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A review by eishe
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
3.0
Seeing that this book was more than once described to me as worthy to stand next to Lord of the Rings in terms of world design and Harry Potter in entertainment value, I dare say I had reasonable high expectations when approaching it, expectations that were not reached, so I think 3.5 stars is a worthy rating for it.
If it wasn't for all the explicit descriptions of violence and a long list of imaginative ways to kill people or worse, mentions of under-age kids engaging in bedroom pass-times usually reserved for adults and several other things that just don't belong in a novel of this genre, I'd be more than glad to tag it as a mediocre/good Young-Adult novel and be done with it.
As it is, I believe that The Left Hand of God is a peculiar mixture of Harry Potter and some dark fantasy novel (e.g. The Black Jewels series). Yes, it certainly reads as an epic fantasy novel without magic, but in its essence I believe it to be more of a alternative-history, as most, if not all, places mentioned in the book are present on this planet (though they aren't nearly as close as they are implied to be in the book) and there are vague historical/mythological/religious mentions, for example Jesus of Nazareth being swallowed by a whale or a holy war in Jerusalem.
Overall the premise of the plot is good (even despite some cliché moments), while the execution falls into upper-mediocre category. Dialogues are played out in a style that conforms with the setting, but isn't necessarily always enjoyable, the same goes with generic descriptions. Languagewise there were two things that bothered me - the high amount of fragments that could be best described as food porn and the fact that I always have to remember not to think of Riba as a fish, but as a plump girl.
For me the book was more of an introduction to the world, as characters played as little part as possible. I am somewhat looking forward to reading the next book once I can get my hands on it, but it certainly is not on the top of my to-read list.
If it wasn't for all the explicit descriptions of violence and a long list of imaginative ways to kill people or worse, mentions of under-age kids engaging in bedroom pass-times usually reserved for adults and several other things that just don't belong in a novel of this genre, I'd be more than glad to tag it as a mediocre/good Young-Adult novel and be done with it.
As it is, I believe that The Left Hand of God is a peculiar mixture of Harry Potter and some dark fantasy novel (e.g. The Black Jewels series). Yes, it certainly reads as an epic fantasy novel without magic, but in its essence I believe it to be more of a alternative-history, as most, if not all, places mentioned in the book are present on this planet (though they aren't nearly as close as they are implied to be in the book) and there are vague historical/mythological/religious mentions, for example Jesus of Nazareth being swallowed by a whale or a holy war in Jerusalem.
Overall the premise of the plot is good (even despite some cliché moments), while the execution falls into upper-mediocre category. Dialogues are played out in a style that conforms with the setting, but isn't necessarily always enjoyable, the same goes with generic descriptions. Languagewise there were two things that bothered me - the high amount of fragments that could be best described as food porn and the fact that I always have to remember not to think of Riba as a fish, but as a plump girl.
For me the book was more of an introduction to the world, as characters played as little part as possible. I am somewhat looking forward to reading the next book once I can get my hands on it, but it certainly is not on the top of my to-read list.