The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

Hello again all you lovely book nerds! Happy 10/10/10! Today I will be reviewing The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. This is the first in Hoffman's yet to be published Cale Trilogy - Cale being the hero's name.

I am really not sure what drew me to buying this book. Perhaps it was the super cool cover (exhibit left). Perhaps it was the fact that I was in Kansas City at a giant chain book store called Books-A-Million and was giddy with all the options. I don't know. Nevertheless, this isn't a genre I am normally drawn to. But what that genre is, I can't quite put my finger on either. Is it fantasy? Is it young adult? Is it a thriller? Is it Sci Fi? All of the above, I think.

The book is set in a strange and foreign land. Whether it is medieval Earth, post apocalyptic Earth, or some other made up parallel universe, I don't know that either. Sorry I can't be of more help here. Cale is a young boy (14 or 15 at the book's beginning) trapped in a sort of military monastery called the Sanctuary run by an uber-religious group called the Redeemers. The Redeemers' religion has definite Christian parallels. They have priests and masses and a savior called "The Hanged Redeemer". But the Redeemers' religion isn't quite as benevolent.

The Sanctuary's main purpose is to train young boys, called Acolytes, into becoming fearsome soldiers in the Redeemers' century long battle with their arch enemies, the Antagonists. What the Antagonists ever did to piss the Redeemers off so bad, we never know. And how exactly the Redeemers acquire these young boys (usually at ages as young as 5) we never know either. What we do know is the boys' lives are filled with military training, sparse food and constant beatings with always the threat of a public hanging if they screw up too much.

Cale and two of his friends, Kleist and Vague Henri (although friendship is expressly forbidden by the Redeemers) find themselves in a dire predicament and out of necessity, Cale hatches an escape plot. Very few Acolytes have ever escaped the Sanctuary. And those that did, were never gone longer than 48 hours before the Redeemer search parties found them and executed them. But Cale is not like other Acolytes, as the author is clear to point out early on. He thinks independently and out of the box (another punishable offense in the Sanctuary) and is able to get he and his friends to the large nearby city of Memphis where he proceeds to make a name for himself as a fearsome killer and loose cannon.

I truly went back and forth on my opinion of this book. It varied depending on the page. Hoffman has created an engaging world albeit not all that original. Any ordinary reader will find parallels between this book and The Bible, Lord of the Rings and even Star Wars. Cale is the prototypical hero/bad boy. Raised a killer, he can't deny his nature. But, at the same time, he also has that bad boy heart of gold that's just so irresistible to the ladies. It's very cliche.

I also mentioned this is part one of a trilogy, so, yeah it's a cliffhanger. Grrrrrr! BUT, it's a cliffhanger that may get me to read the second book when it comes out. Circumstances change so considerably at the end of this book, I can't help but be curious as to what happens next.

I think, in the end, I'm just not that into the fantasy genre. I mean, I felt a little ridiculous just describing the plot points above. I know lots of people love fantasy/sci fi and I know it's big business, but I'm not one of those people. Far be it from me to criticize people's literary preferences. As long as you're reading, good on you. So, all that being said, I am giving The Left Hand of God two and a half bows . It's not my cup of tea but I will probably read the follow up book. Feel free to disagree with me, agree with me and/or verbally berate me in the comments section. Until then, happy reading!