Title: The Left Hand of God
Author: Paul Hoffman
Publisher: Bantam
Published Date: 19th August 2010
Page Count: 544
ISBN: 978-0141042374
Price: £8.99 (my copy was gifted to me fifteen years ago)
Reviewer: Gwendoline SK Terry (26th September 2024)
Blurb
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman is the gripping first instalment in a remarkable trilogy.
“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 Sanctuary of the Redeemers is a vast and desolate place – a 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. He is strange and secretive, witty and charming, violent and profoundly bloody-minded. He is so used to the cruelty that he seems immune, but soon he will open the wrong door at the wrong time and witness an act so terrible that he will have to leave this place, or die.
His only hope of survival is to escape across the arid Scablands to Memphis, a city the opposite of the Sanctuary in every way: breathtakingly beautiful, infinitely Godless, and deeply corrupt.
But the Redeemers want Cale back at any price… not because of the secret he now knows but because of a much more terrifying secret he does not.
The Left Hand of God is a must read. It is the first instalment in a gripping trilogy by Paul Hoffman. Imagine if Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials met Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose. Fans of epic heroic fiction will love this series.
Review – may contain spoilers!
It took me multiple times over the years to get into this book, but I never made it past the first couple of chapters for some unknown reason. The beginning is very slow, the author spends a lot of time setting the stage of what it is like for Cale and the other boys living in the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, but by the end of chapter four – WOW. My jaw hit the floor when Cale found the Lord of Discipline dissecting live girls.
I was disturbed by Conn and Arbell’s apparent infatuation with each other because they are cousins. Their interaction came off as incestuous, which made my stomach turn. I was relieved that Conn and Arbell didn’t interact past that moment. Intrigued to see what happens with Conn in the second book.
Lots of political intrigue. IdrisPukke has a great name and is a loveable scoundrel. He was my favourite character in the book.
I didn’t like Cale and Arbell’s relationship. Started quite toxic so for the majority of the story, Arbell’s love feels fake and forced. Arbell’s betrayal was surprising but understandable, even though I doubted the authenticity of her “love” for the entire time she was in a relationship with Cale. Cale’s reactions to Arbell’s feelings and her decision in the end seemed really over the top. Bosco was right, their love did look like hatred. I had to remind myself constantly that Cale had never even seen a woman before, let alone had any experience seeing a healthy relationship, so that’s probably why he was such a dick to Arbell and why he was so offended by her entirely reasonable decision in the end.
The final battle was intense for the most part, though I did find my eyes glazing over a couple of times because of the amount of repetition and the overly explained tactics and goings on in the battle. Some parts were hard-hitting, others not so much. The battle really could’ve been shorter and still retained its shock.
Nitpick comment: throughout the book, there was a mixture of British and American spellings that threw me off a lot. I wish the editor had picked to use the spelling of one or the other, not both at the same time.
Hoffman has a unique writing style, transitioning from omnipotent narrator to various third-person perspectives throughout, even occasionally switching from past to present tense.
There were some powerful phrases and lines throughout, especially in the final two chapters. The story is littered with tongue-in-cheek humour; I laughed out loud a couple of times. The world is fascinating with lots of political intrigue. Rich, dark, and dystopian, despite the writing being all over the place at times. All in all, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy.
gwensalir 