The Left Hand of God

Paul Hoffman

Jun 2010 · Left Hand of God Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

"Writers like Hoffman are too rare. This wonderful book gripped me from the first chapter and dropped me days later, dazed and grinning to myself." -Conn Iggulden, New York Times bestselling author of The Dangerous Book for Boys

Raised from early childhood in the Redeemer Sanctuary, the stronghold of a secretive sect of warrior monks, Thomas Cale has known only deprivation, punishment, and grueling training. When he escsapes to the outside world, Cale learns that his embittered heart is still capable of loving- and breaking.

But the Redeemers won't accept the defection of their prized pupil without a fight...

Ratings and reviews

(No Spoilers) Thomas Cale is one of many boys under the "care" of the Redeemers, a sanctimonious group of "holy" warriors. The Redeemers train the boys through violence to join the ranks of the Redeemers, or die trying. Cale is one of the more gifted youths, able to seemingly perceive things in combat: blows before they are dealt, tactics on a map, etc. Cale may be our hero, but he is a dark and deadly one. And with such a young protagonist (15 at best), the gritty nature of this book disturbed me. While sneaking around where he shouldn't, Cale witnesses a secret within the ranks of the Redeemers and must escape. He and a couple friends embark on a mission to leave the torture of their caretakers behind. What follows is more torture, violence, and occasional cool bits of character development. The writing is third person, past tense, and is well done. Narratives are detailed and engrossing, but sometimes border on excessive. I found myself wanting to skip pages of exposition and backstory to get to the proverbial good stuff. It's a dark, terrifying world that Hoffman has built, and not for the weak of heart (or stomach). As you would expect from epic fantasy, pacing is slow. The characterization is decent, and I found myself more drawn to Cale's friends than Cale himself. The female characters were rather one-dimensional, which accounts for a decrease in my rating. While THE LEFT HAND OF GOD has some religious overtones, as far as I can tell it is not written with any particular theology or soapbox in mind. It simply uses our real-world history as a backdrop and mixes it up with some fantastical changes. You'll find no magic or wizards, but you will find an intriguing setting with engaging characters. My biggest issue with this book was the plot. It doesn't resolve. Much of this book is laying down the groundwork (background information, inciting incident, etc) for the series. As an avid fantasy reader, I'm accustomed to a slow build, but I do expect each book within a series to have an plot within the overarching series-plot that resolves by the end of each book. I didn't get that here. If you enjoy dark, epic fantasy, then you'll enjoy THE LEFT HAND OF GOD. The second book in the series recently released, so hopefully you'll be able to get some resolution to the plot without having to wait years. All in all, it was an enjoyable read, but not one I would recommend if you don't particularly enjoy this genre. Content Warning: R (mild language, dark violence: rape, torture, war, abuse) Rating: 3 Stars

A good premise and some good character development, but kind of choppy as to the references to present, past and geography. I think the author might have been better off by creating an entirely new world. As this is a trilogy, the second and third book may redeem the first.

2012/06/07. I liked the universe the author created. Though with the references to Memphis, Jesus of Nazareth, and Jerusalem, I am wondering if it set in an alternate Earth. I enjoyed the main character and will be interested to see how he fares in the next book. It was nice that the author credited his inspiration for the big final battle to Agincourt.

About the author

Paul Hoffman studied English at New College, Oxford before becoming a senior film censor at the British Board of Film Classification. He lives in the United Kingdom. The Left Hand of God is the first in trilogy following Cale.