and the author often contradicts himself. I kept reading, because I could see here the potential, but it's too wasted therefore I'm not going to read the sequel.
I don't know, where and when the story happens. Normally I woudn't mind it, but there occurred some cities and countries which exist. Was it just a coincidence?
Love. Such a nice word. However, you will find here only the word. I was trying to understand the essence of the Cale's relationship, but I quickly gave up, because there wasn't any. She is beautiful, respected, from a good family and the most gorgeous girl in Memphis, from the start hates Caleb and is scared of him and then out of the blue she is all in love. Besides I would say Caleb (whatever the author says) wants her only as a prize, a trophy that he can win first (because of her hatred and fear it becomes a kind of challenge) and if she wasn't the prettiest girl he would ignore her. Or at least this is how I see it.
There are loads of things, that don't make sense and the author often contradicts himself. I kept reading, because I could see here the potential, but it's too wasted therefore I'm not going to read the sequel.
February 24, 2016
Oh dear, Mr Hoffman. Where do I even begin.
Yes, I admit it. Seduced by the sexy cover, awesome title and exciting plot snippets, I fell for this novel's hype hook line and sinker. And wasn't I a sucker.
The novel's main strength is that the narrator is witty and engaging, of the kind prone to diverting tangents which flesh out the world and plot. The novel's main weakness is.. well... mostly everything else.
Hoffman's fantasy world - does it even have the right to be called that? - is a hideous mish-mash of genuine fact and history with simplistic, poorly realised fantasy vaguely sketched from Hoffman's own mind.
Don't get me wrong; it's apparent what he's trying to do - create a sort of alternative reality to the European Renaissance. Which should be really cool and exciting. Yet 'real world' things are interspersed seemingly at random, and are not integrated convincingly in any way. Occasionally, jarringly, they are used in ways which bear no resemblance to reality at all. 'Norwegians' suddenly come from a place which quite patently isn't Norway, and display no Scandinavian characteristics - so why the bloody hell are they called Norwegians? Was Hoffman using an atlas as a fantasy name generator?
Unaltered name-drops of famous philosophers and scientists come thick and fast, so when the Hanged Redeemer is blatantly Jesus, it is hard to understand why Hoffman bothers to pretend this aspect is original. Time periods are conflated, with groups of mobsters wearing Victorian dress and use Victorian slang in a world not yet on the cusp of industrial revolution. Hoffman can't seem to make up his mind if this is an alternate history, a pure fantasy, or something else entirely, because his blend between the two is messy and confusing.
This brings us to the crux of the problem: it is actually Hoffman's own imagination, so unsubtly swept under this carpet of semi-factual detail, which is sorely lacking. The elements actually of his own creation are so poorly executed and oversimplified that the entire novel becomes utterly unbelievable. The Materazzi supposedly run the 'world's largest empire', and yet we given the names of only two officials, and are left with no sense of governance, of territories, of borders, of its people, or of what it actually consists of outside of Memphis at all, apart from its bloody name. Likewise, the Redeemers control vast territories and conduct war on a continental scale, and yet we are given only the bare bones of description with which to imagine this mass and multitude. It is a world so simplistic, that Thomas Cale, a fourteen year old boy, draws up the complete battle plans for both vast armies...by himself.
Sorry Hoffman, but the world is more complicated than that. If you want us to believe in your story, you're actually going to have to put some effort into creating it first.
And so now we come to the plot. Lel. *General Spoilers*
The beginning of the book, admittedly, has plot: the dramatic escape from the monastery. Yet after that the characters wander around entirely at a loose end. They've escaped. They're safe. So now what? Thus follows an entire two month period during which, for want of anything else to do, Thomas and IdrisPukke (wtf sort of name is 'IdrisPukke'?) are essentially on holiday in a forest (why are they in a forest?), desperately waiting for plot to happen. At last, out of nowhere - Arabel is kidnapped! Hooray! She took her damn time. Finally, Thomas and Puke-boy can launch from their stupor and go to Do Things.
Once Arabel is rescued, this is followed by another two hundred pages of nothing happening (padded out by diverting scenes of burgeoning romance, and Kleist firing crossbows for no reason) until we are starting to wonder if there is any point at all to the novel. And then out of nowhere, the Redeemers attack! Thank god, did they have to take so long? Now things happen again. To be exact, all of the Materazzi die. Yes, all of them. ALL of the soldiers of the ENTIRE EMPIRE, die in one SINGLE battle... because they got squashed in a glorified mud puddle.
One wonders, shite as these soldiers clearly are, how they won the world's largest empire in the first place. The answer is: sorry, there is no explanation - it's just another plot fail that Hoffman is hoping we won't notice.
This is not a plot. This is a random series of events which Hoffman wishes to happen, strung together using the vaguest of excuses.
And why does Hoffman want these events to happen? Why, character development, of course. Hoffman is almost peeing himself trying to prove that Thomas a scary, yet compelling Anti Hero who will 'destroy the world'. And since Thomas is instead a rather annoying, lack lustre and horny teenager, Hoffman needs all the help of Big Plot Things he can get.
And so, inch by inch, Thomas is propelled down the road to darkness. Oh...scary! Clarification: he scowls at a few people, and shags Arbel a lot. Oooh...less scary. Thomas kills people without remorse. Oooh scary! Clarification: people who he was forced to kill in in self defence. Ooooh...less scary. Thomas loudly claims that he saved Riba 'Because Reasons', because anything else would shatter the illusion that he has no conscience. Occasionally, sinister lines of dialogue are popped into Thomas' otherwise normal (if slightly sulky) speech, incase we were forgetting that he is The Antichrist (we were). For example:
'Where have you come from?'
'From hell, to come in the night and eat you' replies Thomas....to a toddler. Just... what?
The book also fails to provide any explanation for why he is so deadly in combat other than the possibility that he may be Teh Chosen One, and yet the existence of higher power is not established by the author. Thomas spins some weird story about hitting his head and it giving him magical powers, but I'm pretty sure that was meant to be a lie, because it was stupid. Please god, let it be a lie. Even blindly accepting his skill Because Reasons is better than that.
As for other characters: as though Hoffman has walked straight out of the century the novel (probably? maybe?) is set in, all the women who make an appearance in this book (there are approximately five) are both described and defined in terms of their physical attractiveness. This is exhausting and infuriating. By the end of the novel, I felt that if I had to read the description 'beautiful' or objectifying epitaph 'swan neck' one more time, I might set the book on fire.
Hoffman is henceforth confined to the (tragically long) list of male fantasy authors who haven't got the faintest clue how to write women without resorting to the bland stereotypes normally resorted to by Victorian bigots and sexually frustrated thirteen year olds. Le sigh.
It gets worse: the two female characters of any consequence are both confined to plot devices.
Riba is invented to give Thomas an excuse for leaving the monastery, then floats around the rest of the novel, occasionally popping up for no reason as a serving maid, as if to prove she's still a person. Arbel - oh, Arbel. At first the token love interest, quite randomly and conveniently kidnapped in order to give Thomas' story a Reason For Existing, she actually develops into someone quite interesting. But then she is forced to betray him, and her ultimate plot device purpose becomes clear - she is the culminating factor in Thomas' list of Reasons To Be Evil!
Oooh! Scary!
If it wasn't a totally shite reason, that is.
It just isn't convincing that Thomas would hate her so much for her decision. What was she supposed to do, let everyone die to save Thomas, who couldn't actually be saved anyway because he was already kidnapped? The rescues of Riba and Conn have already proved that saving people is a banner Thomas can get behind, so it's not like he's an utterly selfish bastard.
And yet because his first girlfriend is forced (AT SWORDPOINT) to betray him (OR CONDEMN HUNDREDS TO DEATH) he decides to spurn her forever. Oh yeah, and to kill the entire world. No, I'm not kidding. He agrees to kill the entire world.
I'm sorry, but it's pathetic. Some boys just really can't handle rejection, huh? Well, Thomas needs to grow the hell up.
I really, really, tried to like this book, because I can see its potential. But the messy writing and scrappy dialogue needs serious work. And even before that, Hoffman needs to go away and think very, very hard about coming up with detail for the plot, and an actual world to put it in. And a main character who is actually convincing in the role he's been cast as. Then, and only then, should Hoffman think about putting pen to paper.
In the meantime, this novel should be burnt.
Yes, I admit it. Seduced by the sexy cover, awesome title and exciting plot snippets, I fell for this novel's hype hook line and sinker. And wasn't I a sucker.
The novel's main strength is that the narrator is witty and engaging, of the kind prone to diverting tangents which flesh out the world and plot. The novel's main weakness is.. well... mostly everything else.
Hoffman's fantasy world - does it even have the right to be called that? - is a hideous mish-mash of genuine fact and history with simplistic, poorly realised fantasy vaguely sketched from Hoffman's own mind.
Don't get me wrong; it's apparent what he's trying to do - create a sort of alternative reality to the European Renaissance. Which should be really cool and exciting. Yet 'real world' things are interspersed seemingly at random, and are not integrated convincingly in any way. Occasionally, jarringly, they are used in ways which bear no resemblance to reality at all. 'Norwegians' suddenly come from a place which quite patently isn't Norway, and display no Scandinavian characteristics - so why the bloody hell are they called Norwegians? Was Hoffman using an atlas as a fantasy name generator?
Unaltered name-drops of famous philosophers and scientists come thick and fast, so when the Hanged Redeemer is blatantly Jesus, it is hard to understand why Hoffman bothers to pretend this aspect is original. Time periods are conflated, with groups of mobsters wearing Victorian dress and use Victorian slang in a world not yet on the cusp of industrial revolution. Hoffman can't seem to make up his mind if this is an alternate history, a pure fantasy, or something else entirely, because his blend between the two is messy and confusing.
This brings us to the crux of the problem: it is actually Hoffman's own imagination, so unsubtly swept under this carpet of semi-factual detail, which is sorely lacking. The elements actually of his own creation are so poorly executed and oversimplified that the entire novel becomes utterly unbelievable. The Materazzi supposedly run the 'world's largest empire', and yet we given the names of only two officials, and are left with no sense of governance, of territories, of borders, of its people, or of what it actually consists of outside of Memphis at all, apart from its bloody name. Likewise, the Redeemers control vast territories and conduct war on a continental scale, and yet we are given only the bare bones of description with which to imagine this mass and multitude. It is a world so simplistic, that Thomas Cale, a fourteen year old boy, draws up the complete battle plans for both vast armies...by himself.
Sorry Hoffman, but the world is more complicated than that. If you want us to believe in your story, you're actually going to have to put some effort into creating it first.
And so now we come to the plot. Lel. *General Spoilers*
The beginning of the book, admittedly, has plot: the dramatic escape from the monastery. Yet after that the characters wander around entirely at a loose end. They've escaped. They're safe. So now what? Thus follows an entire two month period during which, for want of anything else to do, Thomas and IdrisPukke (wtf sort of name is 'IdrisPukke'?) are essentially on holiday in a forest (why are they in a forest?), desperately waiting for plot to happen. At last, out of nowhere - Arabel is kidnapped! Hooray! She took her damn time. Finally, Thomas and Puke-boy can launch from their stupor and go to Do Things.
Once Arabel is rescued, this is followed by another two hundred pages of nothing happening (padded out by diverting scenes of burgeoning romance, and Kleist firing crossbows for no reason) until we are starting to wonder if there is any point at all to the novel. And then out of nowhere, the Redeemers attack! Thank god, did they have to take so long? Now things happen again. To be exact, all of the Materazzi die. Yes, all of them. ALL of the soldiers of the ENTIRE EMPIRE, die in one SINGLE battle... because they got squashed in a glorified mud puddle.
One wonders, shite as these soldiers clearly are, how they won the world's largest empire in the first place. The answer is: sorry, there is no explanation - it's just another plot fail that Hoffman is hoping we won't notice.
This is not a plot. This is a random series of events which Hoffman wishes to happen, strung together using the vaguest of excuses.
And why does Hoffman want these events to happen? Why, character development, of course. Hoffman is almost peeing himself trying to prove that Thomas a scary, yet compelling Anti Hero who will 'destroy the world'. And since Thomas is instead a rather annoying, lack lustre and horny teenager, Hoffman needs all the help of Big Plot Things he can get.
And so, inch by inch, Thomas is propelled down the road to darkness. Oh...scary! Clarification: he scowls at a few people, and shags Arbel a lot. Oooh...less scary. Thomas kills people without remorse. Oooh scary! Clarification: people who he was forced to kill in in self defence. Ooooh...less scary. Thomas loudly claims that he saved Riba 'Because Reasons', because anything else would shatter the illusion that he has no conscience. Occasionally, sinister lines of dialogue are popped into Thomas' otherwise normal (if slightly sulky) speech, incase we were forgetting that he is The Antichrist (we were). For example:
'Where have you come from?'
'From hell, to come in the night and eat you' replies Thomas....to a toddler. Just... what?
The book also fails to provide any explanation for why he is so deadly in combat other than the possibility that he may be Teh Chosen One, and yet the existence of higher power is not established by the author. Thomas spins some weird story about hitting his head and it giving him magical powers, but I'm pretty sure that was meant to be a lie, because it was stupid. Please god, let it be a lie. Even blindly accepting his skill Because Reasons is better than that.
As for other characters: as though Hoffman has walked straight out of the century the novel (probably? maybe?) is set in, all the women who make an appearance in this book (there are approximately five) are both described and defined in terms of their physical attractiveness. This is exhausting and infuriating. By the end of the novel, I felt that if I had to read the description 'beautiful' or objectifying epitaph 'swan neck' one more time, I might set the book on fire.
Hoffman is henceforth confined to the (tragically long) list of male fantasy authors who haven't got the faintest clue how to write women without resorting to the bland stereotypes normally resorted to by Victorian bigots and sexually frustrated thirteen year olds. Le sigh.
It gets worse: the two female characters of any consequence are both confined to plot devices.
Riba is invented to give Thomas an excuse for leaving the monastery, then floats around the rest of the novel, occasionally popping up for no reason as a serving maid, as if to prove she's still a person. Arbel - oh, Arbel. At first the token love interest, quite randomly and conveniently kidnapped in order to give Thomas' story a Reason For Existing, she actually develops into someone quite interesting. But then she is forced to betray him, and her ultimate plot device purpose becomes clear - she is the culminating factor in Thomas' list of Reasons To Be Evil!
Oooh! Scary!
If it wasn't a totally shite reason, that is.
It just isn't convincing that Thomas would hate her so much for her decision. What was she supposed to do, let everyone die to save Thomas, who couldn't actually be saved anyway because he was already kidnapped? The rescues of Riba and Conn have already proved that saving people is a banner Thomas can get behind, so it's not like he's an utterly selfish bastard.
And yet because his first girlfriend is forced (AT SWORDPOINT) to betray him (OR CONDEMN HUNDREDS TO DEATH) he decides to spurn her forever. Oh yeah, and to kill the entire world. No, I'm not kidding. He agrees to kill the entire world.
I'm sorry, but it's pathetic. Some boys just really can't handle rejection, huh? Well, Thomas needs to grow the hell up.
I really, really, tried to like this book, because I can see its potential. But the messy writing and scrappy dialogue needs serious work. And even before that, Hoffman needs to go away and think very, very hard about coming up with detail for the plot, and an actual world to put it in. And a main character who is actually convincing in the role he's been cast as. Then, and only then, should Hoffman think about putting pen to paper.
In the meantime, this novel should be burnt.
April 26, 2018
EPIC!!!! Can't wait to read the rest of the series!
This book tells the story of Cale, a 14-year-old boy who grows up in a joyless place called the Sanctuary. The Redeemers, who run the monastery grounds, are cruel religious fanatics who are constantly exercising violence in order to disciple the children. Cale, who has known no love or affection, seems to have lost himself in this place and remains apathetic whenever he is punished. His impassivity renders him profoundly violent and dangerous.
One day Cale accidentally enters one of the Lords' rooms, where he encounters the gruesome massacre of a young girl. On awakening from his long-lasting lethargy he flees the monastery.
The plot is based on a carefully structured premise, though I have to admit sometimes I felt confused and had to skim through the previous pages in order to follow the storyline. The fact that the writer kept switching from past to present narration gave me a really hard time but the story remained intriguing nonetheless.
Full of suspense and macabre elements this is an absorbing book and a real page turner. Despite its major flaws in narration I would strongly recommend it to Fantasy lovers.
Hoffman has built a beautiful world!!!
This book tells the story of Cale, a 14-year-old boy who grows up in a joyless place called the Sanctuary. The Redeemers, who run the monastery grounds, are cruel religious fanatics who are constantly exercising violence in order to disciple the children. Cale, who has known no love or affection, seems to have lost himself in this place and remains apathetic whenever he is punished. His impassivity renders him profoundly violent and dangerous.
One day Cale accidentally enters one of the Lords' rooms, where he encounters the gruesome massacre of a young girl. On awakening from his long-lasting lethargy he flees the monastery.
The plot is based on a carefully structured premise, though I have to admit sometimes I felt confused and had to skim through the previous pages in order to follow the storyline. The fact that the writer kept switching from past to present narration gave me a really hard time but the story remained intriguing nonetheless.
Full of suspense and macabre elements this is an absorbing book and a real page turner. Despite its major flaws in narration I would strongly recommend it to Fantasy lovers.
Hoffman has built a beautiful world!!!
August 26, 2011
The Left Hand of God starts out very dreary and grim. It was hard going reading such a dark story, but I found Cale's character compelling enough to keep reading. Reading books in which most of the religious people are the bad guys is difficult for me. Especially when the religion is either Christianity or a thinly veiled, ugly version of what people assume Christianity is. It seems as though Christianity is the religion that gets the most criticism in fiction, and this book is no different. Of course, some tenets are slightly different. But if you are familiar with Christian beliefs, it's clear to see where Hoffman is going here. Think Spanish Inquisition and Mad Monks, and you won't be far off. I won't spend too much more of this review 'ranting' about such things. The churchs of my faith have done enough damage throughout history to draw some negative views from people. But after a while, it's like shooting fish in a barrel, really. Are there bad Christians? Certainly. Are there decent Christians? Certainly. But, more often than not, 'we' get to be the bad guys. Oh well. Despite this unbalanced and rather unfair view of the Christian church, I was still able to enjoy this book, because Cale is a character that draws all this reader's interest back to him. And as magnetic as Cale is, Mr. Hoffman managed to populate this novel with a lot of other interesting characters, from Vague Henry, Kliest, Idris Pook, the Chancellor, Cale's first love, Arbell (who I never grew to like), and the various Matarrazzi citizenry. Also, the humor was very good. Extremely dark and sarcastic, but funny all the same.
One of my friends on GRs remarked that the book seems to have a split personality. I completely agree. The first part seemed like a relentlessly dark story of religious zealotry, and its deleterious effects on young boys. I thought the whole book would be about the boys trying to escape its effect. However, the story turns into a not quite as dark, but still murky coming of age story in which we see a young man go from point A to point Z, and how it affects him. It left me a bit confused at how to take this story. I think that Mr. Hoffman had so much fun writing that he sort of lost his sense of direction. Despite that fact, this was still a very good book. My tastes are odd enough that I can enjoy dark material (depending on the execution), although I am an unrepentant consumer of happy ever after stories. The crucial ingredient that causes me to love a book, or even like it, is a pull towards the characters or the story, and that can overule my desire for happy, sunny reads. In this case, Cale is that sort of character. I listened to this on audio, and I was seduced into a dependence on hearing Cale's story. He's an interesting kid. He scares a lot of people, annoys most others, and inspires a strange sort of loyalty in the rest that they don't quite get, nor does Cale. He's not even the nicest guy. But he shows a sense of honor that causes him to do the right thing, even when his pragmatic nature tells him not to. I hope that he doesn't listen to the junk that the Redeemers seem to want to feed him, about his darkness, his curse, and his true mission. I don't believe that about him at all. I do believe he is a very dangerous person. But why can't that darkness in him be used for good? I think it can.
Towards the end of this book, I listened with a very strong sense of dread. I knew that things weren't going to end well, but I couldn't not listen. I just have to know what is going to happen to Cale. He's important to me, and that means I will be reading the next book: The Last Four Things.
Thoughts on the audiobook narration: The British narrator has a beautiful, smooth voice, with a certain element that lends itself very well to the sinister aspects of this story. He has an ability to employ an almost monotone delivery (lending a paradoxically dark, sharp edge to the violent and also the humorous elements) that he employs in quite the right way to surround the listener with an atmosphere that brings this story to life. I would recommend listening to this book on audio if you can find it.
Recommendation: I would advise those who don't like dark subject matter not to read this novel. However, if you don't enjoy dark stories, but you like very compelling, enigmatic characters, you might find yourself compelled to read it anyway, like I was.
One of my friends on GRs remarked that the book seems to have a split personality. I completely agree. The first part seemed like a relentlessly dark story of religious zealotry, and its deleterious effects on young boys. I thought the whole book would be about the boys trying to escape its effect. However, the story turns into a not quite as dark, but still murky coming of age story in which we see a young man go from point A to point Z, and how it affects him. It left me a bit confused at how to take this story. I think that Mr. Hoffman had so much fun writing that he sort of lost his sense of direction. Despite that fact, this was still a very good book. My tastes are odd enough that I can enjoy dark material (depending on the execution), although I am an unrepentant consumer of happy ever after stories. The crucial ingredient that causes me to love a book, or even like it, is a pull towards the characters or the story, and that can overule my desire for happy, sunny reads. In this case, Cale is that sort of character. I listened to this on audio, and I was seduced into a dependence on hearing Cale's story. He's an interesting kid. He scares a lot of people, annoys most others, and inspires a strange sort of loyalty in the rest that they don't quite get, nor does Cale. He's not even the nicest guy. But he shows a sense of honor that causes him to do the right thing, even when his pragmatic nature tells him not to. I hope that he doesn't listen to the junk that the Redeemers seem to want to feed him, about his darkness, his curse, and his true mission. I don't believe that about him at all. I do believe he is a very dangerous person. But why can't that darkness in him be used for good? I think it can.
Towards the end of this book, I listened with a very strong sense of dread. I knew that things weren't going to end well, but I couldn't not listen. I just have to know what is going to happen to Cale. He's important to me, and that means I will be reading the next book: The Last Four Things.
Thoughts on the audiobook narration: The British narrator has a beautiful, smooth voice, with a certain element that lends itself very well to the sinister aspects of this story. He has an ability to employ an almost monotone delivery (lending a paradoxically dark, sharp edge to the violent and also the humorous elements) that he employs in quite the right way to surround the listener with an atmosphere that brings this story to life. I would recommend listening to this book on audio if you can find it.
Recommendation: I would advise those who don't like dark subject matter not to read this novel. However, if you don't enjoy dark stories, but you like very compelling, enigmatic characters, you might find yourself compelled to read it anyway, like I was.
August 3, 2017
First of all.. spoiler:
Do not waste your time on this book seriously. We only get a hint of fantasy elements in the very last couple of pages when cales identity is revealed and there is no hint of fantasy or magic throughout the whole book despite the title.
Full review here @Scaredy Engines End of Line Library
Do not waste your time on this book seriously. We only get a hint of fantasy elements in the very last couple of pages when cales identity is revealed and there is no hint of fantasy or magic throughout the whole book despite the title.
Full review here @Scaredy Engines End of Line Library
February 11, 2015
“Listen. The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie for there is no redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary.”
The only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because I'm saving it for the rest of the series. Gotta admit that this came as a surprise. I was most positive that I would not like this & I've been holding back. So, when I picked it up & immediately lost myself in it, I couldn't help feeling stupid for not having read this earlier.
This is epic, high fantasy meeting dystopia which is an amazing combination, if I'm being truthful. It's incredibly dark & twisted, the details are gory, the writing is gory & it has a tendency towards the macabre. I liked how the author did not hold back from writing all the horrid, gruesome details. It is very gloomy.
The Redeemers are a group of people, supposedly sent by God to do his work & recruit little kids, train them, turn them into killing machines. If you're a religious person then stop reading this review & do not read the book, you'll most likely hate this book.
I loved it though, I loved all the mention of God & how he is perceived in this book. What he has supposedly assigned to his agents to do.
Cale is a boy of 14, he is the prodigy of 'The Sanctuary of the Redeemers' & the best in the camp. There's something special about him. The Redeemers have taken a special interest to him. What for, you'll find out by reading the book.
The writing is very complicated. Paul Hoffman sure knows how to write. His writing, while it's all over the place, sometimes told from the perspective of our heroes & at other times told by an omnipotent narrator, it is incredble. He can write just about anything, without holding anything back.
The plot was actually pretty rich and that surprised me even more. It's a well-built world that Mr. Hoffman has created and very solid at that. While Cale, our hero, is supposed to be a killing machine, we get the feeling he wants to be more, wants to be something that he alone can define for himself, not letting what he's meant to be tear him down.
There's romance in that one. More like a love/hate relationship. Other times hating each other, other times loving each other dearly. While it's a bit messed up, I liked and understood where it was coming from. They're different, they're afraid. Cale afraid of what she turns him into & Arbell afraid of not being able to change his core.
What striked me as impressive is really the fact that Cale is a little boy, a kid who's been tortured, beaten, disciplined & punished his entire life. All he knows is pain. All he knows is how to inflict pain but still there's humanity in him & that's all the hope this book offers you. Will humanity drown out all of his pain? Will his love for Arbell overcome his need to destroy all that's good?
If you're a fan of epic/high fantasy & love yourself a good, dark, twisty read about a well-built world full of amazing characters? If you love fast-paced reads, then this book is ideal for you.
February 23, 2019
4.5
Odi et amo. Al netto della critica questo libro può essere definito con questo verso Catulliano. Io faccio parte della cerchia degli "amo". Hoffman scrive bene, scrive male? Il libro è un fantasy, uno storico o un distopico? Devo ancora capirlo. Sicuramente è uno dei libri più irriverenti, ironici e satirici che abbia mai letto, Hoffman è il re della presa per il culo, come Abercrombie è il re del Grimdark. Se vi va fate un tentativo, potrebbe farvi spaccare dalle risate oppure potrebbe farvi odiare e bruciare il libro, ai posteri l'ardua sentenza.
Odi et amo. Al netto della critica questo libro può essere definito con questo verso Catulliano. Io faccio parte della cerchia degli "amo". Hoffman scrive bene, scrive male? Il libro è un fantasy, uno storico o un distopico? Devo ancora capirlo. Sicuramente è uno dei libri più irriverenti, ironici e satirici che abbia mai letto, Hoffman è il re della presa per il culo, come Abercrombie è il re del Grimdark. Se vi va fate un tentativo, potrebbe farvi spaccare dalle risate oppure potrebbe farvi odiare e bruciare il libro, ai posteri l'ardua sentenza.
October 28, 2015
3.5 stars
Enjoyed this book, would have been a better rating, but the whole thing felt very impersonal and detached.
Enjoyed this book, would have been a better rating, but the whole thing felt very impersonal and detached.
March 18, 2011
In the hellish Sanctuary of the Redeemer, young boys are trained from the age of five to be unthinking soldiers. Cale, the most promising, is singled out for punishment for the most trivial offenses. One day, Cale stops a Redeemer from dissecting a girl and he and his two friends Vague Henri and Kleist, escape the Sanctuary and go on the lam. Can they stop the Redeemers from conquering the world?
First of all, I'm pissed that there's no indication on the cover that this is the first book in a trilogy. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here goes.
The Left Hand of God is marketed as fantasy but there aren't really many fantasy elements about it. It's not really overly science-fictiony either. It's almost an alternate future tale. It takes place on earth but thousands of years in the future.
The story itself is pretty good. Cale and his friends adjust to life in Memphis, only to have the Redeemers show up when they were just getting settled in. Memphis is well done but I think the Redeemers are better developed, religions fanatics dedicated to wiping out sin. The relationships between the characters are fairly good, although Kleist and Vague Henri don't get much time. The final battle was surprising and the ending was a shocker, although the title gives it away a little.
The writing is good but the tone was a little weird. In some places it was chilling and in others hilarious. I liked it but I could see how some people could find it jarring.
First of all, I'm pissed that there's no indication on the cover that this is the first book in a trilogy. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here goes.
The Left Hand of God is marketed as fantasy but there aren't really many fantasy elements about it. It's not really overly science-fictiony either. It's almost an alternate future tale. It takes place on earth but thousands of years in the future.
The story itself is pretty good. Cale and his friends adjust to life in Memphis, only to have the Redeemers show up when they were just getting settled in. Memphis is well done but I think the Redeemers are better developed, religions fanatics dedicated to wiping out sin. The relationships between the characters are fairly good, although Kleist and Vague Henri don't get much time. The final battle was surprising and the ending was a shocker, although the title gives it away a little.
The writing is good but the tone was a little weird. In some places it was chilling and in others hilarious. I liked it but I could see how some people could find it jarring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2020
I'm so tempted to add this one to my all time favorites shelf! It was freaking amazing. The plot, the characters, the setting...it's all incredible and enrapturing. I cannot wait to jump into book two.
September 2, 2010
I wasn’t sure if this book was a joke. I’m still not. Hoffman’s early publications are both non-fiction, and his first fiction work is filled with enough cliché, anachronisms and just general bad writing to make me wonder if I missed the punch line.
The first hurdle is the Point of View. Hoffman chooses an omniscient narrator to tell our story “Listen.” He tells us as he launches into prose which can’t decide between attempted poetry, lower-class plain speak or comradely story-sharing. The narration often leaves us too far away from the main characters, whose actions are often seen from a distance, almost told in summary. There is the occasion zoom in, within which we do empathise with the characters, but the whole process is handled in such a way that leaves us cold to our protagonists.
Alongside genital analogies, multiple anachronistic happenings this narrative is enough to bury with book, but Hoffman wanted to dig deeper into the hole of bad writing.
He used plot as his shovel. As a beginning setting Hoffman goes with the harsh religious sect theme, and we meet Thomas Cale, a young acolyte, punished remorselessly in pursuit of perfection. Cale quickly escapes the situation and goes on to fight a series of progressively more abusive and more ‘impossible to defeat’ opponents, always shocking the other characters (but not the reader) with his fighting prowess.
I will make a detour here, and say that Hoffman’s explanation for why Cale’s fighting skills are so legendary and the issues around that are very interesting – although not enough to carry the book.
Not surprisingly at all by the time the novel ends we hear that Cale is part of a prophecy, and plays and important part in the end of the world, blah blah blah and so on.
There is a bizarre subplot where Cale initiates the teaching of sign language to a deaf mute man who was previously considered simple, discovering along the way that he is anything but simple. I wonder if Hoffman has some connection to the disability community, because while the story is a nice little riff, it’s hard to see how it fits in the greater picture of things.
At one can tell I was not impressed by this book, although it did provide me with a real-life example of why bad is what passive sentence construction is. Although knowing me I will read further on just to torture myself (or give me impetuous to write scathing reviews ;)
The first hurdle is the Point of View. Hoffman chooses an omniscient narrator to tell our story “Listen.” He tells us as he launches into prose which can’t decide between attempted poetry, lower-class plain speak or comradely story-sharing. The narration often leaves us too far away from the main characters, whose actions are often seen from a distance, almost told in summary. There is the occasion zoom in, within which we do empathise with the characters, but the whole process is handled in such a way that leaves us cold to our protagonists.
Alongside genital analogies, multiple anachronistic happenings this narrative is enough to bury with book, but Hoffman wanted to dig deeper into the hole of bad writing.
He used plot as his shovel. As a beginning setting Hoffman goes with the harsh religious sect theme, and we meet Thomas Cale, a young acolyte, punished remorselessly in pursuit of perfection. Cale quickly escapes the situation and goes on to fight a series of progressively more abusive and more ‘impossible to defeat’ opponents, always shocking the other characters (but not the reader) with his fighting prowess.
I will make a detour here, and say that Hoffman’s explanation for why Cale’s fighting skills are so legendary and the issues around that are very interesting – although not enough to carry the book.
Not surprisingly at all by the time the novel ends we hear that Cale is part of a prophecy, and plays and important part in the end of the world, blah blah blah and so on.
There is a bizarre subplot where Cale initiates the teaching of sign language to a deaf mute man who was previously considered simple, discovering along the way that he is anything but simple. I wonder if Hoffman has some connection to the disability community, because while the story is a nice little riff, it’s hard to see how it fits in the greater picture of things.
At one can tell I was not impressed by this book, although it did provide me with a real-life example of why bad is what passive sentence construction is. Although knowing me I will read further on just to torture myself (or give me impetuous to write scathing reviews ;)
June 20, 2022
Final Rating: 3.5/10
You can read my full length review of this book at my Official Website . Below is an overview of my thoughts about it.
OVERVIEW
The Left Hand Of God is a novel that will leave most readers lamenting what could have been. It’s hard to think of a more salient illustration of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The story initially begins as an exceptionally well written dark fantasy tale that threatens to turn a well-worn fantasy trope on its head. But then disaster strikes.
After the tenth chapter the story inexplicably morphs into an abysmally written parody come romantic comedy. This is, perhaps, one of the most schizophrenic titles you’re ever likely to encounter. It’s almost as if the book was authored by two different people.
Anyone looking for a coherent, adult fantasy tale with a strong plot, great characterisation, and well crafted world building should steer clear of this book, as it possesses none of these attributes. Instead, pick up a copy of Blood Song by Anthony Ryan which is the book that The Left Hand Of God wishes it was.
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You can read my full length review of this book at my Official Website . Below is an overview of my thoughts about it.
OVERVIEW
The Left Hand Of God is a novel that will leave most readers lamenting what could have been. It’s hard to think of a more salient illustration of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The story initially begins as an exceptionally well written dark fantasy tale that threatens to turn a well-worn fantasy trope on its head. But then disaster strikes.
After the tenth chapter the story inexplicably morphs into an abysmally written parody come romantic comedy. This is, perhaps, one of the most schizophrenic titles you’re ever likely to encounter. It’s almost as if the book was authored by two different people.
Anyone looking for a coherent, adult fantasy tale with a strong plot, great characterisation, and well crafted world building should steer clear of this book, as it possesses none of these attributes. Instead, pick up a copy of Blood Song by Anthony Ryan which is the book that The Left Hand Of God wishes it was.
Subscribe to my author Newsletter
Vist my Official Website and Personal Blog
Make tip jar donations via Ko-fi or PayPal
Follow me on social media:
Facebook | Last.fm | Pinterest | Tumblr | Twitter
August 2, 2014
This book had a ton of flaws, but despite that I still really enjoyed reading it. Paul Hoffman has an incredibly weird writing style. It was all over the place. Sometimes told by an omnipotent narrator and at other times by cycling through a bunch of third person perspectives. The changes happened often and with no warning. Sometimes the transition between styles, or even just character viewpoints, was smooth and other times it was quite jarring. Even the passages of description were of varying quality. Some seemed almost poetic while others were rough and crude. It was quite bizarre.
The contrasts continued when it came to the feel of story itself. It started out incredibly dark and then developed into a typical coming of age fantasy story before ending very dark. The pacing was all over the place. Sometimes fast and exciting and other times slow an a bit plodding. Still, none of those flaws mattered too much as the plot was interesting and packed with action, intrigue, humor, and even a hint of romance.
The real positive was the fact that Thomas Cale was a fascinating and surprisingly likable lead character. Cale was raised in the brutal Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a place where torture and death are a constant threat. It shapes him as a character. He kills efficiently and without letting it concern him too much. Despite that there is still the feeling that Cale desires to be more than just an instrument of death.
The secondary characters were excellent and interesting. Most were well drawn with distinctive personalities of their own. Vague Henri and The Redeemer priest Bossco were probably the pick of the bunch.
The ending was not the best, but overall I was very happy with this and will definitely be looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
Audio Note: Sean Barrett gave a fantastic performance and really seemed to understand the tone of the story.
The contrasts continued when it came to the feel of story itself. It started out incredibly dark and then developed into a typical coming of age fantasy story before ending very dark. The pacing was all over the place. Sometimes fast and exciting and other times slow an a bit plodding. Still, none of those flaws mattered too much as the plot was interesting and packed with action, intrigue, humor, and even a hint of romance.
The real positive was the fact that Thomas Cale was a fascinating and surprisingly likable lead character. Cale was raised in the brutal Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a place where torture and death are a constant threat. It shapes him as a character. He kills efficiently and without letting it concern him too much. Despite that there is still the feeling that Cale desires to be more than just an instrument of death.
The secondary characters were excellent and interesting. Most were well drawn with distinctive personalities of their own. Vague Henri and The Redeemer priest Bossco were probably the pick of the bunch.
The ending was not the best, but overall I was very happy with this and will definitely be looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
Audio Note: Sean Barrett gave a fantastic performance and really seemed to understand the tone of the story.
April 1, 2021
Много добро начало на военна фентъзи трилогия, в свят от средновековен тип.
Авторът е почерпил вдъхновение за част от събитията от Стогодишната война.
Приятна е за четене и с интересни главни герои.
Art by Mike Franchina.
Авторът е почерпил вдъхновение за част от събитията от Стогодишната война.
Приятна е за четене и с интересни главни герои.
Art by Mike Franchina.
July 14, 2010
“The Sanctuary of the Redeemers is a vast and desolate place without joy or hope. Most of its occupants were taken there as boys and for years have endured the brutal regime of the Lord Redeemers whose cruelty and violence have one singular purpose – to serve in the name of the One True Faith.
In one of the Sanctuary’s vast and twisting maze of corridors stands a boy. He is perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old – he is not sure and neither is anyone else. He has long-forgotten his real name, but now they call him Thomas Cale.”
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman has been held up to be one of the great fantasy debuts of 2010 and received rave reviews from other authors as well as more conventional reviewers. It received an extensive marketing campaign and was generally hailed before its release as one of those books that everyone MUST read. Unfortunately, since its release, many people have stepped forward to list the numerous ways in which it does not live up to the hype – and I’m afraid I must join their ranks.
There was some part of me almost determined to like The Left Hand of God, being as so many other people had declaimed the turgid prose, the stilted characterisation and the slightly baffling plot that leaves you wondering at the end why you have bothered to read four hundred odd pages when the main protagonist finds himself back where he started. However, this is a hard book to love – or even like very much.
Usually when writing a negative review I like to offer the points from the book that I did, at least, enjoy. Here I’m struggling to remember anything that moved my emotions. If all else fails and I can’t find any positive elements to focus on I will retreat to the comfort of mentioning the cover art – but here we have the much-derided hooded man (and I still remain childishly amused by the fact that the book is called The Left Hand of God but the character on the front is carrying that honking great sword in his right hand! Still just me? Well, alright then...)
My most damning comment on this book is one of apathy: I could very easily have put The Left Hand of God down at any point and not felt too dismayed at never knowing what happens at the end. Let me put this into context – I can count on one hand the books I have not finished. I feel that if the author has gone to the trouble of writing a novel, then I should respect their effort and give it a fair chance. With Paul Hoffman’s book it was only pig-headed stubbornness that had me turning the last page.
I did not enjoy the crazy mixed-up world building that had Memphis and York right next to each other. I do not know what Hoffman was trying to achieve: was he so lazy as to not be able to make up names for his cities? Or was he going for the truly symbolic and I just missed it? My over-riding impression is that Hoffman felt he was doing something ultra clever but it just came across as pretentious.
There have been a couple of books in recent times that I have read, wondering if he author (while writing the novel) had half an eye on the screenplay of the movie that would be made: The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spring to mind. This book can now join their ranks. There are panoramic sweeping shots of the countryside described lovingly (a la The Lord of the Rings films); some market shots that bring to mind Tatooine; and some truly awful training montages that I can hear the inspirational 80s power chords for.
I hated the way that Hoffman dealt with women, including one cringe-making passage:
“Our skin must be without flaw, our hair shiny and manageable [which sounds like a hair care advert:], we must have wide bright eyes, our cheeks pink, our breasts round and large, our buttocks large and smooth and between our legs, under our arms, nor anywhere else except our heads were we to permit the growth of a single hair. We must be always interested and charming and always smell of flowers. We must never be angry or scold or be critical of other people, but kind and affectionate and always ready with kisses and tenderness.”
“How,” asked Vipond, “did you practise your... tenderness? If you had no men?”
“On each other, sir.”
Oh come on, Mr Hoffman! Let’s first objectify women as sex objects and then throw in a little casual titillation. Way to go!
And I leave you with another quote that caught my eye: “As for smoking – it is a childish affectation: a habit loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, causes the breath to stink and makes any man who takes it for long enough effeminate.” That’s right, kids: smoking is BAD. Hoffman’s message here is extremely clumsy and almost shoe-horned into the plot for no good reason.
Harry Sidebottom (author of the Warrior of Rome series of books) states on the back of The Left Hand of God: “If you do not enjoy this book something has died in your soul.” Well, I’m proud to say that my soul is completely dead – and Paul Hoffman killed it. Avoid this book.
In one of the Sanctuary’s vast and twisting maze of corridors stands a boy. He is perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old – he is not sure and neither is anyone else. He has long-forgotten his real name, but now they call him Thomas Cale.”
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman has been held up to be one of the great fantasy debuts of 2010 and received rave reviews from other authors as well as more conventional reviewers. It received an extensive marketing campaign and was generally hailed before its release as one of those books that everyone MUST read. Unfortunately, since its release, many people have stepped forward to list the numerous ways in which it does not live up to the hype – and I’m afraid I must join their ranks.
There was some part of me almost determined to like The Left Hand of God, being as so many other people had declaimed the turgid prose, the stilted characterisation and the slightly baffling plot that leaves you wondering at the end why you have bothered to read four hundred odd pages when the main protagonist finds himself back where he started. However, this is a hard book to love – or even like very much.
Usually when writing a negative review I like to offer the points from the book that I did, at least, enjoy. Here I’m struggling to remember anything that moved my emotions. If all else fails and I can’t find any positive elements to focus on I will retreat to the comfort of mentioning the cover art – but here we have the much-derided hooded man (and I still remain childishly amused by the fact that the book is called The Left Hand of God but the character on the front is carrying that honking great sword in his right hand! Still just me? Well, alright then...)
My most damning comment on this book is one of apathy: I could very easily have put The Left Hand of God down at any point and not felt too dismayed at never knowing what happens at the end. Let me put this into context – I can count on one hand the books I have not finished. I feel that if the author has gone to the trouble of writing a novel, then I should respect their effort and give it a fair chance. With Paul Hoffman’s book it was only pig-headed stubbornness that had me turning the last page.
I did not enjoy the crazy mixed-up world building that had Memphis and York right next to each other. I do not know what Hoffman was trying to achieve: was he so lazy as to not be able to make up names for his cities? Or was he going for the truly symbolic and I just missed it? My over-riding impression is that Hoffman felt he was doing something ultra clever but it just came across as pretentious.
There have been a couple of books in recent times that I have read, wondering if he author (while writing the novel) had half an eye on the screenplay of the movie that would be made: The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spring to mind. This book can now join their ranks. There are panoramic sweeping shots of the countryside described lovingly (a la The Lord of the Rings films); some market shots that bring to mind Tatooine; and some truly awful training montages that I can hear the inspirational 80s power chords for.
I hated the way that Hoffman dealt with women, including one cringe-making passage:
“Our skin must be without flaw, our hair shiny and manageable [which sounds like a hair care advert:], we must have wide bright eyes, our cheeks pink, our breasts round and large, our buttocks large and smooth and between our legs, under our arms, nor anywhere else except our heads were we to permit the growth of a single hair. We must be always interested and charming and always smell of flowers. We must never be angry or scold or be critical of other people, but kind and affectionate and always ready with kisses and tenderness.”
“How,” asked Vipond, “did you practise your... tenderness? If you had no men?”
“On each other, sir.”
Oh come on, Mr Hoffman! Let’s first objectify women as sex objects and then throw in a little casual titillation. Way to go!
And I leave you with another quote that caught my eye: “As for smoking – it is a childish affectation: a habit loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, causes the breath to stink and makes any man who takes it for long enough effeminate.” That’s right, kids: smoking is BAD. Hoffman’s message here is extremely clumsy and almost shoe-horned into the plot for no good reason.
Harry Sidebottom (author of the Warrior of Rome series of books) states on the back of The Left Hand of God: “If you do not enjoy this book something has died in your soul.” Well, I’m proud to say that my soul is completely dead – and Paul Hoffman killed it. Avoid this book.
April 4, 2016
Something for the weekend, sir? A book, perhaps? The first in a trilogy?
Ah, thank you, my good man. I see that the cover shows a hooded man wielding swords. Should I therefore assume that the hero is an enigmatic young warrior-monk, brought up in a isolated sanctuary where he was beaten regularly while being taught the arts of war? And should I also assume that he escapes from this terrible place to find excitement and adventure beyond its grim walls?
Indeed. Sir is most perspicacious.
And would I be right in assuming that the book is set in a world like and yet unlike our own. A world filled with such wonderful things as sword fights, true friends, deadly assassins and evil villains?
It has all these things, sir, there are even a modicum of girls in need of rescue.
Girls! I say, old chap, isn't that going a bit too far?
Not to worry, sir. These are not real girls, they are merely plot devices with breasts.
Phew, you had me worried for a moment there. And tell me, does it end on a cliff hanger to make sure I read the next book?
Without a doubt. Is sir interested?
Of course I am, I'll take the packet of three.
Ah, thank you, my good man. I see that the cover shows a hooded man wielding swords. Should I therefore assume that the hero is an enigmatic young warrior-monk, brought up in a isolated sanctuary where he was beaten regularly while being taught the arts of war? And should I also assume that he escapes from this terrible place to find excitement and adventure beyond its grim walls?
Indeed. Sir is most perspicacious.
And would I be right in assuming that the book is set in a world like and yet unlike our own. A world filled with such wonderful things as sword fights, true friends, deadly assassins and evil villains?
It has all these things, sir, there are even a modicum of girls in need of rescue.
Girls! I say, old chap, isn't that going a bit too far?
Not to worry, sir. These are not real girls, they are merely plot devices with breasts.
Phew, you had me worried for a moment there. And tell me, does it end on a cliff hanger to make sure I read the next book?
Without a doubt. Is sir interested?
Of course I am, I'll take the packet of three.
November 22, 2021
Redenzione a buon mercato
"Per alcuni è la mano sinistra di Dio. Per altri l'angelo della morte. E' scritto che distruggerà il mondo."
Al netto di un umorismo corrosivo apprezzabile nonché lo spunto di partenza inusuale (il Santuario dei Redentori), questo primo tassello della saga di Hoffman tradisce troppe pecche che lo allontanano dalla sufficienza.
Il worldbuilding risulta appena abbozzato e sino alla fine del volume non si verrà a capo della commistione tra unità geografiche reali (Norvegia, York) e luoghi plasmati ad hoc (Memphis); inoltre, aspetto piuttosto grave, non trova spazio un ipotetico sistema magico, eccettuate le ultime due pagine con il Redentore Bosco che millanta improbabili visioni.
Non depone a favore dell'economia narrativa nemmeno la scarsa introspezione dei personaggi in scena, spesso inseriti senza nessuna presentazione né adeguata contestualizzazione: Cale in particolare, protagonista della vicenda, va avanti per fasi scriptate e gareggia con Henry e Kleist per inespressività.
Da salvare la scrittura scorrevole e l'indubbia preparazione storico-letteraria dello scrittore; tutto il resto non è, semplicemente, pervenuto.
"Per alcuni è la mano sinistra di Dio. Per altri l'angelo della morte. E' scritto che distruggerà il mondo."
Al netto di un umorismo corrosivo apprezzabile nonché lo spunto di partenza inusuale (il Santuario dei Redentori), questo primo tassello della saga di Hoffman tradisce troppe pecche che lo allontanano dalla sufficienza.
Il worldbuilding risulta appena abbozzato e sino alla fine del volume non si verrà a capo della commistione tra unità geografiche reali (Norvegia, York) e luoghi plasmati ad hoc (Memphis); inoltre, aspetto piuttosto grave, non trova spazio un ipotetico sistema magico, eccettuate le ultime due pagine con il Redentore Bosco che millanta improbabili visioni.
Non depone a favore dell'economia narrativa nemmeno la scarsa introspezione dei personaggi in scena, spesso inseriti senza nessuna presentazione né adeguata contestualizzazione: Cale in particolare, protagonista della vicenda, va avanti per fasi scriptate e gareggia con Henry e Kleist per inespressività.
Da salvare la scrittura scorrevole e l'indubbia preparazione storico-letteraria dello scrittore; tutto il resto non è, semplicemente, pervenuto.
February 11, 2013
Terrible.
How did this mess ever get published? I only got as far as chapter 2 and gave up. The writing is dreadful with some sentences as long as a paragraph. That's the kind of shit you expect in vanity publishing, not from Penguin. Does Hoffman know you're supposed to start a new paragraph when someone else is talking and what about shifts in POV? Is it written in first person POV or omniscient or a mix of the two?
Also, the first incident was SO convenient.
When Vague Henri and Kleist found the door, Cale didn't want to go in, but then a fat Redeemer showed up. They had no choice but to go inside. Now this is what lost me. At first, the door was heavy and stiff and it took all three of them to shift it, but out of the blue, Cale is able to close it quietly by himself. Bollocks. Also, he goes on and on with a big paragraph burst of dialogue explaining why the particular redeemer outside didn't bother his arse investigating the loud clunk the lock made when Henri closed it.
Would you know it, the key breaks. Groan.
And what was that puzzle on the 20 foot table that Cale was supposed to solve? Funny, even though he solved it - don't ask how - he got his hand lashed by the lord militant who tells him, "in war a dull success is always better than a brilliant one."
How does that make sense? It doesn't.
To quote lord militant: "Do you think you are needful you useless Zed?"
Yes, he called Cale a zed, which is what I call this book.
I'm bringing it back. How in the name of Jasus did it get the write-ups it did? It's complete and utter shite.
How did this mess ever get published? I only got as far as chapter 2 and gave up. The writing is dreadful with some sentences as long as a paragraph. That's the kind of shit you expect in vanity publishing, not from Penguin. Does Hoffman know you're supposed to start a new paragraph when someone else is talking and what about shifts in POV? Is it written in first person POV or omniscient or a mix of the two?
Also, the first incident was SO convenient.
When Vague Henri and Kleist found the door, Cale didn't want to go in, but then a fat Redeemer showed up. They had no choice but to go inside. Now this is what lost me. At first, the door was heavy and stiff and it took all three of them to shift it, but out of the blue, Cale is able to close it quietly by himself. Bollocks. Also, he goes on and on with a big paragraph burst of dialogue explaining why the particular redeemer outside didn't bother his arse investigating the loud clunk the lock made when Henri closed it.
Would you know it, the key breaks. Groan.
And what was that puzzle on the 20 foot table that Cale was supposed to solve? Funny, even though he solved it - don't ask how - he got his hand lashed by the lord militant who tells him, "in war a dull success is always better than a brilliant one."
How does that make sense? It doesn't.
To quote lord militant: "Do you think you are needful you useless Zed?"
Yes, he called Cale a zed, which is what I call this book.
I'm bringing it back. How in the name of Jasus did it get the write-ups it did? It's complete and utter shite.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2019
Cos'è a rendere interessante un libro?
Voglio dire, quali sono gli ingredienti che rendono piacevole, avvincente, bello un libro?
Me lo chiedo perché questo libro mi ha preso, mi ha trascinato di peso nelle sue pagine e mi ha costretto a leggerlo con voracità.
Ma se ci penso a freddo, se ci penso razionalmente, trovo solo difetti.
Il mondo fantastico con i nomi dei luoghi reali, per esempio, è una cosa che aborro. Norvegia? Gerusalemme? Memphis? Che diavolo c'entrano? No, è una cosa che non sopporto.
E poi abbiamo il protagonista, che per quasi tutto il libro è una sorta di Mary Sue infallibile e inarrestabile, che solo alla fine mostra qualche segno di cedimento, di umana paura. E malgrado le frasi altisonanti in copertina, fino alle ultimissime pagine né noi né tantomeno lo stesso Cale capiamo il motivo di tutto ciò.
I protagonisti sono ragazzini di quattordici anni, per quanto cresciuti prima del tempo a causa degli assurdi addestramenti cui i loro aguzzini li hanno sottoposti. Ragazzi duri, rocciosi, granitici.
Ci può stare che alcuni stringano amicizie segrete tra di loro.
Ci può stare anche che qualcuno sia così folle da tornare indietro per far fuggire i propri amici.
Ma mi sembra che mutino troppo rapidamente in ragazzi quasi normali, una volta a Memphis. Non hanno mai avuto idea di come si vivesse in un posto civile, non sapevano nemmeno esistessero posti civili. Ci arrivano all'improvviso, dopo una fuga temeraria in cui erano pronti al suicidio piuttosto che tornare al Santuario nelle mani dei Redentori. Ragazzi che mai hanno giocato, mai hanno riso negli ultimi otto, nove, dieci anni. E tuttavia in breve tempo si ritrovano praticamente a divertirsi. A diventare ragazzi come gli altri.
Tutto troppo bello, tutto troppo rapido.
O almeno, così mi è sembrato. Rapido per loro non lo è stato, ma non ho provato lo smarrimento che dovrei aver provato, non li ho visti spersi e spauriti, chiusi in loro stessi per sopravvivere in questo ambiente alieno e minaccioso.
E i Ferrazzi... d'accordo che vivono di onore battagliero, d'accordo che sono dei nobili stolti e idioti, d'accordo tutto.
Ma il combattimento contro i Redentori è una comica, una macchietta, una cretinata colossale.
Come del resto una comica è sempre stato tutto quello che li riguardava, mi sembrava di essere in un libro di Pratchett o di Adams ogni volta che veniva citata un'usanza dei Ferrazzi.
Non ho niente contro gli elementi comici, ci mancherebbe altro!, ma inseriti così dal nulla in un libro che aveva tutta un'altra atmosfera mi sono risultati non poco stonati.
E quindi il libro non mi è piaciuto?
No, mi è piaciuto. Non sono riuscito a staccarmici, malgrado fossi consapevole dei suoi difetti.
Lo leggevo, pensavo "ma perché questo???" eppure continuavo a leggere, il classico "ancora un capitolo e poi chiudo" che si reitera.
E non capisco perché.
La storia non mi sembra particolarmente originale, l'ambientazione non mi ha convinto appieno, immedesimazione nei personaggi non ce n'è stata. Immagino quindi che la scrittura di Hoffman sia stata talmente buona da intrappolarmi come in una ragnatela, vittima di bassi istinti come l'apprezzamento malgrado tutto dell'epopea dei tre ragazzi che osarono stringere amicizia, del fascino oscuro di Cale, del divertimento procurato involontariamente dai Ferrazzi e dai primi incontri dei ragazzi con il genere femminile.
Si, alcuni di questi li ho in precedenza segnalati come difetti, lo so. E sono convinto lo siano.
Ma il bello della lettura è che non è niente di razionale.
So che per quanto mi riguarda sono difetti, e ugualmente Hoffman è riuscito a farmeli apprezzare, a farmeli piacere, a farmici appassionare.
Dopo le prime pagine, francamente, non ci avrei scommesso un centesimo su questa mia reazione.
Voglio dire, quali sono gli ingredienti che rendono piacevole, avvincente, bello un libro?
Me lo chiedo perché questo libro mi ha preso, mi ha trascinato di peso nelle sue pagine e mi ha costretto a leggerlo con voracità.
Ma se ci penso a freddo, se ci penso razionalmente, trovo solo difetti.
Il mondo fantastico con i nomi dei luoghi reali, per esempio, è una cosa che aborro. Norvegia? Gerusalemme? Memphis? Che diavolo c'entrano? No, è una cosa che non sopporto.
E poi abbiamo il protagonista, che per quasi tutto il libro è una sorta di Mary Sue infallibile e inarrestabile, che solo alla fine mostra qualche segno di cedimento, di umana paura. E malgrado le frasi altisonanti in copertina, fino alle ultimissime pagine né noi né tantomeno lo stesso Cale capiamo il motivo di tutto ciò.
I protagonisti sono ragazzini di quattordici anni, per quanto cresciuti prima del tempo a causa degli assurdi addestramenti cui i loro aguzzini li hanno sottoposti. Ragazzi duri, rocciosi, granitici.
Ci può stare che alcuni stringano amicizie segrete tra di loro.
Ci può stare anche che qualcuno sia così folle da tornare indietro per far fuggire i propri amici.
Ma mi sembra che mutino troppo rapidamente in ragazzi quasi normali, una volta a Memphis. Non hanno mai avuto idea di come si vivesse in un posto civile, non sapevano nemmeno esistessero posti civili. Ci arrivano all'improvviso, dopo una fuga temeraria in cui erano pronti al suicidio piuttosto che tornare al Santuario nelle mani dei Redentori. Ragazzi che mai hanno giocato, mai hanno riso negli ultimi otto, nove, dieci anni. E tuttavia in breve tempo si ritrovano praticamente a divertirsi. A diventare ragazzi come gli altri.
Tutto troppo bello, tutto troppo rapido.
O almeno, così mi è sembrato. Rapido per loro non lo è stato, ma non ho provato lo smarrimento che dovrei aver provato, non li ho visti spersi e spauriti, chiusi in loro stessi per sopravvivere in questo ambiente alieno e minaccioso.
E i Ferrazzi... d'accordo che vivono di onore battagliero, d'accordo che sono dei nobili stolti e idioti, d'accordo tutto.
Ma il combattimento contro i Redentori è una comica, una macchietta, una cretinata colossale.
Come del resto una comica è sempre stato tutto quello che li riguardava, mi sembrava di essere in un libro di Pratchett o di Adams ogni volta che veniva citata un'usanza dei Ferrazzi.
Non ho niente contro gli elementi comici, ci mancherebbe altro!, ma inseriti così dal nulla in un libro che aveva tutta un'altra atmosfera mi sono risultati non poco stonati.
E quindi il libro non mi è piaciuto?
No, mi è piaciuto. Non sono riuscito a staccarmici, malgrado fossi consapevole dei suoi difetti.
Lo leggevo, pensavo "ma perché questo???" eppure continuavo a leggere, il classico "ancora un capitolo e poi chiudo" che si reitera.
E non capisco perché.
La storia non mi sembra particolarmente originale, l'ambientazione non mi ha convinto appieno, immedesimazione nei personaggi non ce n'è stata. Immagino quindi che la scrittura di Hoffman sia stata talmente buona da intrappolarmi come in una ragnatela, vittima di bassi istinti come l'apprezzamento malgrado tutto dell'epopea dei tre ragazzi che osarono stringere amicizia, del fascino oscuro di Cale, del divertimento procurato involontariamente dai Ferrazzi e dai primi incontri dei ragazzi con il genere femminile.
Si, alcuni di questi li ho in precedenza segnalati come difetti, lo so. E sono convinto lo siano.
Ma il bello della lettura è che non è niente di razionale.
So che per quanto mi riguarda sono difetti, e ugualmente Hoffman è riuscito a farmeli apprezzare, a farmeli piacere, a farmici appassionare.
Dopo le prime pagine, francamente, non ci avrei scommesso un centesimo su questa mia reazione.
June 29, 2010
The Left Hand of God is set in some unspecified place, possibly around the year 1000, perhaps in an alternative world but from a common history. In this world a fanatical religious group has established a fortress, The Sanctuary, from which it wages a war against the sinful and depraved world at large. A fortress in the sense that it a stronghold, but stronghold to keep its adherents in rather than keep invaders out, for no one would willing want to go there. Within The Sanctuary the Lord Redeemers exact a harsh and brutal control over their thousands of young male acolytes, taken under the age of ten to be trained ready for war.
One of the boys held in The Sanctuary is the fourteen or fifteen year old Thomas Cale, singled out for special treatment by Lord Redeemer Bosco who recognises in Cale unique qualities; although this special treatment does not necessarily mean it works in Cale's favour. But shortly after we meet Cale circumstances force him to make an early escape from The Sanctuary, along with two other boys. We follow them as they try too make their way to freedom and Memphis, a city that is as corrupt as The Sanctuary is supposedly righteous. Of course Bosco has no intention of letting go of Cale.
Cale is a fascinating character, a ruthless killing machine yet with a compassion even Cale himself does not quite understand. He is loyal, sharp and witty, he can be stubborn and yet charming, he is also not surprisingly incredibly naïve as regards the outside world. He also has the almost unfailing ability to land on his feet whatever happens.
After the terrors of The Sanctuary and tense drama of the escape attempt, which takes up the first hundred or so pages, and with the arr vial on the scene of IdrisPukke (one of several delightfully named characters) the tale enters a different phase, one of a lighter humour as we discover the outside world and its perverse ways. But there is yet more horror and drama to come, and Cale's continued freedom is never assured.
From the very first pages one is drawn into this fascinating, if initially horrific, world that Cale inhabits. The writing is sharp and assured and the reads with consummate ease, the image of the austere existence and torturous punishments of The Sanctuary is effectively created without resort to unnecessary graphic detail. Along with the horror there are the lighter touches and some choice imagery: "He paused for a moment, studiously unwatched by the others, then put it in his mouth and began chewing with the enthusiasm of a man eating his own t-", (well, you'll have to read it to find out).
The Left Hand of God is a engrossing story, peopled with diverse and interesting characters. It neatly contrasts episodes of dark horrors with periods of sharp wit and humour, holding the reader to the very end, and then leaves one wanting more.
One of the boys held in The Sanctuary is the fourteen or fifteen year old Thomas Cale, singled out for special treatment by Lord Redeemer Bosco who recognises in Cale unique qualities; although this special treatment does not necessarily mean it works in Cale's favour. But shortly after we meet Cale circumstances force him to make an early escape from The Sanctuary, along with two other boys. We follow them as they try too make their way to freedom and Memphis, a city that is as corrupt as The Sanctuary is supposedly righteous. Of course Bosco has no intention of letting go of Cale.
Cale is a fascinating character, a ruthless killing machine yet with a compassion even Cale himself does not quite understand. He is loyal, sharp and witty, he can be stubborn and yet charming, he is also not surprisingly incredibly naïve as regards the outside world. He also has the almost unfailing ability to land on his feet whatever happens.
After the terrors of The Sanctuary and tense drama of the escape attempt, which takes up the first hundred or so pages, and with the arr vial on the scene of IdrisPukke (one of several delightfully named characters) the tale enters a different phase, one of a lighter humour as we discover the outside world and its perverse ways. But there is yet more horror and drama to come, and Cale's continued freedom is never assured.
From the very first pages one is drawn into this fascinating, if initially horrific, world that Cale inhabits. The writing is sharp and assured and the reads with consummate ease, the image of the austere existence and torturous punishments of The Sanctuary is effectively created without resort to unnecessary graphic detail. Along with the horror there are the lighter touches and some choice imagery: "He paused for a moment, studiously unwatched by the others, then put it in his mouth and began chewing with the enthusiasm of a man eating his own t-", (well, you'll have to read it to find out).
The Left Hand of God is a engrossing story, peopled with diverse and interesting characters. It neatly contrasts episodes of dark horrors with periods of sharp wit and humour, holding the reader to the very end, and then leaves one wanting more.
December 19, 2009
A mix of the inventively weird human cultures of Jack Vance's Reach novels (Night Lamp is the first I thought of but others also) and the cynicism worthy of Joe Abercrombie's excellent novels make this book a compelling, strange experience and possibly the best debut I read in a long time and one that will be hard to equal in 2010. Ultra-dark but a page turner and with very compelling characters, the novel is probbaly best described as a far future post apocalyptic tale set on a reverted pre-industrial Earth with fantasy vibes but much more sfnal in content than f-nal
I am still rereading the novel to get all its nuances so i may add more once I finish the reread but I can say that the opening line which represents the tone of the novel perfectly hooked me and I dropped everything I was reading at the time to start this one. The line below would have gone into my top opening lines of all time if available when I did the post on FBC.
"'Listen. The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie for there is no redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary'"
I am still rereading the novel to get all its nuances so i may add more once I finish the reread but I can say that the opening line which represents the tone of the novel perfectly hooked me and I dropped everything I was reading at the time to start this one. The line below would have gone into my top opening lines of all time if available when I did the post on FBC.
"'Listen. The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie for there is no redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary'"
December 9, 2015
A quick and easy read, which means the author is doing a lot of things right. One of the things I liked was that the world-building is on the light side, keeping the reader from being burdened with large information dumps. The glaring weakness in the book is its ending, which serves no purpose but to set the stage for the next book (a pet peeve of mine).
June 6, 2018
Доста интересна и зарибяваща книга, очаквах фентъзи, а всъщност е някаква постапокалиптика, където благодарение на куп войни сме се върнали в Средновековието. И все пак, готина и яка, ще се чете цялата поредица!
February 20, 2011
Surely this book goes to my list of favorite books.
October 8, 2019
2.75 stars
January 14, 2019
Read this one a while ago and I remember enjoying it overall, though it was a bit hard to follow at times. All the religious babble was a bit much.
I did really like the characters, though, and that it was a bit more savage than other fantasy. I remember random things like something gruesome involving a mouse or a rat, and rocks falling. (Memory is weird.)
Sadly, the follow up was such a disappointment for me that it's somewhat my tainted my memory of this one.
I did really enjoy this - enough to read the sequel pretty soon after - but I have a hard time recommending it when, for me, it ultimately ended with my disappointment of the sequel.
I did really like the characters, though, and that it was a bit more savage than other fantasy. I remember random things like something gruesome involving a mouse or a rat, and rocks falling. (Memory is weird.)
Sadly, the follow up was such a disappointment for me that it's somewhat my tainted my memory of this one.
I did really enjoy this - enough to read the sequel pretty soon after - but I have a hard time recommending it when, for me, it ultimately ended with my disappointment of the sequel.
February 10, 2017
I don't think I've been so disappointed in a long time. I'm not sure what I expected and I do appear to be in the minority - this gets good ratings from other readers. But I really didn't get on with it. At all. I finished it only because it was easy reading and I was too busy at work to fish it out of my handbag and go pick something else off the shelf. And I resented that the whole way through, clearly.
All the reasons this book wound me up
All the reasons this book wound me up
December 27, 2023
NB: This review does contain some profanity, because I was venting. You were warned.
While this book did have some good points, all in all I found this one to be disappointing and majorly triggering.
If you're a woman, steer clear of this one. Seriously, just don't.
Good points: Despite my reservations with regard to the world building, some of the ideas underlying this world/universe were interesting. For instance, I liked the idea of youths enslaved by a group who were religious fanatics attempting to take over the world. Another example is the depiction of the society dominated by the aristocratic Materazzi, which showed quite well the detrimental effects of such a rigid (and definitely not merit-based!) social order.
I did like the three central characters of Cale, Henri, and Kleist: I liked the fact that they were able to form friendships and essentially become dissidents despite having been brainwashed, yet these relationships had a tentative quality to them given the fact that they had experienced so few of them. Despite their background and having been taught to be monsters, they were still capable of being moral beings, which in itself was an act of defiance against their captors (i.e. the so-called Redeemers). (For instance, Cale saved Riba, a young woman who was going to be killed by the Redeemers. Despite complaining about being caught up in his actions, his two friends (i.e. Henri and Kleist) did come through and aid him when it was needed: for instance in Memphis there were occasions when they could have left without him but they did not, they also stayed to help cover him on the battlefield on one occasion with their crossbow and bow (respectively), despite thinking he was doing something extremely futile and idiotic. (I did have some reservations about Cale's characters and about the female characters for reasons described below.)
The plot was interesting and moved along quite well: there were no major plot holes. Furthermore events occured in a quick succession which did keep me reading until the end.
Bad points/constructive criticism:
-One thing that particularly irked me as a woman was the treatment of women in this story. Not only were there virtually NO female characters and the few that were there were depressingly one-dimensional. In fact, I would not only say they were one dimensional: what I found disturbing was the way in which this author characterized all female characters in such a way as to essentially dehumanize them. For instance, Arbell Swan-Neck was 'characterized' as being incredibly beautiful -this was presented as being the central characteristic of this character. Whether she was a mental giant or a dunce, for instance, was never qualified by the author (this was of no importance, apparently!). The only thing which could be concluded regarding her non physical qualities was that she seemed kind on most occasions but could be quite selfish.
The above might be forgiven if one were to consider that she was probably (i) quite young and (ii) quite spoiled, such that her personality probably was in general rather nebulous (in that she herself probably had no clue WHO she was as a person). However, when one considers the fact that she was one of the THREE female characters seen in the entire novel, it made me pause and consider this aspect of the story. When I added the fact that, of the other two, one was Arbell's scheming mother who was present for 1-2 pages in the middle of the novel and the other was Riba who was characterized mostly as a placid cow (my words, chosen with full sarcasm intended, since she was such a passive character and because the author several times contrasted her physical appearance with the lovely and slender Arbell, since she was apparently (*ahem*) more curvaceous). Riba never wavered from her adoration of her savior Thomas Cale, despite being essentially ignored by him because of his (love? lust? I wasn't really sure, to be honest) for the beautiful and bird-necked Arbell.
Add to this the fact that the women characters constantly needed to be saved and never once did anything useful to aid their own rescue, and, well.
Yuck. Macho, much?
(And having the novel set in a male-dominated society in which the women are NOT warriors does not mean that one cannot have strong, multi-faceted female characters. Just saying.)
-Cale's manpain or manlove (TM). Ugh.
He fell in love with Arbell BECAUSE SHE WAS PHYSICALLY BEAUTIFUL. HE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HER, YET HE APPARENTLY LOVED HER. SO IN OTHER WORDS, SHE COULD HAVE BEEN A SERIAL-KILLER OF BABIES AND HE WOULD HAVE LOVED HER ANYWAY, APPARENTLY.
I apologize for the shouting, but really. A man who chooses to 'love' a woman based merely on her physical appearance is an idiot. It also makes me angry because it harks back to the fact that women are apparently not even women, really, if they aren't physically desirable to men.
For some reason, the author seems to feel we should care about the fact that Cale was betrayed by the beautiful Arbell. Personally, I didn't give a sh*t.
So this relationship was not even remotely convincing.
-Thomas Cale was a Marty Stu. Now, while I don't lean towards the school of thought which seems to immediately invalidate a character whenever this is the case (i.e. whether this be a Mary Sue which is the female equivalent for this self-insertion device, or a Marty Stu), the machismo aspect present in this novel made this aspect of the character rather annoying to me. In other words, in light of the weakness of the female characters (see above), the aggressive know-it-all aspect of this male character became particularly grating to me (especially when he exhibited these traits in the presence of the poor little female characters).
-The world building aspect included some interesting initial ideas. However these were not fleshed out. For instance, the war between the Antagonists and the Redeemers was only ever mentioned in passing, despite its having lasted many years and having involved large-scale atrocities committed by the Redeemers. The long-term aims of the Redeemers, their origins, none of this was ever explained. Riba, the young woman saved by Cale in the beginning of the novel, was about to be murdered and dissected (literally) by one of the Redeemers. It is mentioned at the end of the novel (by another Redeemer) that this involved some 'perversion' on the part of certain Redeemers who had been purged (read 'executed') in the interim. What this 'perversion' was, other than wanting to place various organs from females into jars, is NEVER explained. Why this involved having women at the Redeemers headquarters when there were not supposed to be any women present is not explained. Why the Redeemers in general bear incredible hatred towards women is never explained, except to mention that they do.
It is also never entirely clear whether this world is somehow related to ours (e.g. distant future? post-apocalyptic?) or not, save for certain aspects which include the fact that the Redeemers seem to have traits reminiscent of Christianity. Another such aspects are the names of certain locales, such as Memphis (but apparently localization does not correspond to either the old Egypt Memphis or the Tennessee, U.S. cities). It is also mentioned that the financiers in Memphis are Jews, which was rather jarring, (i) since everything before then had not really seemed to correspond with our world and (ii) I was made distinctly uncomfortable by the use of this stereotype. (It was necessary to insert Jewish money-lenders? Really??) This mishmash felt, to be honest, rather clumsy.
The origins of the Materazzi and their empire were also never dealt with. And why had they utterly abandoned the use of archers? While it was mentioned that they considered killing someone with a bow or crossbow to be dishonorable, was this really the only reason (it seemed a bit flimsy to me!)?
I could go on, but I think you get my point.
Since this book did have SOME good aspects, I had originally decided to be generous and give it two stars, but now I've decided that NOPE, NO WAY IN HELL.
Why, you ask? Because, speaking as a woman, I'm so fucking tired of misogyny, of being treated as something less than human, that I just don't have it in me to forgive this kind of thing in a book (or a person) anymore. Also, this book actually displays what could arguably be termed extreme misogyny, so yeah. Fuck that. 0 stars/black hole for this one and any like it.
Do you think misogyny in fiction isn't a thing? Here is one great review of another fantasy novel (not by me) which details the extreme misogyny in that book. Here is a post and review by me where I vent about misogyny in several romance genres. Here is another great review of a romance novel detailing the (misogyny) of another current example of 'romance' (additional note: this last review appears to have been deleted).
While this book did have some good points, all in all I found this one to be disappointing and majorly triggering.
If you're a woman, steer clear of this one. Seriously, just don't.
Good points: Despite my reservations with regard to the world building, some of the ideas underlying this world/universe were interesting. For instance, I liked the idea of youths enslaved by a group who were religious fanatics attempting to take over the world. Another example is the depiction of the society dominated by the aristocratic Materazzi, which showed quite well the detrimental effects of such a rigid (and definitely not merit-based!) social order.
I did like the three central characters of Cale, Henri, and Kleist: I liked the fact that they were able to form friendships and essentially become dissidents despite having been brainwashed, yet these relationships had a tentative quality to them given the fact that they had experienced so few of them. Despite their background and having been taught to be monsters, they were still capable of being moral beings, which in itself was an act of defiance against their captors (i.e. the so-called Redeemers). (For instance, Cale saved Riba, a young woman who was going to be killed by the Redeemers. Despite complaining about being caught up in his actions, his two friends (i.e. Henri and Kleist) did come through and aid him when it was needed: for instance in Memphis there were occasions when they could have left without him but they did not, they also stayed to help cover him on the battlefield on one occasion with their crossbow and bow (respectively), despite thinking he was doing something extremely futile and idiotic. (I did have some reservations about Cale's characters and about the female characters for reasons described below.)
The plot was interesting and moved along quite well: there were no major plot holes. Furthermore events occured in a quick succession which did keep me reading until the end.
Bad points/constructive criticism:
-One thing that particularly irked me as a woman was the treatment of women in this story. Not only were there virtually NO female characters and the few that were there were depressingly one-dimensional. In fact, I would not only say they were one dimensional: what I found disturbing was the way in which this author characterized all female characters in such a way as to essentially dehumanize them. For instance, Arbell Swan-Neck was 'characterized' as being incredibly beautiful -this was presented as being the central characteristic of this character. Whether she was a mental giant or a dunce, for instance, was never qualified by the author (this was of no importance, apparently!). The only thing which could be concluded regarding her non physical qualities was that she seemed kind on most occasions but could be quite selfish.
The above might be forgiven if one were to consider that she was probably (i) quite young and (ii) quite spoiled, such that her personality probably was in general rather nebulous (in that she herself probably had no clue WHO she was as a person). However, when one considers the fact that she was one of the THREE female characters seen in the entire novel, it made me pause and consider this aspect of the story. When I added the fact that, of the other two, one was Arbell's scheming mother who was present for 1-2 pages in the middle of the novel and the other was Riba who was characterized mostly as a placid cow (my words, chosen with full sarcasm intended, since she was such a passive character and because the author several times contrasted her physical appearance with the lovely and slender Arbell, since she was apparently (*ahem*) more curvaceous). Riba never wavered from her adoration of her savior Thomas Cale, despite being essentially ignored by him because of his (love? lust? I wasn't really sure, to be honest) for the beautiful and bird-necked Arbell.
Add to this the fact that the women characters constantly needed to be saved and never once did anything useful to aid their own rescue, and, well.
Yuck. Macho, much?
(And having the novel set in a male-dominated society in which the women are NOT warriors does not mean that one cannot have strong, multi-faceted female characters. Just saying.)
-Cale's manpain or manlove (TM). Ugh.
He fell in love with Arbell BECAUSE SHE WAS PHYSICALLY BEAUTIFUL. HE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HER, YET HE APPARENTLY LOVED HER. SO IN OTHER WORDS, SHE COULD HAVE BEEN A SERIAL-KILLER OF BABIES AND HE WOULD HAVE LOVED HER ANYWAY, APPARENTLY.
I apologize for the shouting, but really. A man who chooses to 'love' a woman based merely on her physical appearance is an idiot. It also makes me angry because it harks back to the fact that women are apparently not even women, really, if they aren't physically desirable to men.
For some reason, the author seems to feel we should care about the fact that Cale was betrayed by the beautiful Arbell. Personally, I didn't give a sh*t.
So this relationship was not even remotely convincing.
-Thomas Cale was a Marty Stu. Now, while I don't lean towards the school of thought which seems to immediately invalidate a character whenever this is the case (i.e. whether this be a Mary Sue which is the female equivalent for this self-insertion device, or a Marty Stu), the machismo aspect present in this novel made this aspect of the character rather annoying to me. In other words, in light of the weakness of the female characters (see above), the aggressive know-it-all aspect of this male character became particularly grating to me (especially when he exhibited these traits in the presence of the poor little female characters).
-The world building aspect included some interesting initial ideas. However these were not fleshed out. For instance, the war between the Antagonists and the Redeemers was only ever mentioned in passing, despite its having lasted many years and having involved large-scale atrocities committed by the Redeemers. The long-term aims of the Redeemers, their origins, none of this was ever explained. Riba, the young woman saved by Cale in the beginning of the novel, was about to be murdered and dissected (literally) by one of the Redeemers. It is mentioned at the end of the novel (by another Redeemer) that this involved some 'perversion' on the part of certain Redeemers who had been purged (read 'executed') in the interim. What this 'perversion' was, other than wanting to place various organs from females into jars, is NEVER explained. Why this involved having women at the Redeemers headquarters when there were not supposed to be any women present is not explained. Why the Redeemers in general bear incredible hatred towards women is never explained, except to mention that they do.
It is also never entirely clear whether this world is somehow related to ours (e.g. distant future? post-apocalyptic?) or not, save for certain aspects which include the fact that the Redeemers seem to have traits reminiscent of Christianity. Another such aspects are the names of certain locales, such as Memphis (but apparently localization does not correspond to either the old Egypt Memphis or the Tennessee, U.S. cities). It is also mentioned that the financiers in Memphis are Jews, which was rather jarring, (i) since everything before then had not really seemed to correspond with our world and (ii) I was made distinctly uncomfortable by the use of this stereotype. (It was necessary to insert Jewish money-lenders? Really??) This mishmash felt, to be honest, rather clumsy.
The origins of the Materazzi and their empire were also never dealt with. And why had they utterly abandoned the use of archers? While it was mentioned that they considered killing someone with a bow or crossbow to be dishonorable, was this really the only reason (it seemed a bit flimsy to me!)?
I could go on, but I think you get my point.
Since this book did have SOME good aspects, I had originally decided to be generous and give it two stars, but now I've decided that NOPE, NO WAY IN HELL.
Why, you ask? Because, speaking as a woman, I'm so fucking tired of misogyny, of being treated as something less than human, that I just don't have it in me to forgive this kind of thing in a book (or a person) anymore. Also, this book actually displays what could arguably be termed extreme misogyny, so yeah. Fuck that. 0 stars/black hole for this one and any like it.
Do you think misogyny in fiction isn't a thing? Here is one great review of another fantasy novel (not by me) which details the extreme misogyny in that book. Here is a post and review by me where I vent about misogyny in several romance genres. Here is another great review of a romance novel detailing the (misogyny) of another current example of 'romance' (additional note: this last review appears to have been deleted).
May 10, 2013
This is a seriously odd little book. The writing is very good, and the author does a great job of sucker-punching you with the fact this world's mythology is a disturbingly-warped version of Christianity, but it wouldn't be accurate to say I liked the book. The three stars are more because it's so memorable.
The story is intensely cynical, and I can see some readers being delighted by how brutal its view of humanity is and other readers being very put off by the same fact. The book is fairly sophisticated in that the characters do and say things that the reader must interpret, and the author trusts you to be able to keep up. I liked that.
I felt a little distant from the protagonist, but that's maybe a good thing, considering he's a fifteen-year-old killing machine who was made that way via sustained and intentional child abuse. He has friends who grew up in the same environment, and their loyalty to one another does most of the work of keeping you on-side with the characters. They do have redeeming qualities, and their harsher personality traits weren't really their fault, so even though they're rather horrifying people, you won't necessarily mind spending time with them.
The book has a weak ending, and since I've read the second one in the trilogy, I can tell you that this is because it's really a single story told in three books, not three stand-alone stories with an over-arching plot. You'll have to read all three to get to the story's true resolution.
I don't know whether to recommend this book. It's intellectually interesting, and well executed, and it's unique. I didn't really find it enjoyable, but I can totally see another reader loving it immensely. It's definitely a novel for those with a taste for darker tales.
The story is intensely cynical, and I can see some readers being delighted by how brutal its view of humanity is and other readers being very put off by the same fact. The book is fairly sophisticated in that the characters do and say things that the reader must interpret, and the author trusts you to be able to keep up. I liked that.
I felt a little distant from the protagonist, but that's maybe a good thing, considering he's a fifteen-year-old killing machine who was made that way via sustained and intentional child abuse. He has friends who grew up in the same environment, and their loyalty to one another does most of the work of keeping you on-side with the characters. They do have redeeming qualities, and their harsher personality traits weren't really their fault, so even though they're rather horrifying people, you won't necessarily mind spending time with them.
The book has a weak ending, and since I've read the second one in the trilogy, I can tell you that this is because it's really a single story told in three books, not three stand-alone stories with an over-arching plot. You'll have to read all three to get to the story's true resolution.
I don't know whether to recommend this book. It's intellectually interesting, and well executed, and it's unique. I didn't really find it enjoyable, but I can totally see another reader loving it immensely. It's definitely a novel for those with a taste for darker tales.
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