Fantasy Book Critic: "The Last Four Things" by Paul Hoffman

Returning to the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, Thomas Cale is told by the Lord Militant that the destruction of mankind is necessary; the only way to undo God's greatest mistake.

Cale seemingly accepts his role in the ending of the world: fate has painted him as the Left Hand of God, the Angel of Death. Absolute power is within his grasp, the terrifying zeal and military might of the Redeemers a weapon for him to handle as simply as he once used a knife.

But perhaps not even the grim power that the Redeemers hold over Cale is enough – the boy who turns from love to poisonous hatred in a heartbeat, the boy who switches between kindness and sheer violence in the blink of an eye. The annihilation that the Redeemers seek may well be in Cale's hands – but his soul is far stranger than they could ever know.

Set to be published in April 2011 (UK) and August 2011 (US) - though again things can change - the Cale phenomenon continues and this book already makes a claim as my top expected sff novel of the first part of 2011.

I have loved The Left of Hand of God and I am still astounded that our dual review here (RT + LS) has been the runaway most popular review here - at least before the blockbuster fantasy Towers of Midnight review - as page views go with a bunch of info requests about the sequel.

If "The Last Four Things" keeps the same inventiveness, expectation-confounding and mixture of everything but the kitchen-sink of the first volume - which highly annoyed the purists who want to fit books in metaphorically checked boxes - this one could go very high on my 2011 "best of" list. We'll see, but rejoice, Thomas Cale is back soon!

11:01 AM |

Posted by Liviu |

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9 comments:

Jamie Gibbs said...: I read the first four chapters on my iPod, and I quite enjoyed it. I'd read a few slating reviews so I didn't read the full thing, though I'm starting to regret it now. I'll try to get a hold of The Left Hand of God before taking a look at this; November 6, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Eric M. Edwards said...: Hi Liviu,

So, you're one of those readers who actually enjoyed The Left Hand of God? Wow, you may be perhaps the first one I've come across who'll admit it - but don't take that as anything snarky. Each to their own.

No stones being thrown here as I live in a glass mansion.

I'm just honestly surprised. It wasn't my sort of book, though I'd not be prone to call myself a purist of any sort.

I disliked TLHoG enough not to bother with the sequel. It would have to rise, and rise above the messy plot and poor level of writing, in my opinion, which I came across in the first outing. Ah well, at least they've kept the sepia "hooded man."

What made Lefty work for you?

Best wishes,

Eric; November 6, 2010 at 7:01 PM
Liviu said...: I actually liked it so much that I bought a final UK copy for myself and I sent the arc used in the review to someone else here; as for what worked for me, the narrative energy that drove the action, the wild changes in mood of the writing and all the allusions (Duena service, quick as boiled asparagus, the execution method which basically adapted to a pre-gun era the KGB shot in the back of the neck - even the main executioner is modeled after a (in)famous KGB officer who is presumed to have the record of one-on-one executions in the tens of thousands - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Blokhin); for some reason the whole worked at least so far for me.

The reservations I have are about the sizes of populations vs armies, the length of the front with the heretics which sounds too large for a pre-tech society, the whole idea of the Materazzi (that name made me chuckle, but annoyed others too) Empire, details like that which i am not sure add up, but will see; November 6, 2010 at 7:58 PM
Bastard said...: Very much looking forward to this one.; November 6, 2010 at 11:21 PM
Dave de Burgh said...: Hey Liviu, thanks for this info and for the cover. :-) Like you I really enjoyed The Left Hand of God and it's evident that Paul is one of those authors who isn't afraid to play in huge sandpit. ;-) Really looking forward to this!; November 7, 2010 at 7:09 AM
Liviu said...: It still amazes me how this book has been so polarizing - I understand that to some extent, but the amount of polarization is way higher than I expected.; November 7, 2010 at 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: This book is awesome.
Not everybody's cup of tea, but the moment i laid eye on it i was a fan. Don't make any judgement by reviewer's. Read it and you decide. book 1&2.; June 15, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Anonymous said...: Just finished 'The Last Four Things' and really enjoyed it. When's the finale coming out?!; September 22, 2012 at 4:06 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought the Left Hand of God was great. I can't wait to read the Last Four Things.; October 18, 2012 at 4:07 PM