Fiction Addict

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Dutton

Publication date: June 2010

Reviewed by Jeremy Taylor

Priests are the evil antagonists and outlaws are the heroes in this inconsistent fantasy debut from British film censor Paul Hoffman. The Left Hand of God displays the elements readers expect in a non-supernatural fantasy—warring regimes, a brooding hero, political intrigue, romance, all set in a familiar-seeming but fictional world. But it overreaches in portraying organized religion, complete with a “Hanged Redeemer” who died to save his followers from their sins, as the primary evil of the age.

Fourteen-year-old Thomas Cale is a prisoner at the Sanctuary, a religious school where the instructors, called “redeemers,” regularly beat their students within an inch of their lives. The school, basically everyone’s worst stereotype of an abusive Catholic boarding school, is just one part of the redeemers’ “ministry”—which ultimately boils down to world domination. When Cale, who as the result of a childhood head injury has a mysterious ability to physically dominate any opponent, discovers a secret being carefully hidden deep within the Sanctuary’s stone walls, he teams up with an unlikely group of buddies and flees. From there, the book follows Cale and friends as they do their best to elude the pursuing redeemers, make nice with the ruling elites in the nearby city, and try to stop the religious conquerors before they can carry out their sinister plans.

While not anywhere near the level of Robert Jordan or George R. R. Martin or Tolkein, Hoffman still does an admirable job creating the world in which his story takes place. The characters are for the most part believable, and the various cultures explored, particularly within the Great City of Memphis, seem to fit well with the genre and tone of the book. The two main problems are the rather meandering story line (though the plot speeds up and becomes genuinely tense right at the end) and the author’s apparent grudge against religion, which is somewhat peculiar in a genre that typically relies so heavily on moral justice as a theme. The fact that the main characters are all young teenagers might make the book seem like a YA title, but the dark themes of abuse and desperation are probably inappropriate for most younger readers.

The book features a couple of sex scenes and plenty of violence, though nothing over the top or out of the ordinary for modern fantasy literature. The cliffhanger ending sets up book two quite well for readers who identify enough with the ambiguously heroic Cale to want to participate in his continuing story. Fantasy fans will find things to enjoy in this book, but The Left Hand of God seems unlikely to generate the kind of loyal following commanded by top-tier fantasy series.

Review copy provided by Dutton.