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The Heroes (The First Law World)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 8,221 ratings · 562 reviews

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones,...more

ebook, 581 pages

Published February 7th 2011 by Orbit (first published January 27th 2011)

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Jun 02, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: signed-first-or-limited-edition, audiobook, warriors, kings-of-badassia, kings-and-queens, fantasy, hardboiled-and-noir, dark-and-gritty, love-those-words, 2011

"HE WAS AS UGLY AS INCEST"...now that is funny!! Okay, so do not...DO NOT listen to those who call this a less than a stellar performance by the god-king of grit, Joe Abercrombie. This is not only a 541 page manual on the art of breezy, muck-dripping proseology, but it also sports an intricately layered and well designed plot, three dimensional characters that are just saturated with nuance and some powerful evocative statements on the “underpants loading horror” of war and the pain-burden born...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Hanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, shelf-a-ton-14, colonel-hathi-march

I've been reading a lot of Abercrombie lately - one a month for the past 5 months to be exact. One more to go and (sad face) it'll be over for a while. I hope Abercrombie is writing fast!

This book contains more of what Abercrombie is absolutely brilliant at:
Gritty, dark but oh so real. This book tells the story of war: the Union and the Northmen have been in a cat-and-mouse-war for a while, but the council needs their army elsewhere and commands a short end to this war. We'll get three days of w...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

When asked what sort of music I liked to listen to, I answered "grunge" for years after it was fashionable to do so. I think most of us can name a musician or band that we loved in high school, one that we listened to well past pop culture's imposed expiration date. Perhaps most of us can even recall the time when we realized that our tastes were no longer fashionable. Eventually, we have to see what's hip "today," and I suspect that the same holds true for fantasy.

When I was a young man, listen...more

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Mar 11, 2011 Tristax rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a hard review for me to write because I am such a fan of Abercrombie's work. Such a fan in fact, that I re-read the entire First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold to catch back up. That and I've spent far to much money collecting ARCs, Limited Editions and the like. So it's with a heavy heart that I give The Heroes, Abercrombie's fifth installment in this realm, only three stars.

The Heroes stands alone on it's own but it's part of the same realm as his other works. Many of the same chara...more This is a hard review for me to write because I am such a fan of Abercrombie's work. Such a fan in fact, that I re-read the entire First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold to catch back up. That and I've spent far to much money collecting ARCs, Limited Editions and the like. So it's with a heavy heart that I give The Heroes, Abercrombie's fifth installment in this realm, only three stars.

The Heroes stands alone on it's own but it's part of the same realm as his other works. Many of the same characters are involved, Kroy, Gorst, Calder, Bayaz and his servant Sulfur, Shivers, Black Dow and the Dogman to name a few. It's been roughly a decade since the events of the First Law trilogy and war has come to the North again. Black Dow is the self proclaimed "Protector of the North" and has united what was left of Bethod's forces against the Union. Only the Dogman and his allies stand apart and alongside the Union.

The Heroes covers a three day period of war in which both sides collide at a place known in the North as "The Heroes". All is not as it seems though, as is often the case when the First of Magi and his enemies are involved, and both sides fight to place another pawn on the board.

A lot of people, myself among them, found the sections covering the North during the First Law trilogy to be some of the more gripping and interesting aspects of the story. So it's not a surprise that Abercrombie chose the North as the setting for his next book. Unfortunately, he failed to capture the same magic that made it so interesting before. Fans of the Dogman and his crew will be sorely disappointed. While the Dogman does make some appearances, none of his point of view is followed even though he and his crew play as much a part of the story as anyone else. The characters followed are a bit of a letdown and come off as being gray for gray's sake, as in it feels forced. That's not to say there are not any interesting characters in the book, quite the opposite in fact and I found myself frustrated at only getting glimpses of them instead of actually following their perspective.

I don't want to give any of the story away so it's hard for me to go into too many details about why I found this installment lacking. Suffice to say that if you were hoping to find some answers about unresolved characters (Logan Ninefingers) or going into this hoping to have a few questions answered, you'll be disappointed. I could have lived with those things though, it was the lack of having any draw towards any of the main characters, the pacing and the general un-epicness of the story that made this such a hard read.

Having read all of Abercrombie's past novels, I knew going in not to expect rainbows and sunshine. I did however expect to find surprisingly real and interesting characters. It's hard to care about a story when you don't really care about any of the protagonists or the outcome. I was disappointed that I didn't get to follow any of the Northmen on the Union side. It's also hard to believe that Abercrombie couldn't have at least included one Union general that knew what he was doing. Above all though, the story just didn't have that same epic feeling that his other works have had.

On the positive side, Abercrombie is still a master when it comes to changing his voice with each character, adding his own unique flavor to the story. I did get a few laughs out of the book and it did have it moments. The story or the characters just didn't feel very fleshed out this time around and perhaps my review is a little harsher based on comparing it to the level at which I know Abercrombine can write.

I'm still a fan though and I will still be first in line to pick up his next book. This one just didn't resonate with me at all.

The cover art on the other hand is my favorite from the series. The type treatment is fantastic and the color scheme is striking. Five out five for the cover art on this one. (less)

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Jan 27, 2011 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First off: for the sake of clarity, I guess I had better point this out from the start: my name has been used for a minor character in this book. Obviously, I’m flattered and honoured –and I must say that it is very odd, reading your name in print, knowing that in some strange way you’ve influenced the telling of a tale.

I say that because there may be others who will notice this and surmise that, as a consequence, with the reviewer suitably bribed, this review will automatically be fulsome. And...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Jeremiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first time I'd tried to read this book I stopped. It really bogged down during the battle of Gettysburg...er, I mean, the battle of Osrung. The momentum that Abercrombie had built up during the First Law trilogy started petering out during Best Served Cold and finally runs into the mud about a third of the way into The Heroes.

Some of the POVs are just idiotic and I would find myself skimming them trying to get the dialogue. The suggestion of some kinda of metaplot involving Bayaz vs Ishri.....more

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Feb 24, 2012 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

In retrospect, the "clunky" skirmish was actually quite interesting. It had been a while since I last read an Abercrombie book, so I wasn't feeling accustomed to his fight scenes. I think I would have appreciated it some more, if this portrayal of a fight scene had come later in the book. I say that, but... all of that to say that I think I enjoyed it. I just needed some time to acclimate.

I was a bit disappointed with Abercrombie's latest installment. I'm really, really sad to say that, as I'm a...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Aidan Walters rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This, unfortunately, is by far the worst of Abercrombie's novels so far. His strengths as a writer are still apparent, the action scenes are still well written and everything moves at a fast pace. What makes this book poor however is the characters and the plot. Usually one of his strengths with characters like Gloka, Logen and Monza from his previous works. In this novel his characters are dull. It doesn't matter if characters are amoral, sadistic, virtuous, brave or any other trait as long as...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great Joe Abercrombie book. In this book he focuses on one battle, switching between various people on either side. We meet some familiar faces from his previous books along with new ones. He has filled the book again with unlovable, yet fascinating, characters. Everyone has his flaws but you want to spend time with them despite or because of this. You find yourself unsure who you want to win this epic battle. In the end, well... it doesn't end well. Joe Abercrombie seems unable to do ha...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Bane of Kings rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic-fantasy, favourites, 25-best-2011-releases

“Wow. The Heroes is unputdownable, action-packed and very enjoyable. Joe Abercrombie’s novel is probably the best Fantasy Book of 2011, in the year that gave us A Dance with Dragons, Prince of Thorns and more.” ~The Founding Fields

Alright, I know that I’m about a year late to the party, but I figured I’d get around to reading this before I delved into Red Country, Abercrombie’s 2012 novel. I’m also going to start this review by saying that I haven’t read all of Abercrombie’s The First Law Trilog...more “Wow. The Heroes is unputdownable, action-packed and very enjoyable. Joe Abercrombie’s novel is probably the best Fantasy Book of 2011, in the year that gave us A Dance with Dragons, Prince of Thorns and more.” ~The Founding Fields

Alright, I know that I’m about a year late to the party, but I figured I’d get around to reading this before I delved into Red Country, Abercrombie’s 2012 novel. I’m also going to start this review by saying that I haven’t read all of Abercrombie’s The First Law Trilogy, only the first novel - The Blade Itself - which is is something that I need to remedy and I think one of my reading targets for 2013 will be to catch up on what I’ve missed.

But in the meantime though, The Heroes was absolutely superb, and if I manage to read Red Country before the end of 2012, then there is certainly a possibility that it may even outclass Mark Lawrence’s brilliant King of Thorns, especially if The Heroes is anything to go by. It was that good – and this is only my second Abercrombie novel.

"They say Black Dow’s killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they’ve brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.

THE HEROES

For glory, for victory, for staying alive."

Abercrombie’s 2011 novel hits all the marks for me. The pacing is fast, the novel is action-packed, and this is firmly gritty fantasy, sharing more similarities to George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire than JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It’s a standalone epic that doesn’t have to be read after the First Law Trilogy, which was why I picked it it up after the initial series. The novel manages to bring something exciting, enjoyable and entertaining to fantasy and keep you hooked right the way through.

Read the Rest of the Review: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/11/...(less)

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May 01, 2011 Luke Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fantasy, read-in-2011

I finished The Heroes a couple of days ago and I now have had some time to gather my thoughts. Firstly, for a book that is 500 pages long, it was a very quick read for me and it felt like a much shorter book. I think that Abercrombie's plotting is getting much leaner and I get the sense that he is planning his standalones much more meticulously than he did his trilogy. For a big book, I didn't think there was much fat to this one.

I would say that the "Three Men, One Battle" tagline is a little m...more I finished The Heroes a couple of days ago and I now have had some time to gather my thoughts. Firstly, for a book that is 500 pages long, it was a very quick read for me and it felt like a much shorter book. I think that Abercrombie's plotting is getting much leaner and I get the sense that he is planning his standalones much more meticulously than he did his trilogy. For a big book, I didn't think there was much fat to this one.

I would say that the "Three Men, One Battle" tagline is a little misleading, given we actually get six points of view, including Beck, Finree and Tunny. While I do think Craw, Calder and Bremer were the most interesting characters, at no point did I feel overwhelmed by the number of points of views, and I didn't find myself bored with any of the different perspectives. And one of Abercrombie's strengths remains getting the reader to care about flawed or even, in some cases, despicable characters.

Spoiler:
Like some others, I was a bit perplexed by the lack of Stranger-Come-Knocking's role in the plot, and apart from the one scene involving the kidnapped Union women and the eventual revelation about his deal with Bayaz, he seemed to serve no purpose in the story. (Was Pip a character from The First Law that I've forgotten?)

Of course, one of the major themes of the book is the horrors of war, and Abercrombie does a pretty good job of avoiding the pitfalls of melodrama and sentimentality that can often accompany this subject matter in literature and other media. His exploration of this theme is well balanced by one of the aspects of his work the makes him a unique writer in the field of modern epic fantasy - that is, is his dark, ironic sense of humour and moments of absurdist comedy. One of my favourite scenes is the one in which Whirrun invents the cheese-trap!

This scene also relates to one of the more interesting aspects of the book; a number of times during the book an observation is made about the modernising or progressive influence war has on society. Of course, it is very funny when Whirrun unknowingly invents the sandwich, but there are also a number of comments about Bethod's wars leading to improved roads and other advancements in infrastructure and agriculture, and generally resulting in a more politically unified North. And there's also the experiment with the death tubes, and I suspect gunpowder may play a part in the next standalone, which as we know is going to be strongly influenced by the western genre.

Abercrombie never plays to expectations. Every time I thought I had a good grip on where the plot was about to go it slithered out of my grasp. Another one of my favourite set of passages in the book was the lead up to and the battle between Calder and Black Dow. It was at this point in the plot that I couldn't put the book down, and the tension and suspense kept me reading to find out how it would play out. I was fully invested in the characters and their situation, and this is what all good books strive to achieve.

Another point that I think is important is that even though this book is billed as a stand alone, and can be read as such, I think it can only be fully appreciated by people that have read The First Law and Best Served Cold. Despite the fact that he doesn't actually feature in the book, I felt that Logen was an important character in this story and his shadow looms large over the other characters and their actions. Likewise, the motivations of characters such as Bremer, Calder, Black Dow, the Dogman, Jalenhorm, and many others only make complete sense in the light of earlier events covered by previous novels.

Spoiler:
This is especially so for Shivers, and his climactic scene involving Black Dow's death will only fully resonate for people who have read The First Law and Best Served Cold. If you haven't read Best Served Cold at least, the scene I'm talking about could seem very anticlimactic, but for those that have read the earlier book it is more likely that they will understand this as an important culmination of events for Shivers.

There are also familiar thematic motifs in this novel that will be recognised by anybody who has read Abercrombie's previous work. The illusory nature of power is again explored, and both Black Dow and Marshal Kroy comment on the fact that the more power you appear to possess, the less freedom you actually have to enjoy. Also, Abercrombie's belief in the inescapable and cyclical nature of things can again be seen again in this book, particularly in Craw's story.

I can happily say that I was not disappointed with The Heroes, and in fact, I think Abercrombie gets better with each book. He has become one of my favourite writers and I love returning to the world he has created and meeting familiar and new characters. I love the way he juxtaposes a dark sense of humour with shocking moments of violence. I love the way he never panders to expectations. And I love the way he has a steady output of books that increase in quality with every release. I can't wait for the next one. (less)

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Jul 24, 2011 Algernon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

fans of the author will be delighted with this new product. I really have no complaints about the quality of the writing or about the plot. But I really cannot accept the infatuation with violence and the cynicism that permeates the text. This aspect was less glaring in the first trilogy, but here the whole story is about war and literally nothing else. Abercrombie is aware of the horrors of wars, yet here are some snippets of the mentality that ticked me off:
"Wonderful thing a war. Done the ri...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Ala rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ah yes. Another long awaited visit to the world of First Law Trilogy.

Where men of the north bathe in the blood of battle, the men of the union bitch and moan in their civilized finery, and the strings of all are pulled by the students of Juven.

Shivers makes another appearance in this new tale of blood and glory, alongside the Mike Tysonesque Bremer as well as several new named men(and one named woman), a few union soldiers(and one woman) who weedle and cajole and basically play the parts of foo...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Coe Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Joe Abercrombie has ruined me for other fantasy authors. When I read battle scenes in other books, I get impatient with all the near-misses, and the way that the protagonists get all the lucky breaks. In a real battle, for all the crazy near misses, there must be many more cases where the guy didn't turn around in time, or ducked left instead of right, or tripped on a gopher mound.

Abercrombie tells the whole story. He tells us about the cases where the near-miss didn't happen, about the guy who...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Brandon Zarzyczny rated it 4 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed this book, it's my least favorite work from Joe Abercrombie. My biggest problems with it, are that there really isn't much of a story (I mean it takes place during 3 days), the book features the voice of practically every character in the book, and the ending isn't very satisfying. All three of those problems were essentially created by the subject of the book, a realistic look at a Fantasy battle with very small amounts of magic (in this case mostly science). Abercrombie really...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Jerry Dowless rated it 5 of 5 stars

My first experience with Joe Abercrombie's work--the first volume of his First Law trilogy--was not an unambivalent pleasure, so when I was loading up on summer reading in the fantasy section when I came across "The Heroes" and saw that it was not part of the First Law trilogy I grabbed it, eager to find a novel by Abercrombie that would give me a fresh start with him. Little did I realize at the time "The Heroes" is not part of the trilogy because it is Abercrombie's fifth book featuring these...more My first experience with Joe Abercrombie's work--the first volume of his First Law trilogy--was not an unambivalent pleasure, so when I was loading up on summer reading in the fantasy section when I came across "The Heroes" and saw that it was not part of the First Law trilogy I grabbed it, eager to find a novel by Abercrombie that would give me a fresh start with him. Little did I realize at the time "The Heroes" is not part of the trilogy because it is Abercrombie's fifth book featuring these characters and this world.

When I realized this I audibly groaned and considered the possibility of returning my mistake to the bookstore. After all, I thought, with all that I hadn't liked in my first outing with Abercrombie, how could I expect it to be improved by the story advancing through three plot-dense volumes that I hadn't read? 541 pages later, I was glad I hadn't. Because regardless of the three volumes ensuing deaths, successions, promotions, and other twists of fate between "The Blade Itself" and "The Heroes" that I had to catch up on, it was immediately obvious how much Abercrombie has grown as a storyteller over the course of the intervening books.

To be perfectly honest, while "The Blade Itself" gestured at the influence of George R.R. Martin with its use of point-of-view characters widely placed within a fantasy landscape, it seemed as if Abercrombie could not quite dispell the atmosphere of an older, more dated, less challenging style of fantasy narrative. "The Heroes" by contrast is in many ways more challenging than Martin's own work. Not only are just about all magical or unrealistic themes exiled from the story here, but the perspective characters whose stories we are being told are all converging onto one place, a Stonehenge-like prehistoric monument where the armies of two realms--one a decidedly early modern, proto-capitalist, and imperialist power, the other a medieval, uncivilized, and unrepentantly brutal land--will meet decisively. Because all the various strands of the narrative tell the story of a single war, distilled really into a single battle, the same event is depicted repetitively from different perspectives. And rather than just being satisfied with just this level of complexity, Abercrombie wrings this approach for all its worth.

Perhaps the most brilliant passages of the novel are the scenes reminiscent of the Illiad in that the "camera" of the narration proceeds from person to person as they kill and are killed, some of the most familiar and significant characters in Abercrombie's saga given no precedence compared to walk-ons who are brought into the story exclusively for the purpose of the battle. The effect is a brutal, grotesque, highly skilled series of war stories that I do not think many novelists living in whatever genre could equal in terms of the overall effect.

Abercrombie's skill with language only lends greater power to these moments. It's not just that he is highly accomplished at the action scenes, giving each one a forlorn vivid clarity. Nor is it just that his prose conveys feelings amazingly well, feelings here meaning equally emotion and literal physical sensation, like an arrow tearing through one's guts or being dragged by a horse. It's that Abercrombie's choice of words is as precisely honed as the steel of his barbarian characters. Huge insights by and about his characters are fit into some of the shortest, most understated lines: Finree's "Someone you can work with. Work on." is a beauty of an observation that has to be read in full context to be appreciated; "Strode the way he thought his father might've" delivers information to the reader about young Beck with the rich efficiency of great literature.

But it's not just at the level of language that "The Heroes" excels: if the style deployed was this intense but the psychological insights the novel offered were no more than commonplaces the effect would be ridiculous. And Abercrombie's task here is made more difficult by the sheer weight of all the literature written over the past three thousand years about the pointlessness and waste of war. There are points, especially given how long and involved a novel this is, where we might wonder what is to be gained by reading "The Heroes" that we could not also get by reading similar meditations on war as an industry of death in Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow", and ask really, what new is being brought to the table?

Something fascinating about the way Abercrombie tells the story is the way both militaries involved in this struggle don't justify their actions in terms of an ideology, be it civic, religious or nationalistic. One does not get the idea strongly that there are people on either side who believe in more or less degrees in what they are doing. Instead, Abercrombie's armies are pervaded with a knowing cynicism about who benefits from the sacrifices of the ordinary soldiers. To me, this keeps the novel from exploring the fascinating issues of whether there are just wars, and prevents the novel from reaching out to examine those people who fight wars who believe in what they are doing beyond cursorily labeling them as dupes.

As dissatisfying as that flatness is though, Abercrombie presents an analysis of the character of one of his warriors that is complex and unforgettable in the person of Gorst, an officer on the side of the Union in Abercrombie's imagined conflict. Gorst agonized self-awareness as he simultaneously advances as a warrior and declines as a human being makes sometimes for actually painful reading. Yet it represents the most provocative and insightful moments of the novel, and when at a key point Gorst's neurotic internal voice switches from indicting him for his wrongs to excusing them, the effect is jaw-dropping, the effect shattering.

That moment also reveals how much Abercrombie actually has to say about war in the sense that he thinks of the crucial question as being less about the tectonic collisions of peoples or nations, or about the economic interests that benefit from warfare and its accompanying violent expropriations, than about an individual military decision-maker's fears and insecurities, what is necessary for them to feel they are a good person and what is necessary for them to feel they are a complete man. Now, there are shortcomings to that explanation and there are virtues. But it is enough to anchor "The Heroes" and it is enough to make it a compelling novel that has very little reason to be called a fantasy apart from taking place in a world with make-believe countries.

Finally, it's very fitting to Abercrombie's scheme that "The Heroes" ends with the powerful on both sides already starting the next war, feeding the sense of perpetual, and pointless, conflict. That last chapter, the brilliant thematic capstone to Abercrombie's work here, is the work of a novelist at the height of his powers. It, like the rest of "The Heroes", is sure-footed, understated, amazing stuff.(less)

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Aug 08, 2012 Nigel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although it's a big tough book about a big tough battle that's, if not exactly pointless, certainly difficult for all but a few to fathom, The Heroes is actually slightly less cynical than the First Law Trilogy and somewhat less unpleasant than Best Served Cold, which I found unbearably horrible, albeit in that way that only extremely good books can be. Having said that, being slightly less cynical and somewhat less unpleasant in the ouevre of Joe Abercrombie leaves ample scope for both.

The Hero...more Although it's a big tough book about a big tough battle that's, if not exactly pointless, certainly difficult for all but a few to fathom, The Heroes is actually slightly less cynical than the First Law Trilogy and somewhat less unpleasant than Best Served Cold, which I found unbearably horrible, albeit in that way that only extremely good books can be. Having said that, being slightly less cynical and somewhat less unpleasant in the ouevre of Joe Abercrombie leaves ample scope for both.

The Heroes paints a denser picture on a smaller canvas. The Southern Union has marched North, trying to engage Black Dow. Now he finally turns and fights in the Valley of Osrung, and the next three days will determine the fate of... well, mostly it will the determine the fates of the people who spend the next three days fighting each other. A range of characters on both sides prepare for the fight in assorted different ways. The book describes the build-up, the fight, and then the aftermath, a classic fantasy battle put through the modern wringer, removing all broader notions of right and wrong, heroism and villainy, bravery and cowardice and replacing it with something messy and complicated and sad. Because this book really does have more of a heart than Abercrombie's others. many of the characters are quite relatable, if not always admirable, and the amazing thing is after all the horror and the slaughter, he rounds up a few endings that are moving and perhaps even happy.

The weakest part of the book is mostly the sections with Bremer Dan Gorst, an otherwise brilliant and interesting character who, like the torturer Gorka(?) in the First Law books intersperses every conversation, observation or even personal narration with cynical thoughts made even cynicaler by being put in italics. It was overdone in The First Law and it was overdone a bit here, like having a director's commentary running that does nothing but state the bleedin' obvious.

Anyway, Abercrombie is the perfect writer for fantasy fans who like violence and dramatic irony. The Heroes is also tightly plotted, exciting, and self-contained, for those sick of waiting for the next volume of Song Of Whateverit'scalledagain, though it does use minor and even major characters from the other books. It's not exactly All Quiet On The Northern Front, but it's definitely nodding in that direction, a fun It's Grim Fighting Up North novel, that manages to not be as utterly irredeemably grim as it could be.(less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Rob rated it 2 of 5 stars

The Piles

“Fuck this shit” grumbled Slicker Gutwruck as he wearily limped up the hill, bile tickling his tonsils. “I couldn't give an arse about war anymore,” he spat. How ironic that I'm so good at it he mused, as his rag-tag squad of soldiers showed off their cool moves on a group of unfortunate peons they got the drop on. There was Broody McBrooderson, master of the garotte; Slicker's second-in-command, Little Miss Sunshine, tougher than any man, and more than capable of commanding Serenity, e...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Brooke Banks rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Again, this book has much of the great qualities in previous books. There isn't much change in the style, just more characters, more switching points of view and a very narrow time frame is seen. I was worried how well 600 some page book was going to deal with a 3 day battle. It's handled extremely well, though to clarify there is a bit of time told before and after the battle (and war) is over. I do continue to say that the trilogy and Best Served Cold is required reading to really understand t...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Michele rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I should preface this review by stating that I don't have a lot of fantasy genre-reading experience to compare this novel to. I enjoyed Tolkien as a child (who didn't?), but up until last year when a friend recommended the fantasy books of Patrick Rothfuss (who, if you haven't read his works, do it NOW!), I hadn't picked up the genre in years. The Heroes is therefore the first Abercrombie novel I've read and despite the testosterone-overload of the cover image, I plunged in to discover one of th...more

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Apr 24, 2012 David Hebblethwaite rated it 4 of 5 stars

It begins like this:

‘Too old for this shit,’ muttered Craw, wincing at the pain in his dodgy knee with every other step. (p. 9)

As a way of introducing a fantasy adventure novel, this sentence is very efficient: it establishes the narrative tone; it suggests that the characters we’ll follow will not necessarily be in peak physical condition (as is the stereotype); and it highlights that we are going to feel every twinge and scar.

The Heroes chronicles a three-day battle the forces of theUnion and...more

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Feb 17, 2012 David Chandran rated it 5 of 5 stars

In short, this book is awesome and I cannot recommend it enough. Joe Abercrombie's masterpiece is one of the most original fantasy pieces I have read in a very long time. Instead of the usual epoch spanning plotlines of other fantasy stories, usually told over the course of between 3 to 13 books, this instead is very much a standalone story that covers a very short period of time (3 days to be specific). The story focuses on a single battle fought over a hill called The Heroes. It moves from per...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Moonglum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I loved the characters who each have well drawn out, real seeming psychologies. The culture of the northmen, with their name earning, interesting names, viking-esqe politics and social order was also quite cool. The book is also a nuanced meditation on war and, of course, on heroes. That's a neat thing for a swords and sorcery novel to do.

The world is a bit like the world of Conan, and self consciously so. Different earth cultures are reflected like shadows in the Abercrombie world.

One of my c...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Emil Söderman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, male-author

Abercrombie is a tough one for me. I can quite say that I enjoy his books, but I'm not sure I can say they're actually *good*. I think the problem is that Abercrombie is a bit too much like me, in that he likes playing around with tropes and the *craft* of storytelling more than actually telling a story. All his characters are archetypes, not people. They exist to be subverted or to subvert the conventions of whatever genre he digs into. Don't get me wrong, I love that kind of stuff, but he neve...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This fantasy novel isn't about real heroes. The Heroes turn out to be the name of a clump of hills where a battle takes place.

I was caught from the beginning, when freelance soldier Craw grumbles about war and admits his fear of battle and dreams of retiring. The book follows Craw and a huge cast, sometimes so many I had a hard time keeping them straight. But most of the time I fell right into each POV and eagerly followed their mental processes and reasons for their decisions. In battle as well...more

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Nov 19, 2011 Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie

I have always been a fan of Abercrombie's; the Heroes is the second of three 'stand alone' novels set in the same world as his First Law Trilogy. Best Served Cold, the first of the three, was Abercrombie's own, original fantasy take on the revenge story (inspired by Kill Bill etc).

The Heroes is Abercrombie's take on war and (obviously) heroism. The novel examines the three day battle between the powerful Union of the South and the tough, rough Northmen, led by hard-a...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Thomas Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Heroes is a very interesting book to me. I get the feeling that I jumped into Joe Abercrombie's world a few books late and I fully plan to go back and read the previous books.

Essentially the Heroes is a dark, gritty and intelligent look at war, in both a harsh and whimsical view simultaneously. The book follows two warring sides fighting over a barren mountainside for its strategic value. (and no other)

You're taken through the stories of lowly privates all the way up to the King's advisors a...more

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Apr 09, 2011 William rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’ve really enjoyed Abercrombie’s “First Law” books and “Best Served Cold” so I was looking forward to “The Heroes” and I wasn’t disappointed - it may not quite be his best book, but it isn’t far behind. The biggest difference in this book is the scope, whereas his previous works crossed continents and covered a timespan of several months or years; “The Heroes” is more tightly focused on describing the three days of a battle between the invading Union army and the Northmen trying to retain contr...more I’ve really enjoyed Abercrombie’s “First Law” books and “Best Served Cold” so I was looking forward to “The Heroes” and I wasn’t disappointed - it may not quite be his best book, but it isn’t far behind. The biggest difference in this book is the scope, whereas his previous works crossed continents and covered a timespan of several months or years; “The Heroes” is more tightly focused on describing the three days of a battle between the invading Union army and the Northmen trying to retain control of their land. Inevitably for a book about a battle there are a lot of battle scenes in the book, but Abercrombie also does some excellent characterisation. All of the main point-of-view characters are interesting and they experience a lot of character development in the three days of the battle and there are also numerous memorable characters in minor roles, some new, some of them returning from Abercombie’s previous books. Many of the characters (on both sides of the conflict) are likeable and this helps the battle scenes be compelling, particularly as no character really feels entirely safe and several characters are killed off. The description of the battle is also done very well, the strategy behind the fighting and the consequences of the decisions of the officers are well thought-out and the battle scenes themselves are very effective in showing the chaos of war. Particularly good are a small number of chapters where Abercrombie repeatedly switches between characters, such as the scene on the first day of the battle where he starts following one soldier charging into battle, switches to that soldier’s killer, then to the killer of the second soldier and so on. The book is about more than just the action, the main theme (as the title suggests) is heroism, how heroes can be very different and how the people acclaimed as heroes may often not see themselves that way. It all comes to a satisfying conclusion, with a few surprises along the way.(less)

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Mar 30, 2011 Christopher H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, british-authors-translators, fantasy-scifi, modern-literature, read-in-2011

This was the first novel by Joe Abercrombie that I have read. It surely is not going to be the last novel of his I read either. In fact, I found his "The First Law" trilogy at a bookstore that was going out of business and bought all three, in trade paperback, for $25! Anyway, I have to say that I now wish that I had read "The First Law" trilogy first, before I read The Heroes, it might have caused me to bump it from four stars to five. We'll see.

I have read a lot of military history and militar...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Melody Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jack_read, jack_reviewed, reviewed

The book is in many ways a send-up of war novels as a whole, where the overall context of the battle is never explained because the reader presumably already knows how these two armies came to be facing one another. While the reader is given only vague hints about the historical context of this confrontation, it truly doesn’t matter much to the characters involved. All that is important is the fighting that must be done.

Abercrombie in many ways returns to his bread and butter when he describes t...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Time line/ mention of previous characters	1	28	Feb 09, 2013 07:30am
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Heroes Part V-After the Battle	10	64	Dec 22, 2012 11:19am
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Heroes Part II-Day One	19	37	Dec 10, 2012 11:49am
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Heroes Part I--Before the Battle	35	36	Dec 05, 2012 05:07pm
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Heroes Part IV-Day 3	11	56	Nov 28, 2012 08:30am
Fantasy Book Club...: * The Heores Part III-Day 2	16	22	Nov 24, 2012 03:39pm
The Sword and Laser: Battling the Heroes	8	73	Sep 17, 2012 02:49pm

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About Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Manchester University, where he studied psychology. He moved into television production before taking up a career as a freelance film editor. During a break between jobs he began writing The Blade Itself in 2002, completing it in 2004. It was published by Gollancz in 2006 and was followed by two other books in The First Law Trilogy...more

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Books by Joe Abercrombie

Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)

Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)

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Quotes from The Heroes

“The truth is like salt. Men want to taste a little, but too much makes everyone sick.” — 48 people liked it

“I'm a fucking coward."
"Maybe." Craw jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Whirrun's corpse. "There's a hero. Tell me who's better off.” — 18 people liked it

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