The brutal religious zealots the Redeemers have raised a monstrous boy who carries the name of Thomas Cale. It isn't the birth name that was ripped from his as a child but that of a martyr. The Redeemers take young children and indoctrinate them to become soldiers in their holy war against the Antagonists in the trenches on the Eastern front. The boys are routinely brutally physically punished to the point of near death, fed rancid and disgusting food, indoctrinated by an endless round of sermons and rules, isolated from the outside world including any members of the opposite sex and exposed to terrifying lessons such as the burning alive of transgressors.
Cale is utterly brutalised but something of a human spirit lies under the trained killer, and it comes to the fore when he comes across a Redeemer dissecting a girl, kills him and saves Riba, another girl in the room with him. So begins a wild escape across the desolate Scablands to the fortified city Memphis, home of the Materazzi people, with the archer Vague Henri and sniper Kleist. Hoffman introduces a fascinating cast of peoples, costumes and places whilst never losing hold of character and the driving force of a great plot of intrigue, warfare, fundamentalism, coming of age and first love that leaves you wanting more.
I love the very first sentence of The Left Hand of God. It is a single word: Listen. It is a word that recalls fireside stories, being read to as a child, a word that can be a brutal order or a gentle call to hear.
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