Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine #1)

Berne had a feral quality, a wildness of lust and dangerous unpredictability that went with the loose and relaxed jointless way he walked and held himself; he was potently, almost fiercely, alive at all times. Caine, too, had a quality of relaxation, but there was nothing loose about it; instead it was stillness, a meditative readiness that seemed to flow out from him and fill the room with capacity for action, as though all around him ghosts of imaginary Caines performed every movement that was possible within the space: every attack, every defense, every leap or flip or roll.

Kierendal's growing insouciance vanished like smoke before a gale; the black and lethal fury that flooded Caine's face when he spoke that name terrified her more than had his earlier threats. It was as though all of those ghost-Caines that had filled the imaginary air suddenly turned and whipped faster than thought back within his body, to make him so ferociously present that he seemed to burn with a scarlet flame.

I jam the knife into his eye. Bone crackles and blood sprays. I use the knife to twist his face away from me: a bloodstain on this livery could be fatal, on my way out. He flops like a salmon that's found unexpected land beneath an upstream leap. This is only his body's last unconscious attempt to live; it goes hand-in-hand with the release of his bowels and bladder. He shits and pisses all over himself and his satin-weave sheets -- another one of those primordial reflexes, a futile dodge to make his meat unappetizing to the predator.

heroes die takes place in a futuristic earth. commercial companies basically rule the world through the iron hand of the entertainment industry. accordingly, a caste system has developed, with the business execs at the top, and entertainers - or actors - made to serve. of course, actors get money, fame, and tons of babes - they just have to survive.

because, you see, reality tv has been taken to new levels. through advanced technology, scientists discovered a parallel earth operating on the same frequency as our earth, allowing relatively easy back and forth travel. except this earth is your sword-and-sorcery-type affair, with technology that borders on medieval and steampunk. there are elves, knights, kings, and trolls - and we kill them and f*ck with their society and social mores because... say it with me now...

that's entertainment!



caine is the most famous actor. he's pretty much, like, the chuck norris of the entertainment industry. people pay big bucks to experience vicariously his adventures as an assassin in the overworld. he's so popular, in fact, that people buy tapes of his old adventures to pop into their virtual reality consoles so they can live as him over and over and over again.

caine fangirls:



and fanboys:



"omg guess wut u guys i'm totally cained rite now!!!!!"

caine's real name is hari michaelson, and he's not very happy with his life. people don't know him as hari; they only know him as the horrible man who is responsible for destroying thousands of lives on the overworld. he's getting older and knows it - and he suspects his boss, the nefarious mr. kollberg - is going to keep him going until he dies; because his death will be worth billions in and of itself. after all, the only thing people like better than a hero is a fallen hero.

but quitting is out of the question when he realizes that his ex-wife shanna leighton, whom he still loves, is in grave danger in the overworld. because she's an actor, too. her game-name is pallas ril. but she's never been as popular as caine - and kollberg is going to let her "degrade" (i.e. get ravaged by plummeting through the other parallel dimensions back to earth) unless caine can save her in time. and that's not going to be easy, because she's in the middle of a conspiracy plot.



one thing to keep in mind, though, is that heroes die is insanely violent. this is not a young adult book. in fact, a pretty good way of describing this would be an m-rated version of the hunger games. people get decapitated, impaled, bludgeoned, burned, beaten, exploded, raped, tortured - in fact there's a lecture on torture with live vivisection (which was a little too much for me. i was kind of like, 'la la la time to skim').

the good news is that there isn't more gore than is necessary. stover tries admirably hard to use the show not tell device to show you who's evil, rather than tell you who's evil.



it works. my god. berne. that guy is one sick mofo.

but the romance between caine and shanna was incredibly well done. even though i didn't like caine at first (at all), i really liked him by the end. sure, he told us in his narratives that he loved pallas, but the way he showed it was so much more convincing and powerful. i also loved the world-building. the ending really made me wonder what the overworld would be like, and how it would recover. and now i understand that this book is part of a series so that might happen?



at various times i was torn between 3.5, 4, and ultimately 4.5 stars. but you know what? i think this book deserves the full five. it's earned its place as part of my permanent collection, and i can genuinely see myself reading this again (after the next books, though!!!! OMG WANTWANTWANT).

and if you need any more convincing that you should read this book right now, just look at this:



overworld: more awesome than dinosaurs with frickin' laserbeams attached to their frickin' heads