Some of you may have seen it advertised, since it's had a fair amount of publicity due to iPhone app and YouTube trailers.
I missed all of this however (the benefits of living in a shell I should imagine) and simply picked up the book because of the cover.
It's worth a mention, beautifully drawn and captures the feel of the start of the book perfectly, making you think of a Jack the Ripper meets Blade type character.

The tag line on the back cover
"His name is Cale.
They told him he could destroy the world.
Maybe he will..."
turns out to be too much of a spoiler, the premise of the second statement isn't revealed until the very end and it would be better for the reader (and much more of a shock) if you hadn't heard it.

The story is set somewhere around the 14th/15th century, indeed the main battle scene is a famous battle of the period renamed and reskinned.
The story is about a militant sect of religious fanatics who believe in the "Hanged redeemer" (basically Jesus, but not Jesus, because someone called Jesus of Nazareth is mentioned later on) and take in young boys from 7 upwards and teach them things like fighting and first aid while treating them with immense cruelty.
There are lots of parallels (most deliberately contrived) an example being with the Nazi's. The Redeemers are described as having "wiped the Gypsies from the face of the earth", subtle no?

Cale is of course the youngest, best and quietest of said children and while friends are strictly forbidden, he has only one anyway. He sees something he shouldn't, he is forced to leave, no easy feat as it turns out. He turns to Memphis, the anti-Sanctuary where the main story arc for the book begins.

Some of the book is done quite well, he conveys the Sanctuary of the Redeemers very well, and you have no trouble imagining the horror that goes on in there every day.
Some however is not, while action and horror is done quite well, anything involving the female characters is horribly executed. The romance story line spoils the book, most fantasy writers use the damsel in distress that is rarely seen because they can’t write romance all that well, so it is better to tell the journey than the reward so to speak.
Hoffman seems to have been instructed or decided himself, to write to as many different demographics as possible.
Cale is well written, as are IdrisPukke and Vipond, but you never get to see enough of them or the interesting triangle because of the love story, which I can imagine is only there to bring in female readers.
Lord Redeemer Bosco is the biggest loss to the ponderous swanathon. He has all the hallmarks of a very good villain but his moments are few and far between.

Hoffman tells a good story, the plot is interesting, as are some of the relationships, but they are not focused on enough. Too much time is given to the witterings of a boy in his mid to late teen who up until 3 weeks ago had never seen a girl, yet manages to fall wildly in love.
I had high hopes for the book after the first few chapters and while still very readable, you just know after someone called Arbell Swan-Neck is described as looking "like a swan" that this isn't going to be a classic.
It's strong language, not graphic but not even suggestive romance and well, graphic, violence all suggest something written for adults. His narrative style, along with the age of the characters (the protagonist and his henchman are all around 15) suggest someone trying to tap into the lucrative Harry Potter market.

It was worth the £6.50 (half price at WHS), but the book let itself down with some bad parts that seemed to push the good parts too far away from each other to keep a good flow.
It is however part of a trilogy and ends with a large enough cliff hanger for me to care what happens in the next book, but he needs to sort his target audience out and play to his strengths. Cale is much more interesting as a cold killer than an awkward teen.

All in all it's a fun read, I'd give it 3 happy cue balls out of 5.