THE HAND OF GOD: DARK LEGACIES BOOK 1 by YUVAL KORDOV
Reviewed by
When I consider Book 1 of Dark Legacies, the first words that come to my mind are: professional; competent; pragmatic; cerebral; thought-provoking. This is the type of book I might mention when folks claim that indie fiction is somewhat sloppy, mediocre, and weak. In fact, I would put the writing skills showcased by Kordov against any of the most popular tradpub’s on the market today.
That doesn’t imply that The Hand of God is a perfect sci-fi presentation, but the good FAR outweighs the bad. This is a labor of love that the author has invested years in crafting and perfecting, and that is admirable and inspiring.
CONTENTS:
The book is divided into
- Prologue
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
Prologue and Part 1 come off as being over-ambitious for no other reason than the fact that they feel too fragmented and confounding. This is where we are first introduced to the character of Esther and the whole narrative is a dissonant amalgamation of thoughts, dreams, visions, and memories relentlessly thrown at a reader over and over again. We see this artistic approach utilized in cinema often, where the director uses quick cuts to abruptly overlap one scene with the next, as the character goes from awakened state to dreaming to visions, back to awakened state.
This technique doesn’t translate well from screen to prose, and it ends up irritating the senses more than stimulating them.
THE MEAT:
Part 2 and 3 in my honest opinion is where readers will finally get rewarded and find their footing. The introduction of characters like Baptiste, Sophus, and Rebekah really propels the story to next-level awesomeness! You will learn of a world which has endured not one but two apocalypses, and a city that carries the hope of man’s reconciliation with God. The prose is exquisite, the attention to details impeccable, the characters breathing with depth and humanity.
HIGH CONCEPT NARRATIVE:
This story is a classic example of high concept narrative. High concept (as opposed to low concept) is never strictly centered around one single main character (i.e. Conan the Barbarian) but it’s rather about a multitude of characters who contribute to the story at some point.
This is in essence “a story about finding faith and finding purpose through suffering, which materializes through the lives of my characters.” (Yuval Kordov)
CONCLUSION:
If you want to experience a faith-based epic sci-fi legend of ambitious heights you MUST read The Hand of God. If this ever gets a big screen adaptation we could have the best visual feast since Dune and Stalker! This is a book that gives me hope in the indie sphere of fiction writing moving forward.
Will I read and review Book 2? The real question is, how could I not!
🦀
Editor’s note: Time is running out on the Based Book Sale–stop, shop, and enjoy some non-woke books on the cheap or even free for just a few more hours!