The best book I have ever read!
By Isaac / Spinebreakers Crew
When I first read the letter with which I got ‘The Left Hand of God’, I was really looking forward to a great book, although the cover looked fantastic and enticing, I thought it wouldn’t be anything phenomenal. When I read it though, I realized it was everything it’s cracked up to be.
‘The Left Hand of God’ is written by Paul Hoffman, and is to be published in 2010. If you are interested in getting this book, I definitely would if I were you, it has everything a great book should have. It has Cale and Arbell’s epic romance, their deep secret hidden from all but Cale’s two friends, including being hidden from Arbell’s father, the Marshal.
Also it has the great escape from the Redeemer’s sanctuary. In the Redeemer’s sanctuary, there are over 500 boys, being trained to be sent to the battle field to help the Redeemers, who treat them like scum. Redeemers are supposedly religious, but they worship someone called “The Hanged Redeemer”. Also, the Redeemers have the power to punish the boys as much as they like, including one rule, stating that a Redeemer can kill a boy for doing something unexpected. In Cale, Henri and Kleist’s great escape, they use a rope made of human hair, Cale is chased my dogs with teeth like nails, and at the end of that they are caught by soldiers, who think that three boys have killed a whole guard of soldiers.
Another great thing in the book are Cale’s single handed fights against Conn Materazzi, the best soldier in Memphis (the city the soldiers take Cale and his friends), and Soloman Soloman, the trainer of the Materazzi army. These scenes are fantastically gripping, and I found myself sitting upright in my seat while reading them.
One thing I enjoy in a book, but that I haven’t come across very often is the tactics and people behind the front line in a war, and that was very well put in this book too.
When they are in the sanctuary, there is a bit of horror/gore in it too. The master of discipline is found dissecting a women alive, and being in possession of parts of women to study. This isn’t a very nice section of the book, although Cale does commit his reason for leaving the sanctuary and the whole book here. Also they first meet Riba, the dissected women’s friend in this section of the book.
I always like suspense in what I read, so the amount of cliff-hangers was perfect, there was just enough to keep you reading, but not so many so the whole book is keeping you tense, and there is some happiness in it. Not only the cliff-hangers kept it tense, all the unanswered questions did too, such as:
-What world is the book set in? Our world? If so when?
-Why would religious people treat the Acolytes as badly as they do?
-Who really are the Acolytes?
-How did a rock in the head make Cale the best soldier ever seen?
The last thing, which I thought was quite humorous, was the boy’s innocence and confusion about women.
I think that the book is the best book I have ever read, or at least for a while, and everyone would enjoy this book. It is aimed at teenage and adult readers, and will be massive when it is published. Over all, this book is a phenomenal read
By Isaac Rice, 03/09/09