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A review by dantastic
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
3.0
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.