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A review by sheyri
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
2.0
Content warning:
Cale is a Mary Sue and that makes it impossible to build tension once you realised that. Whatever he does, he succeeds in.
And what is it with the Redeemers? They're supposed to be those big bad warriors, the best of all, terrifying enemies on the battlefield. Trained since early childhood to be killing machines. Yet they don't seem to win any fight unless they're met with incompetence. The only good fighters are, of course, Cale and his friends.
I also don't understand how people can call this masterful writing. If your expectation is "knows how sentences work", then yes, I guess. But beyond that it's not really outstanding? Quite the contrary. I still have no idea what the world is supposed to look like, not even where the Sanctuary and Memphis are in relation to each other, and it took me about a hundred pages to even begin to suspect it's supposed to be alternate history of our world. Honestly, this feels like a Civ 6 campaign or something.
And on a more personal note:
I went into this book expecting graphic violence, because that's what the blurb promises, right? Yet I don't even get a decent whipping scene. We're told over and over how cruel the Redeemers are to the kids, but that's where it remains: telling. Give me some good graphic violence or don't make such promises!
Anyway, that's just a personal preference, but I've also read YA books with more detailed descriptions...
Spoiler
violence, gore, though not nearly as graphic as you would expect from the blurbCale is a Mary Sue and that makes it impossible to build tension once you realised that. Whatever he does, he succeeds in.
And what is it with the Redeemers? They're supposed to be those big bad warriors, the best of all, terrifying enemies on the battlefield. Trained since early childhood to be killing machines. Yet they don't seem to win any fight unless they're met with incompetence. The only good fighters are, of course, Cale and his friends.
I also don't understand how people can call this masterful writing. If your expectation is "knows how sentences work", then yes, I guess. But beyond that it's not really outstanding? Quite the contrary. I still have no idea what the world is supposed to look like, not even where the Sanctuary and Memphis are in relation to each other, and it took me about a hundred pages to even begin to suspect it's supposed to be alternate history of our world. Honestly, this feels like a Civ 6 campaign or something.
And on a more personal note:
I went into this book expecting graphic violence, because that's what the blurb promises, right? Yet I don't even get a decent whipping scene. We're told over and over how cruel the Redeemers are to the kids, but that's where it remains: telling. Give me some good graphic violence or don't make such promises!
Anyway, that's just a personal preference, but I've also read YA books with more detailed descriptions...