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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Abercrombie continues to be the king of grimdark. While this is probably my least favourite of the First Law universe so far, it's not by much. What this book lacks in the grand scale and variety of settings and different plots, it makes up for in engaging characters and a brilliant execution of war.
What I find particularly interesting about this book is that it doesn't take place over weeks, months or years, the majority of this story takes place over less than a week, and that susinct timeline really adds to the feeling of how brutal a war can be, how so much can happen in so little time, and how quickly the tide can change.
I also love how you can continue to see the echoes of previous books within this work, and see how the events of this war are going to have ramifications for the next to come.
What I find particularly interesting about this book is that it doesn't take place over weeks, months or years, the majority of this story takes place over less than a week, and that susinct timeline really adds to the feeling of how brutal a war can be, how so much can happen in so little time, and how quickly the tide can change.
I also love how you can continue to see the echoes of previous books within this work, and see how the events of this war are going to have ramifications for the next to come.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
4.00/5.00
I am neither. I am a glorified errand boy, here because nowhere else will have me. I am a secretary in a uniform. A filthy uniform, as it happens. I am a dead man still twitching. Ha ha! Look at the big idiot with the silly voice! Make him dance!
When you're planning what to do, always think of doing nothing first, see where that gets you.
War's ninety-nine parts boredom and, now and then, one part arse-opening terror. Craw had a powerful sense one of those was about to drop on him from a height.
The Heroes is a return to the story of the First Law world. A close examination of one battle that lasts for days. The lingering conflict between the Union and the Northmen comes to a boiling point in this book. Joe Abercrombie's excellent, despicable and relatable characters carry the day in this book. Some of the themes from the first law trilogy is repeated here, but done really really well. I specifically enjoyed the coming of age aspect in one of the characters. Really good twists that I didn't see coming, despite the limited scope of this plot.
Craw winced. It was like getting up on a table and calling for Chastity in a brothel. He felt a strong urge to step away, like you might from a man doused in oil when there are a lot of naked flames about.
However, some of the ideas in this seemed repetitive to the first law trilogy. Most importantly, I didn't find the book half as funny as other First Law books. We have the union and the northmen together, how is this book not crazy funny ?
One standout character work is Bremer Dan Gorst. Holy cow this character is so interesting to follow. The self-hatred, narcissism, endless resentment, the entitlement... hot damn its good. Gorst's character voice is very very good. Joe's prose in this book is outstanding. He has really mastered the cultural voices of these characters.
"By tomorrow morning all three divisions will be in position."
Though one is ruined and the others will have marched all night.
"We have the weight of numbers."
We will crush them under our corpses!
"We have right on our side."
Good for you. I have a huge bruise on mine.
But the rest of the officers seemed cheered by the platitudes.
As idiots often are.
Overall this book is a straight edge. I did enjoy the theme of morality in a war setting.
"Look at yourself, eh, Craw? Ain't many of us left know the difference between the right thing and the wrong."
"What difference?"
“War’s ninety-nine parts boredom and, now and then, one part arse-opening terror”
I wanted to get in line and read The Devils the moment the TBB edition arrived, but I have this weird thing when I am very reluctant to read a book if only the first one in the series came out. I hate waiting and sometimes I straight up forget characters, plot, etc. So… I have decided to continue with the First Law series with the book that follows a three-day battle (and one day of aftermath).
I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Heroes and, I’m gonna be honest, I felt a little bit bamboozled the first half of the book. Yes, we have the great Abercrombie dialogue, but at the same time we have a million characters that I couldn’t remember for the life of me, nothing is happening, and we are drowned in military speak, it was just too much.
The second half though kept me fully immersed. Loved the gimmicks he did to keep us entertained during the battle, like constantly changing POVs and even changing them from the person being killed to the one killing them and so on. It took me a while to remember that certain characters were from the first trilogy, and I’m still convinced I missed some of them.
Got annoyed that we didn’t get a Shivers POV, but loved the entertainment of being in Gorst’s and Calder’s heads (and a certain hilarious battalion), as well as the warm familiarity of Craw’s POV. God, I miss Logen, and I still hope he’ll show up someday. I also miss getting attached to Abercrombie’s characters, which didn’t happen here.
Excited to continue this, and right now I have the feeling that the series is fantastic for re-reads which I will be doing at some point. I think so far this was my least favourite Abercrombie just because I’m not into military stuff, and it really dragged at times (took me almost a month to finish it), but that’s not saying much if I’m still giving it almost 3.5 stars and I still had mostly a great time. I do think it was a very good representation of war.
I wanted to get in line and read The Devils the moment the TBB edition arrived, but I have this weird thing when I am very reluctant to read a book if only the first one in the series came out. I hate waiting and sometimes I straight up forget characters, plot, etc. So… I have decided to continue with the First Law series with the book that follows a three-day battle (and one day of aftermath).
I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Heroes and, I’m gonna be honest, I felt a little bit bamboozled the first half of the book. Yes, we have the great Abercrombie dialogue, but at the same time we have a million characters that I couldn’t remember for the life of me, nothing is happening, and we are drowned in military speak, it was just too much.
The second half though kept me fully immersed. Loved the gimmicks he did to keep us entertained during the battle, like constantly changing POVs and even changing them from the person being killed to the one killing them and so on. It took me a while to remember that certain characters were from the first trilogy, and I’m still convinced I missed some of them.
Got annoyed that we didn’t get a Shivers POV, but loved the entertainment of being in Gorst’s and Calder’s heads (and a certain hilarious battalion), as well as the warm familiarity of Craw’s POV. God, I miss Logen, and I still hope he’ll show up someday. I also miss getting attached to Abercrombie’s characters, which didn’t happen here.
Excited to continue this, and right now I have the feeling that the series is fantastic for re-reads which I will be doing at some point. I think so far this was my least favourite Abercrombie just because I’m not into military stuff, and it really dragged at times (took me almost a month to finish it), but that’s not saying much if I’m still giving it almost 3.5 stars and I still had mostly a great time. I do think it was a very good representation of war.
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t like it, not sure exactly why. Based on everything I know of his books, I should love them. I think it has something to do with his writing style.
He may not be for me. I’ll try him again in the future
He may not be for me. I’ll try him again in the future