No Heroes

[{"id":371133675,"type":"0","order":0,"width":100,"height":55,"data":{"areaMargin":450,"contentWidthOriginalPx":749},"areas":[{"id":1098996847,"order":0,"contents":[{"type":"title","data":[{"type":"src","value":"A spoiler-free review of The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie"},{"type":"align","value":"center"},{"type":"color","value":""},{"type":"backgroundcolor","value":""},{"type":"bold","value":"false"},{"type":"italic","value":"false"},{"type":"strike","value":"false"},{"type":"underline","value":"false"},{"type":"size","value":""},{"type":"font","value":""},{"type":"verticalalign","value":"middle"},{"type":"url","value":""}]}],"width":100,"height":100,"widthHeightRatioContent":1.9802,"widthHeightRatio":1.81818}]},{"id":636744583,"order":1,"type":"0","width":100,"height":148.611,"data":{"areaMargin":450,"contentWidthOriginalPx":0},"areas":[{"id":735624551,"order":0,"contents":[{"type":"media","data":[{"type":"src","value":"https://nouwcdn.com/v301/u/347/133334..."

Dear Reader,

This is the grimmest and darkest volume in the First Law saga. Get ready for blood and gore and the futility of war. Trust Bayaz to meddle, trust the Dogman to pull tricks. Trust Joe Abercrombie to balance tension and comic relief.

The war in the North flares up again. If you've read the trilogy, you'll recognize many characters and know the backstory and the politics involved. If you haven't, I suggest you start there or resign yourself to reading about a single battle without knowing anything about the war. Abercrombie doesn't repeat himself.

Three days of fighting about a hill with a circle of rocks on it, called The Heroes. They're the only heroes in this book. War is no place for noble motives and our characters know it. Only the freshest new recruits believe what the songs say, and they'll soon be cured of their romantic notions. Abercrombie shows us some of those recruits on both sides, some veterans and the leaders. In fact, he makes us root for both sides of the battle throughout. Most of the soldiers just want to look out for each other and come back alive.

So what have we got? General Jalenhorm, a nice guy who got promoted far beyond his abilities and causes chaos on his side of the battlefield. Finree, ambitious wife to a humble man. Bremer dan Gorst, royal observer of the Northern War. He made me laugh and cringe with his daily letters to the king.

On the other side, Black Dow: The most bloodthirsty bastard in the North. Him I'd wanted dead ever since Last Argument of Kings. But his fighters look like good people, most of them. They know they're following a killer, but they believe he's leading them in the right direction.

Abercrombie gives us a beautiful group of Named Men again. Their jokes and banter, their well-practised camaraderie, their grief each time one goes back to the mud! Be prepared to laugh and grieve with them as the plot pulls you through the pages.

Yours sincerely

Christina Widmann de Fran

"},{"type":"html","value":"false"}]}],"width":100,"height":100,"widthHeightRatioContent":1.9802,"widthHeightRatio":1.81818}]}]