Book Review: The Last Four Things

The Last Four Things

By:  Paul Hoffman

Publisher:  Dutton Books

Publish Date:  August 4, 2011

Format:  ARC

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  2nd book in Thomas Cale series; Book 1 ~ The Left Hand of God

Recommendation:  For me, I couldn't get into it.  But I do hope others give it a try.

Book Synopsis:
Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These are the Last Four Things. Now there are Five. Meet Thomas Cale. 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. 


First Sentence:
Imagine.  A young assassin, no more than a boy really, is lying carefully hidden in the long green and black bulrushes that grow in great profusion along the rivers of the Vallombrosa.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Cale is with Redeemer Bosco again at the Sanctuary, the place he escaped from not even a year ago.  Bosco acts different with Cale now, as Bosco believes Cale to be the flesh of Gods anger with humanity.  Bosco has much planned for Cale and Cale is working with him as he doesn't seem to have any other choice.

After reading The Left Hand of God I wanted to read this book.  There was great setup and creation in the first book with the Redeemers and Thomas Cale and his friends.  There is an audience for this book, but I'm sorry to say I don't think I'm in that group.  I struggled with this book.  I felt as the first 100 pages where very confusing, well, not confusing as much as straying.  We are on the main path of the story then off the story went with the side characters telling us about them and their history.  I wanted to stay on track with Cale and the main story line.  In this writing style I found myself forgetting what was happening.  When Bosco talked with Cale I was lost.  They seemed to talk in circles around each other, which is what I expect them to do knowing their history.  The lines fell flat for me, which again the characters are raised this way so it is true to character.  But for me I struggled with it.

I worked my way to a little over half way and still felt I wasn't getting much from the story.  I don't like to not finish books, but this one I stopped.  I may someday come back to try and finish, but felt best to let go now.

I found myself falling asleep while trying to read it, like I do with historical reads.  So maybe if you are a fantasy fan who enjoy historical reads, you might enjoy this trilogy as well.

I hate giving bad reviews, and I do hope others enjoy this series.  If you have tried it and enjoyed it I would love to hear from you.


I requested a copy of this book from the publisher.

Who? What? Where? (31)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )

I'm with Cale talking with Mr. Hooke on the theology of rubber, what they don't realize is science, after the battle at the Drift inside the U.  But it is against the Pope's beliefs so it is wrong in his eyes and the worlds.  But Cale has plans for Mr. Hooke.

The Last Four Things

By:  Paul Hoffman

Teaser Tuesday (86)

Teaser Tuesday

is a weekly event

Sponsored by MizB of Should be Reading

Here's how it works:

Grab the book you are currently reading (anything at all)

Open the book to any random page.

Share 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on the page

Please Make Sure They Are Not Spoilers!

(Don't Give Too Much Away)

Just enough to pique our interests

This Week:

Unaware of this consider Cale's astonishment as, by way of a slower and more populous route ordered by Bosco, he made his journey back to the Sanctuary from the veldt.  He found that even in the back of beyond there were people by the road bowing and calling to him for a blessing, some of whom had walked for days on the rumour of his passing by.

The Last Four Things

By:  Paul Hoffman

150pg of ARC

Looking Forward To...(57)

There are so many amazing books already on the shelves and new ones coming out.

For a list of books yet to be released I'm looking to get, you can also look on my right Sidebar at the ever growing list titled Desired Reads - just scroll down. Of course there are tones of other new books to come out that are amazing as well, but these ones are part of series I have already started or for one reason or another caught my eye (and haven't seen much on other blogs yet). But I will highlight one here each week.

(mentioned in order of Release Date then Alphabetical if there are more than one book coming out on the same date.)

Next Book Is...

The Last Four Things

By:  Paul Hoffman

Due Out:  August 4, 2011

I'm a fantasy lover just as much as Urban Fantasy fun.  This series started with the first book in the Thomas Cale series: The Left Hand of God.  And I liked what was started in the world here and with Thomas Cale.  I'm looking forward to this second book stepping up the stacks and bringing it all on full force.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The epic story of Thomas Cale-introduced so memorably inThe Left Hand of God--continues as the Redeemers use his prodigious gifts to further their sacred goal: the extinction of humankind and the end of the world. 

To the warrior-monks known as the Redeemers, who rule over massive armies of child slaves, "the last four things" represent the culmination of a faithful life. Death. Judgement. Heaven. Hell. The last four things represent eternal bliss-or endless destruction, permanent chaos, and infinite pain. 

Perhaps nowhere are the competing ideas of heaven and hell exhibited more clearly than in the dark and tormented soul of Thomas Cale. Betrayed by his beloved but still marked by a child's innocence, possessed of a remarkable aptitude for violence but capable of extreme tenderness, Cale will lead the Redeemers into a battle for nothing less than the fate of the human race. And though his broken heart foretells the bloody trail he will leave in pursuit of a personal peace he can never achieve, a glimmer of hope remains. The question even Cale can't answer: When it comes time to decide the fate of the world, to ensure the extermination of humankind or spare it, what will he choose? To express God's will on the edge of his sword, or to forgive his fellow man-and himself? 

Book Review: Sword of Fire and Sea

Sword of Fire and Sea

By:  Erin Hoffman

Publisher:  Pyr Books

Publish Date:  June 2011

Format:  Arc

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  1st book in The Chaos Knight series

Recommendation:  Maybe.  If you like epic fantasy reads.

Book Synopsis:
Three generations ago Captain Vidarian Rulorat's great-grandfather gave up an imperial commission to commit social catastrophe by marring a fire priestess.  For love, he unwittingly doomed his family to generations of a rare genetic disease that follows families who cross elemental boundaries.  Now Vidarian, the last surviving member of the Rulorat family, struggles to uphold his family legacy, and finds himself chained to a task as a result of the bride price his great-grandfather paid: the Breakwater Agreement, a seventy-year-old alliance between his family and the High Temple of Kara'zul, domain of the fire priestesses.

The priestess Endera has called upon Vidarian to fulfill his family's obligation by transporting a young fire priestess named Ariadel to a water temple far to the south, through dangerous pirate-controlled territory.  A journey perilous in the best of conditions is made more so by their pursuers: rogue telepathic magic-users called the Vkortha who will stop at nothing to recover Ariadel, who has witnessed their forbidden rites.

Together, Vidarian and Ariadel will navigate more than treacherous waters: Imperial intrigue, a world that has been slowly losing its magic for generations, secrets that the priestesshoods have kept for longer, the indifference of their elemental goddesses, gryphons - once thought mythical - now returning to the world, and their own labyrinthine family legacies.  Vidarian finds himself at the intersection not only of the world's most volatile elements, but of colliding universes, and the ancient and alien powers that lurk between them.

First Sentence:
Though the coastal island of Siane's Eye was lush with whispering palms and tropical flowers too exotic for the names of men, the wind that swept ever outward from its alabaster monuments came chill as a lifetime of penance.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Vidarian is summoned to meet with the priestess of air, Endera.  Endera feels his family history and his ship make him perfect for her task at hand.  When Vidarian refuses the job of taking a fire priestess on his wooden ship in the ocean through dangerous waters Endera invokes the commitment made by his grandfather 50 years ago binding Vidarian to the journey.  Endera being of good graces will still pay him handsomely though.  The fire priestess is being transported because she is being sought after by Vkortha, dangerous telepaths who live on their own island where no one knows except the fire priestess Ariadel.  Vidarian will learn more of fire magic, water magic, and himself than he ever thought possible as a lone sailor.  Will the fire goddess go beyond normal doings to help the priestess Araidel and Vidarian?  Or is there more at stake here?  Even the griffins are willing to help Vidarian believing he is the one to close the gate.

This is one full fantasy read with a journey and world all created new here.  This world created is one full of the four elements, and the space between them.  The space being chaos and/or connection of the elements.  For each of the four elements there are priestesses.  But the magic has been dieing out over the years.  Even with the crossing of the elements in bloodlines it's created a disease that could kill the children and young adults if more than one flares to life inside them.  Even the griffins are of different elements.  And this world aspect I really enjoyed.  Even the mythology in setting up the gate, and chaos.  But what lies behind the gates might be able to help the world or flip it completely upside down from what they know it as.

The characters where interesting in the way they handle the occurrences they go through.  Their where a few things about the characters I didn't understand though.  One was Vidarian wanting to be bond the emeralds he is paid from Endera to his life.  I think I missed something here as the emeralds will die out when he passes on.  I would think he would want them to spend not to look at, but I'm not him.  And the love between Vidarian and Ariadel seemed to happen awfully fast for me.  Unless there was something with the bonding to the emeralds that connected them (which I'm thinking happened) it seemed they fell in 'love' to quickly for me.  But as a couple I like them together.

This book seems to be the start of a bigger series.  To me the first half of the book was set up of the characters and arranging the world for us.  I felt from time to time there where things said by the characters or happenings that posed huge questions in my mind that instantly made me feel lost.  The answers did come through shortly after, but when I read them at first I felt there was not set up for it to me and had me lost.  The second half of the book read easier for me and the action picked up.  We also got more of the back story answers here for the world and creatures and characters.

I think I read the synopsis of the book and was trying to relate some of that to what I was reading and had a hard time.  As the information about Vidarian's grandfather marrying a fire priestess doesn't come out until the very end of the book.  Along with other details of the world and the different magics not living peacefully blended together in bloodlines.  I like this idea, but kind of wish it was presented earlier in the book.

I'm very curious to see where the next book in the series goes.  I think this could be a good series, but a shaky start for me.  But these are my thoughts and could have just been my timing in reading it wasn't right.  Please if you like the sounds of the book, go give it a try you just might like it.  I really wanted to loooove this book, as I only liked it.  I would like to give book two a chance to see where this great world goes.


I requested an ARC copy of the book from the publisher.


This book qualifies for the Speculative Fiction Challenge hosted by Floor to Ceiling Books.

Who? What? Where? (22)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )

I'm moving this post from Thursdays to Wednesdays as I have another idea for Thursdays.

I'm sitting with the Priestess (of fire) Ariadel and Vidarian at the Inn of Lustrous Pearl, after our relaxing massages.  This is one of the places Priestess Ariadel likes to visit for a body massage and pampering to help make the final trek to the temple bearable.  Now I'm curious what hardships will be ahead of us in this final phase of our traveling.

Sword of Fire and Sea

by Erin Hoffman

Looking Forward To...(47)

There are so many amazing books already on the shelves and new ones coming out.

For a list of books yet to be released I'm looking to get, you can also look on my right Sidebar at the ever growing list titled Desired Reads - just scroll down. Of course there are tones of other new books to come out that are amazing as well, but these ones are part of series I have already started or for one reason or another caught my eye (and haven't seen much on other blogs yet). But I will highlight one here each week.

(mentioned in order of Release Date then Alphabetical if there are more than one book coming out on the same date.)

Next Book Is...

Sword of Fire and Sea:  The Chaos Knight

Book 1

By:  Erin Hoffman

Due Out:  June 2011

I came across Erin by way of Twitter.  Yes, sometimes we really do find amazing finds there.  I started digging and asking about this book as I really liked the hints dropped on Erin's blog and site.  When I got the synopsis and read through it, I really liked what I saw.  I'm looking forward to this book coming out.

Book Synopsis:

Three generations ago Captain Vidarian Rulorat's great-grandfather gave up an imperial commission to commit social catastrophe by marrying a fire priestess. For love, he unwittingly doomed his family to generations of a rare genetic disease that follows families who cross elemental boundaries. Now Vidarian, the last surviving member of the Rulorat family, struggles to uphold his family legacy, and finds himself chained to a task as a result of the bride price his great-grandfather paid: the Breakwater Agreement, a seventy-year-old alliance between his family and the High Temple of Kara'zul, domain of the fire priestesses.

The priestess Endera has called upon Vidarian to fulfill his family's obligation by transporting a young fire priestess named Ariadel to a water temple far to the south, through dangerous pirate-controlled territory. A journey perilous in the best of conditions is made moreso by their pursuers: rogue telepathic magic-users called the Vkortha who will stop at nothing to recover Ariadel, who has witnessed their forbidden rites.

Together, Vidarian and Ariadel will navigate more than treacherous waters: Imperial intrigue, a world that has been slowly losing its magic for generations, secrets that the priestesshoods have kept for longer, the indifference of their elemental goddesses, gryphons -- once thought mythical -- now returning to the world, and their own labyrinthine family legacies. Vidarian finds himself at the intersection not only of the world's most volatile elements, but of colliding universes, and the ancient and alien powers that lurk between them...

Cover Release ~ Sword of Fire and Sea

This cover was released at the beginning of January, but I didn't have much to go on with in the way of synopsis of the book.  But what little pieces I can find of it on the authors site it sounds like an interesting fantasy read I would enjoy.  

The book is to be released by Pyr Books June 21, 2011

When I get more information I can post about the book I will. :)  But for now lets enjoy the wonderful cover.

UPDATE:  The author Erin, was kind enough to stop by with a link to the synopsis!  Thank you Erin!  So if you would like to jump over to Pyr's and read it, CLICK HERE

Cover Release

Have you read the first book in the Thomas Cale series by Paul Hoffman, The Left Hand of God?

The second book has a cover and a release date now!

US Version:

The Last Four Things

Due out:  August 4, 2011

UK Version:

Due out:  January 6, 2011

I read the first book in the Thomas Cale series, The Left Hand of God.  The world that was created in the first book has hints of dark and danger hidden in the shadows.  And I am very curious to see where Paul takes his characters next in this world especially Cale as he's an interesting character, and what do the Redeemers have for him to do.  It can't be good...

Synopsis from GoodReads:
Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These are the Last Four Things. Now there are Five. Meet Thomas Cale. 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.

Book Review: The Left Hand of God

The Left Hand of God

By:  Paul Hoffman

Publisher:  Dutton

Publish Date:  June 2010

Genre:  Fantasy/Sci Fi

Format:  Hardcover, 372 pgs

Series:  1st in the Trilogy following Cale

Recommendation:  This is the start to a trilogy, so if you like journey fantasies, then this may be for you.  But go into it with an open mind and not with all the hype that has surrounded it.

Book Synopsis:
In the Redeemer Sanctuary, the strong-hold of a secretive sect of warrior monks, torture and death await the unsuccessful or disobedient.  Raised by the Redeemers from early childhood like hundreds of other young captives, Thomas Cale has known only deprivation, punishment, and grueling training.  He doesn't know that another world exists outside the fortress walls or even that secrets he can't imagine lurk behind the Sanctuary's many forbidden doorways.  He doesn't know that his master Lord Bosco and the Sanctuary's Redeemers have been preparing for a holy war for centuries - a holy war that is now imminent.  And Cale doesn't know that he's been noticed and quietly cultivated.

And then, Cale decides to open a door.

It's a door that leads to one of the Redeemers' darkest secrets and a choice that is really no choice at all: certain death or daring escape.  Adrift in the wider world for the first time in his young life, Cale soon finds himself in Memphis, the capital of culture - and the den of Sin.  Its there that Cale discovers his prodigious gift: violence.  And he discovers that, after years of abuse at the hands of the Redeemers, his embittered heart is still capable of loving - and breaking.

But the Redeemers won't accept the defection of their special subject without a fight.  As the clash of civilizations that has been looming for thousands of years draws near, a world where the faithful are as brutal as the sinful looks to young Cale to decide its fate.

First Sentence:
Listen.  The Sanctuary of the Redeemers on Shotover Scarp is named after a damned lie, for there is no redemption that goes on there and less sanctuary.

My Review and Summary:
Shotover Sanctuary is the religious grounds of the Redeemers.  Boys are sent here under the age of ten and only about half of them make it to fifteen... or leave by way of a blue sack, to the grave yard.  This is where Cale has lived since he can really remember, he is now fourteen or fifteen years old.  One of the many strict rules here is you are not allowed to have friends, and there are plants to "befriend" you - planted by the Redeemers - and you pay dearly for being caught with friends.  But Cale has two of friends, Vague Henri and Kleist.  One night while delivering a message to the Redeemer of Discipline, Cale sees something the Redeemer is doing that is so horrible to him, he attacks the Redeemer.  In the Sanctuary Cale's results of this act would end in death for him, as punishment.  So he runs, taking his two friends so they don't get dragged in to the mess, and the girl with him... This is the journey of these four trying to make it.

The book seemed to break into four sections for me.

In the beginning ninety pages we are introduced quickly to many Redeemers and the world they live in - religion and way of life - along with the boys of the story.  You really get an inside look at how stern and brutal the world in on the in side of these walls, from minimal amounts of tasteless gray porridge to eat, to not being creative and being physically punished if they are. These boys are very physically fit for their ages and their training is very brutal.  In the first ninety pages this world starts here and grows the suspense of the war the Redeemers are fighting with the Antagonists and what the boys are trained for and why then moves to the outside world. 

But then it slows down as Cale and company make their journey to Memphis.  The next hundred or so pages where them running off. I enjoyed meeting new characters such as IdrisPukke and liked his character. But they are trying to get away and I felt as if they really didn't worry about being in danger from the all feared and wonderful assassins of the Redeemers. They where quite relaxed and not worrying about who knew who they were. Like no one would be looking for them, yet they knew they where after them.  I know there is the deal made in capturing the boys and the Redeemers where not to interfere as it would offend the leader of whom they talked to, but the Redeemers are this feared group. The Redeemers are to be the hard core ones who don't let escapees get far or away for long. But it seems as they don't care so deeply about Cale and his friends being free. Or maybe this was part of a plan to move things along in a different direction. Almost using Cale to get what they want.  But in this section we wonder away from what I had thought to be a major plot in the book - the Redeemers and the war they are fighting.

The next ninety to a hundred pages started to pull back toward the main plot. Getting back to the Redeemers hunting Cale and starting into some action and movement of the characters. Getting everyone back into the idea of corruption and scheming going on behind the scenes.

The last 80 pages brings the action in full swing and the ties all start to fit together some.  There are still questions for me with some of the actions and reasons behind it all. I am curious of the Redeemers and the war they are fighting, and why what was done was so.  But there are two more books left to read.

With all this being said, I did enjoy the book. I thought the two middle sections could have been combined together with the ending eighty pages - as I think it slowed down in the middle parts. But all in all I did enjoy the idea of the Redeemers and the curiosity has got me, I will pick up book two to see where the conspiracies all go.


I purchased this book for my own reading.


This book qualified for the Speculative Fiction Challenge hosted by Book Chick City.