The world is in a state of chaos. The war started by the Redeemers continues, their commitment to their mission unwavering despite the fact that Thomas Cale--their Angel of Death--has escaped again and gone into hiding. Broken and weak, Cale knows he cannot hide forever. Even as he tries to find a way to recover, he knows Pope Redeemer Bosco is hunting him, hoping to find him and use him for his intended purpose. Cale will need to decide whose side he is on and what he's capable of. Will he live out his destiny as destroyer of mankind or will he stand against the Sanctuary and try to save a people he knows are damned? And what will be the final cost?

Such a wonderful end to this trilogy and I'm still very glad that I came across these books in the first place. There are so many layers to the messages woven into these pages, and it is so much more than your typical post-apocalyptic, young adult, dystopian novel. The world that Paul Hoffman has created straddles the line between being so close to our own reality and so far from it so beautifully that you know you're being transported but you can so easily see the parallels that exist. This was probably the most challenging to read in the trilogy, largely because of the emotional investment in the characters and the levels of peril in which they find themselves with each continuing chapter.

I definitely give this book (and the whole series) a high recommendation. ( )

Thomas Cale has been running from the truth. Since discovering that his brutal military training has been for one purpose - to destroy God's greatest mistake, mankind itself - Cale has been hunted by the very man who made him into the Angel of Death: Pope Redeemer Bosco.

Cale is a paradox: arrogant and innocent, generous and pitiless. Feared and revered by those created him, he has already used his breathtaking talent for violence and destruction to bring down the most powerful civilisation in the world.

But Thomas Cale is weak. His soul is dying. As his body is wracked with convulsions he knows that the final judgment will not wait for a sick boy. As the day of reckoning draws close, Cale's sense of vengeance leads him back to the heart of darkness - the Sanctuary - and to confront the person he hates most in the world. Finally Cale must recognise that he is the incarnation of God's rage and decide if he will stand against the Sanctuary of the Redeemers and use his unique skill of laying waste to all things. ( )

Considering that I didn't read the first two books in this trilogy, I am slightly at a loss about how to review this book. Yes, the writing was good and yes, the story is intriguing, but for some people the plot may be too complex... especially if you have no idea where it all began. Nevertheless, as far as I can tell, the trilogy definitely has a lot of charm, which will appeal to an audience that enjoys religious-type fantasy novels in particular. However, there are other elements that were also quite enjoyable... for one, the ending seemed somewhat original. Now, I won't give anything away, but it kind of made me grimace in a good way. Other than that, the characters were very entertaining and I must admit that The Beating of his Wings was somewhat of a page-turner, which strengthens my resolve to try and get my hands on The Last Four Things and The Left Hand of God. All in all, as far as I can tell, Paul Hoffman did a really good job with this trilogy judging by The Beating of his Wings.


Would I give this book a chance? Well, sure I would - I did, didn't I? - but I would suggest people buy the first two books before they purchase the third book. Why? I suppose it's my OCD coming into play, but you will probably lose a lot of the plot if you don't. It takes a while to get into the swing of things otherwise. On the upside though, the writing is spectacular and I have to admit that I did quite like Thomas Hale (the protagonist).
So, what's my verdict then? Some will enjoy it, others may not, but there's no denying that Paul Hoffman has a gift and I'd like to read some of his other stuff.

(review originally posted on www.killeraphrodite.com) ( )

Being the last book of the 'Left Hand of God'-trilogy, I was furiously hoping it would be as good as the first one and not let me down as the second one did.

It turned out to be somewhere in between. There is individual cruelty, along with massive battles, we get to see much more of Thomas Cale and the know-it-all writing style of Hoffman was really very pleasing again.

I'm still amazed by the first book and would recommend that to anyone (who's into this genre), but the trilogy as a whole is perhaps a little too disappointing to my taste. ( )

Sorry, life's too short to waste time with bad books.
I didn't like "The left hand of god" much, but the whole idea was ok. Then I read "The last four things" and it was ghastly. It must be one of the worst written books I've ever read, really really bad (to get an idea, there were 6-lines-long sentences without a single punctuation mark!).
But I was curious about the end of the story, so when I saw the new book at my library, I decided to give it a try, thinking I might have been a bit harsh in my review of the previous books.
No I wasn't.
It's still awfully written, I keep having to re-read sentences for them to make sense, and the story isn't attracting me anymore, I'm not curious anymore.
Reading was like banging into walls all the time. So I gave up and decided to read the several appendices+extra musing (which he calls an "essay"): now I get it. Apparently this trilogy is basically an auto-biography, based on his experiences of a really harsh catholic boarding school in the 50s, moving to Oxford university, mixed with 60s politics, attack on mindless religion and whatever else fell into the pot. All very well, it's his prerogative, but he can't write properly - so I won't read it. ( )