The Last Four Things [Hardcover]

**Warning: As this is the second book in a trilogy this review may contain spoilers for those who have not read the first one, The Left Hand of God.**

I had mixed feelings after finishing the first book in this series, The Left Hand of God. I enjoyed the world that Paul Hoffman has created and was intrigued by Thomas Cale, the violent and unpredictable young man at the heart of the story. But I wasn't entirely sure I liked how The Left Hand of God had ended. So I was very excited when I received The Last Four Things for review to see what had become of Cale and his friends.

But first a note on the book's cover - I like it. The blue light backlighting the hooded and armed warrior as he advances into the darkness of the foreground fits in well with the Redeemers' outlook. And especially with their view of Cale as God's wrath incarnate.

Paul Hoffman has created a fantasy world that draws strongly on the "real" world for its names and culture. But it's the way he has combined these elements that makes this world different. Medieval culture exists beside ancient Greek and so on. I found that the references to civilizations and places I know made it easier to submerge myself in Hoffman's world. His writing style is easy and there are some great turns of phrase throughout The Last Four Things.

The religion of The Hanged Redeemer plays a crucial role in this series. It shapes the characters and many of their decisions and actions in one way or another. Again Hoffman has drawn on the history of Christianity and used elements to create something familiar, but dark and unsettling at the same time. The politics and infighting that is an intrinsic part of any such large organisation allows Hoffman to introduce subplots and greater complications.

Thomas Cale is a bit of an enigma as far as main characters go. At times his humanity and something more gentle show through and you begin to like him. But then, often within a page, he has become a hard and violent person who trails catastrophe and blood in his wake. It's at these moments that you can almost believe that he is the embodiment of God's wrath. This constant shift in Cale's behaviour and demeanour can be quite unsettling and as a result I was often not sure what to feel about him. This is a risky way for an author to handle their main character because readers need someone to connect with in the story. But Hoffman manages to pull it off by showing us glimpses if Cale's humanity and by balancing him with other characters. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Thomas Cale, but I'm leaning towards liking him and I do know that I want to read the next book to see what happens to him. He's a puzzle I really want to solve.

Paul Hoffman's The Last Four Things does a good job of advancing the story and characters he introduced us to in The Left Hand of God. And he's left me wanting to know what he's got in store for us next.

"The Last Four Things"
So how does the sequel to "The Left Hand of God" fare? I think for a lot of people it will have a similar marmite effect, it is one of those books that leaps and bounds around the imagination, pulling references from the literary world willy-nilly EG: Edmund Spencer's A view of the present state of Ireland, to show a description of starvation (which Hoffman does in gruesome fashion), the king James bible, a Boer war training manual and many more. As well as ideas from historical references and a geographical elasticity that just boggles the mind, Spanish Leeds being just one example a story that is laced with cynicism at so many elements of society and religion. In this book there is also a heavy dose of cynicism aimed at the ease of propaganda and its use in society to tip the balance of power to any intended use.

I have read reviews that state the characters are flat and some of the prose ill formed, I personally have to disagree, I have found that the characters are growing well with the books, there is a very dark dangerous brooding character to Cale, and Vague Henry and Kleist really are growing as individuals in this book with unique characters that really shine out from the page, if they are less dynamic than Cale it feels deliberate to me because what else could they be when this attention black hole enters the room/ page.

For me this is one of the most original fantasy series in many years, I have been put off fantasy in many ways since the death of David Gemmell, and this is one of the few authors able to drag me back.

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes their fantasy, their dark novels, and also to those fans of Historical fiction who like to dabble in fantasy...but you MUST read left hand of God before this book, it is the one weakness that the books really cannot be read in isolation. (Parm)

The story of Thomas Cale and his associates is a good one; adventurous, dark, humorous and at times intriguing, it is unfortunately let down terribly by Hoffman's cluttered and acutely jarring writing style. 'The Last Four Things' struggles to coalesce into a cohesive whole, seemingly confused as to who it aimed at, reading at times like teenage literature and at other like the last will and testament of David Starkey, apparently choking to death on a dictionary.

Hoffman's seems to rely heavily on the reader having prior knowledge of the source material, from which he borrows in great swathes and often to embarrassingly ill effect. His characters are intriguing and their interactions and conversations with each other can be a delight, often however they suffer greatly from talking and behaving inextricably out of character. Hoffman seems intent to shoe-horn in elements which not only fail to align with the narrative flow, but actively disrupt it.

These problems amount to a great pity; if Hoffman had been able to respect the text more than his own need to vocalise certain affirmations and in doing so, remove himself from it, then perhaps the story would've been able to flourish into the timeless classic it could have been.

A great disservice has been done to Hoffman and the story in the proof reading, editing and publishing process; surely someone should have realised this is a brilliant first draught, but a severely misjudged final version (or at the very least, identified the various typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes).