The Heroes

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Prince’ Calder (POV) – Bethod’s younger son, an infamous schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace too.

The Heroes is an indictment of war and the duplicity that corrupts men striving for total power: bloody and violent, but never gratuitously so, it's imbued with cutting humour, acute characterisation and world-weary wisdom about the weaknesses of the human race. Brilliant." --- Eric Brown, The Guardian (UK) All you can do is take each day as it comes. Try and do the best you can with what you’re given. You won’t always do the right thing, but you can try. And you can try to do the right thing next time. That, and stay alive.” In the next novel, "The Flavor of Vengeance" he tells a classic story of revenge but with a decidedly unpleasant and hard to digest protagonist. Then "The Heroes" arrives and the applause starts again.I was eager to put my eyes on “The Heroes”, because I was still high from Best Served Cold and I didn’t read Mr. Abercrombie’s book for some time. The fact is that “The Heroes” decreased my fangirlism a little bit. But let’s start from the tasty bits. The last to enter the tent was He-Who-Heaves, green of face and unsteady of gait. The other war chiefs inched away warily, vomit frothing in their gullets. SEFF: Yes, I would have been happier had there been more female characters, but this is the story of a three day battle out on the front lines so I guess it is forgivable. That said, Seff is an amazingly well realized female character and I thought she was terrific. But not by much. True, it didn’t offer a lot of variety in setting and plot (which I think accounts for why some may not have liked it as much) but it did make up for it considerably with good characters and a really creative execution of the story. It’s essentially a series of battles in the north that take place over the course of just a few days. Bouncing around POVs, it provided insight into what the battle experience was like from every perspective. In that regard I really appreciate the total immersion. There was one battle scene in particular that was done so creatively I’ve never seen anything like it before. Abercrombie’s deft writing style continues to impress me more with every book. He’s definitely solidified among my favorites.

Este libro pertenece a las novelas independientes de la Primera Ley. Sin embargo, yo no lo consideraría como tal. Si algo he aprendido leyendo por orden estos libros es que te destripas mucho sobre los personajes de la primera saga. Además, te los encuentras en estos libros bien como protagonistas o como personajes secundarios. His wonderful Sixth Regiment, his life’s work, built out of copious polish, and rigorous drill, and unflinching discipline, utterly shattered in a few insane moments. If any survived it would be those who had chosen to run first. The rawest recruits and most craven cowards. And he was one of them. His first instinct was to ask Major Culfer for his opinion. He almost opened his mouth to do it, then realised the man had been butchered by a lunatic with a metal eye. The real power of this novel is on the exploration of the characters on both sides of the scrimmage, measuring what makes a hero and what makes one something else. On the North side, you have a crew of barbarians akin to Vikings or Cimmerians to whom battle is all. Indeed, many of these mighty warriors can do little else. And, it being the North, one man's enemy today is one man's ally the next and vice versa. Loyalty is great, but it can change like your wardrobe.Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing! Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail… The Heroes depicted an unforgettable three days of intricate battles; Joe Abercrombie has once again proved himself to be my shining star in grimdark fantasy. He rolled stiffly over, groaning. His sword was gone, his right hand red raw. Twisted from his grip as he fell. The blade his father had given him the day he received his commission in the King’s Own. So proud. He wondered if his father would have been proud now. He was in among trees. The orchard? He had abandoned his regiment. Or had they abandoned him? The rules of military behaviour, so unshakeable a foundation until a few moments ago, had vanished like smoke in a breeze. It had happened so fast. Other than the main POV characters we get some brief POV's from other characters. 2 of these were really interesting as in the first the POV character is killed and the narration passes to his killer who is killed in turn and so on. This was really well written and creates a mounting sense of genuine danger to the characters especially when a major POV character takes over. In another chapter we follow a command as it is passed, along with the narration, down the line from the general. This scene shows us the arguments that can exist even among the same side in a war. While the third chapter like this, which this time just jumped around randomly, was disappointing this was still a cool feature that broadened the perspective on the battle. Highlights included a good soldier reflecting on his girl at home as he dies 'she'll probably marry her cousin, terrible business that', two officers (validly) criticising each other in consecutive POV's and a mortally injured cavalryman leading a doomed charge. I also enoyed how Heroes presented war as a hypocritical, horrific endeavour without ever becoming preachy or self righteous.

And now I'm not sure what took me so long! Heroes is a gritty book about a war between the Northmen and the Union, which takes place around a hill called the Heroes. As it is war, so there are tons of characters and with them lay the beauty of the book. its the story of famous names, fallen and new names. its the story of people who are strong headed, cruel, ambitious, self-centered, vicious and people who knows how to survive a war. And Abercrombie has done a wonderful job of doing justice to every character in this book. El desarrollo de los personajes principales de los puntos de vista fue sobresaliente; ya sea física o mentalmente casi todos los personajes de la novela terminaron cambiados por los tres días de caos y desesperación. Al menos los que sobrevivieron.. The sight below gave a moment’s pause, even to a man of his experience. The foremost Northmen had reached the hill and were charging up, slowing on the grassy slope but showing no sign of stopping. Their war cry got worryingly louder as he came up from behind the wall, the vague keening becoming a shrill howl. Whilst trying not to regurgitate what I have said for every other Abercrombie book I have reviewed, I will mention again that his prose is brilliant. It is used to reveal so much about the characters, depending on the perspective he is with, with specific vernacular and structure enforcing the creation and crafting of character. Also, whilst talking about prose I cannot ignore a certain chapter in this. In an action sequence, we follow about a dozen perspectives who we do not follow again before or after. You change to the perspective of the killer of the previous character. And the way it is done is absolutely masterful. It has become iconic since, and for good reason.This is a gritty fantasy story, playing with the genre conventions by mashing up movie, television, and other source material familiar to its audience,” growled Brandis. “Just enjoy the story, you butthead.”

The words froze in his throat. Cavalry had emerged from behind a village even further to their left. A considerable body of cavalry, bearing down on their flank, hooves threshing up a pall of dust. He heard the gasps of alarm, felt the mood shift from worried resolve to horror. Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?Pues no. Todo sigue igual. De hecho, por culpa de tanta presión, de tantas preocupaciones y de tanto miedo es todo mucho peor. Hay muy pocos hombres que piensen con mayor claridad cuando hay algo en juego. Por eso, la gente se comporta de forma más estúpida en una guerra que durante el resto del tiempo. Siempre están pensando en como esquivar las culpas, o cómo salvar el pellejo, en vez de en algo que realmente sirva para algo. No hay otro trabajo en donde se perdone más la estupidez que el soldado. Ningún otro trabajo la fomenta más".