Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Świetna książka. Po słabszej, przewidywalnej „Zemście” powrót do poziomu trylogii. Są tu rozdziały, które nie tylko obroniłyby się jako opowiadania, ale byłyby perełkami niejednej antologii.
***
Very good read! Tasted much better then "cold dish" ;)
***
Very good read! Tasted much better then "cold dish" ;)
4.5!
This might be a me problem since normally I tandem read both the audio and the physical (I need Pacey to set the tone and the paper for the names). This time I wasn’t able to read my physical copy and I was SO CONFUSED! I had so many characters mixed up from the first trilogy to this one. I know I missed some minor details and Easter eggs Joe planted.
Once again Joe (we’re on a first name basis) made a cast of characters you can’t help but fall for. I loved the stand-out characters (Gorst, Calder, Beck, Finree) but there were a few characters that seem heavily influenced by others from the first trilogy.
This might be a me problem since normally I tandem read both the audio and the physical (I need Pacey to set the tone and the paper for the names). This time I wasn’t able to read my physical copy and I was SO CONFUSED! I had so many characters mixed up from the first trilogy to this one. I know I missed some minor details and Easter eggs Joe planted.
Once again Joe (we’re on a first name basis) made a cast of characters you can’t help but fall for. I loved the stand-out characters (Gorst, Calder, Beck, Finree) but there were a few characters that seem heavily influenced by others from the first trilogy.
Joe Abercrombie has become my favorite author to read lately, and this, the 5th book I've read of his, is the first I've given less than a perfect score. So, 4 stars, while good, was still kind of a let down for me.
The concept of an entire book spanning a 3 day battle is not something I would be particularly interested in. If this weren't Abercrombie, and the next book in a series I'm addicted to, I'd have never picked it up. However, I've heard many times that this is the best book in the series, so I did come in rather hopeful.
Abercrombie does not disappoint his fans here - it is solidly written in the style we come to expect from Joe. The prose is top notch. The combat is incredibly gory and fantastically cinematic, as we have come to expect. The character work is top notch - all the characters are either lovable, or love-to-hateable. Although it was 3 days of fighting, there was plenty of time between combat for character development, political intrigue, and humor.
I was, however, rather disappointed with both the outcome of the battle, and the general payoff of the book's last 50 pages. As I was reading I kept kinda thinking "wait for it... wait for it..." and it never really seemed to come. Perhaps I was expecting too much? I have seen other reviews that disagree with me - claims that the payoff is the best they've ever read? Personally, I can't really see that. I was a bit let down, myself. After having read 4 books in the first law series previously, the ending here was what I've come to expect, and felt predictable.
All in all a good, entertaining read. Perhaps my expectations have risen too high for this author, whom I wholeheartedly adore. Perhaps there could be some short stories coming up in this "Sharp Ends" collection that will tie together some of the events before and after this volume. Guess we'll just have to wait and see! I'm already on to "Red Country", the one I've most been looking forward to as I've gotten into Westerns lately, so Abercrombie + Logen + Western = YES PLEASE! Here I go with my sky high expectations again!
Tippa, Joe! Thanks for the good times!
The concept of an entire book spanning a 3 day battle is not something I would be particularly interested in. If this weren't Abercrombie, and the next book in a series I'm addicted to, I'd have never picked it up. However, I've heard many times that this is the best book in the series, so I did come in rather hopeful.
Abercrombie does not disappoint his fans here - it is solidly written in the style we come to expect from Joe. The prose is top notch. The combat is incredibly gory and fantastically cinematic, as we have come to expect. The character work is top notch - all the characters are either lovable, or love-to-hateable. Although it was 3 days of fighting, there was plenty of time between combat for character development, political intrigue, and humor.
I was, however, rather disappointed with both the outcome of the battle, and the general payoff of the book's last 50 pages. As I was reading I kept kinda thinking "wait for it... wait for it..." and it never really seemed to come. Perhaps I was expecting too much? I have seen other reviews that disagree with me - claims that the payoff is the best they've ever read? Personally, I can't really see that. I was a bit let down, myself. After having read 4 books in the first law series previously, the ending here was what I've come to expect, and felt predictable.
All in all a good, entertaining read. Perhaps my expectations have risen too high for this author, whom I wholeheartedly adore. Perhaps there could be some short stories coming up in this "Sharp Ends" collection that will tie together some of the events before and after this volume. Guess we'll just have to wait and see! I'm already on to "Red Country", the one I've most been looking forward to as I've gotten into Westerns lately, so Abercrombie + Logen + Western = YES PLEASE! Here I go with my sky high expectations again!
Tippa, Joe! Thanks for the good times!
Reseña completa: http://laestanteriadeithil.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/los-heroes-joe-abercrombie.html
Opinión personal: En realidad no hay nada que no me haya gustado Los Héroes. Esto es un libro de levantarse para aplaudir cuando lo has terminado, un libro de cinco estrellas. Si te gusta la fantasía, creo que es un imprescindible en tu biblioteca. Sorprendente hasta el final, que te mantiene pegado a sus páginas gracias a lo bien hiladas que están sus tramas. Un libro con contexto, con trasfondo, no es para nada una guerra vacía, sabemos porque luchan cada uno de los personajes. Personajes que, sin duda, son la gran joya del libro, ya que nos harán ver la guerra a través de sus ojos.
Opinión personal: En realidad no hay nada que no me haya gustado Los Héroes. Esto es un libro de levantarse para aplaudir cuando lo has terminado, un libro de cinco estrellas. Si te gusta la fantasía, creo que es un imprescindible en tu biblioteca. Sorprendente hasta el final, que te mantiene pegado a sus páginas gracias a lo bien hiladas que están sus tramas. Un libro con contexto, con trasfondo, no es para nada una guerra vacía, sabemos porque luchan cada uno de los personajes. Personajes que, sin duda, son la gran joya del libro, ya que nos harán ver la guerra a través de sus ojos.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thankfully I enjoyed this quite a bit more than Best Served Cold LMAO but the trilogy still reigns far supreme for me.
I think this one was a little bit of a victim of hype for me? I see so many people say that this is their favorite book in the entire SERIES and while it's good, thematically and character-wise the standalones still lag behind the trilogy. Which makes sense cuz... standalone LOL but given those are the two main reasons why I enjoy TFL so much, I can't help but continue to feel like the standalones aren't as compelling.
I think this book specifically was a victim of too much authorial intent leaking into the text to the point where it was legitimately distracting. Usually this doesn't bother me as much in other novels, but in BSC and now The Heroes it's really jarring because the first trilogy very rarely ever does this. There's what feels like an equal amount of show and tell in terms of the anti-war commentary, and we do get a good look at it from multiple angles, but it's just... you don't need to TELL me war is bad in 1000 different ways (Craw is the biggest offender of this and it really just had me eye-rolling after a while. I get that's kind of the point with his character, but that doesn't make it any less discordant). I don't want to feel talked down to as a reader and I felt talked down to quite a bit here unfortunately. Even moreso than BSC.
Now the toxic masculinity commentary? Absolutely stellar in comparison. It was present in every single character's POV and it felt so much more nuanced and comprehensive that it makes me think maybe it's the real main theme of the novel. Obviously Gorst is the most obvious manifestation of this (please God never make me read from the POV of a self-victimizing incel ever again), but I was also a big fan of how it's handled with Beck (as a 17 year old slowly becoming aware of the hypermasculine pro-war propaganda of the Northmen's culture) and with Finree (fighting for scraps of power as a woman in a male-dominated society, and in a male-dominated environment). Just some really great stuff that never feels like it's thrown in your face, and it's refreshing to see in grimdark fantasy which so often refuses to ever interrogate any of it and usually perpetuates it to the nth degree instead.
Now, the characters! Finree very quickly established herself as one of my new favs in the series and I adored her absolutely any time she was on the page. Up to this point, I think she's the most well-written woman in the series, and I was especially a fan of how her trauma was handled (male-centered trauma that isn't sexual or gratuitous in nature? in MY grimdark fantasy?!). I loved seeing her relationship with Kroy too 😭 A father-daughter relationship will always get my ass tearing up.
I'm also a big, big fan of Calder. I love that Abercrombie likes to give POVs to very minor characters that we've seen before because it makes the world feel so much bigger, and I think Calder is far and away the best example of that. We get so much more of a different view on Bethod from him, and I loved watching him navigate the hyperviolent culture of the North as a self-serving pacifistic schemer (there's that theming again!). He also might be the most self-aware character in the series, which is a refreshing contrast because we also get maybe the most deluded one in the entire series in the same damn book, who also happens to be a minor trilogy character given POV...
BREMER DAN GORST. Holy shit I have never been more ragebaited by a character in maybe anything ever. I hate saying that he's probably the most well-written standalone POV thus far, but geez did Abercrombie perfectly capture exactly what it would be like to be stuck in the head of somebody like this. Which is to say: agonizing, exhausting, enraging. Every time his POV came up I wanted to throw the book across the room because I knew it was going to piss me off LMAO but man. Absolute perfect representation of a self-victimizing incel manchild who blames their problems on everyone else and never takes accountability for anything. He's so well-written but he's now my least favorite character in the series. Congrats, Cosca, you've been dethroned.
I also became very fond of Beck by the end. Congrats to my son for being maybe the only character in the series to be a cycle breaker 😭
Already kind of touched on my problems with Craw (basically the same problem I have with Cosca; I just really don't like an authorial intent mouthpiece character but Cosca is by far the more annoying of the two so I dislike him a lot more), and honestly Tunny was kind of a nothing character in the end, similar to Shenkt and Friendly in BSC. But the comic relief was a welcome distraction. Overall, I liked this cast a lot more than BSC's, but nothing will ever hold a candle to the trilogy's, I fear.
In terms of the writing, I still feel like this was maybe 80ish pages longer than it needed to be and it dragged especially in the middle and towards the end. In true JA fashion, though, the denouement was maybe one of the most exciting parts of the novel. And unlike BSC, I understand why this book needed to exist. Feels like we got a LOT of setup for something that will pay off later on, while I still feel like BSC was a footnote given a 650+ page book DJDJDJ but this never felt like that.
While I did feel attacked by WAAAAAAY too much simile work going on (like... WAY too much, it was distracting), and by the weird immersion-shattering instances of fourth-wall breaking (like... why, when that's never been a thing before?), I think any wonky writing present in this book can be forgiven because of the way the big action scenes are written. I don't want to give it away, but man JA really flexed his character voice in this book especially. I kind of wish all battle scenes were written like this now tbh, it's so much more engaging.
All in all, I'm really glad that my foray into new-to-me TFL material after nearly 6 years was successful! I don't think this is a perfect book, and I strongly disagree that it's better than the trilogy as a cohesive unit, but I enjoyed my time with it, even though it ate up FOUR WHOLE PENS while annotating it. And of course, the audiobook listening experience is always one of the best parts of this series and I never have any complaints there. But man am I relieved to be done with this after a month of reading it LOL
Rated this one a 4/5!
I think this one was a little bit of a victim of hype for me? I see so many people say that this is their favorite book in the entire SERIES and while it's good, thematically and character-wise the standalones still lag behind the trilogy. Which makes sense cuz... standalone LOL but given those are the two main reasons why I enjoy TFL so much, I can't help but continue to feel like the standalones aren't as compelling.
I think this book specifically was a victim of too much authorial intent leaking into the text to the point where it was legitimately distracting. Usually this doesn't bother me as much in other novels, but in BSC and now The Heroes it's really jarring because the first trilogy very rarely ever does this. There's what feels like an equal amount of show and tell in terms of the anti-war commentary, and we do get a good look at it from multiple angles, but it's just... you don't need to TELL me war is bad in 1000 different ways (Craw is the biggest offender of this and it really just had me eye-rolling after a while. I get that's kind of the point with his character, but that doesn't make it any less discordant). I don't want to feel talked down to as a reader and I felt talked down to quite a bit here unfortunately. Even moreso than BSC.
Now the toxic masculinity commentary? Absolutely stellar in comparison. It was present in every single character's POV and it felt so much more nuanced and comprehensive that it makes me think maybe it's the real main theme of the novel. Obviously Gorst is the most obvious manifestation of this (please God never make me read from the POV of a self-victimizing incel ever again), but I was also a big fan of how it's handled with Beck (as a 17 year old slowly becoming aware of the hypermasculine pro-war propaganda of the Northmen's culture) and with Finree (fighting for scraps of power as a woman in a male-dominated society, and in a male-dominated environment). Just some really great stuff that never feels like it's thrown in your face, and it's refreshing to see in grimdark fantasy which so often refuses to ever interrogate any of it and usually perpetuates it to the nth degree instead.
Now, the characters! Finree very quickly established herself as one of my new favs in the series and I adored her absolutely any time she was on the page. Up to this point, I think she's the most well-written woman in the series, and I was especially a fan of how her trauma was handled (male-centered trauma that isn't sexual or gratuitous in nature? in MY grimdark fantasy?!). I loved seeing her relationship with Kroy too 😭 A father-daughter relationship will always get my ass tearing up.
I'm also a big, big fan of Calder. I love that Abercrombie likes to give POVs to very minor characters that we've seen before because it makes the world feel so much bigger, and I think Calder is far and away the best example of that. We get so much more of a different view on Bethod from him, and I loved watching him navigate the hyperviolent culture of the North as a self-serving pacifistic schemer (there's that theming again!). He also might be the most self-aware character in the series, which is a refreshing contrast because we also get maybe the most deluded one in the entire series in the same damn book, who also happens to be a minor trilogy character given POV...
BREMER DAN GORST. Holy shit I have never been more ragebaited by a character in maybe anything ever. I hate saying that he's probably the most well-written standalone POV thus far, but geez did Abercrombie perfectly capture exactly what it would be like to be stuck in the head of somebody like this. Which is to say: agonizing, exhausting, enraging. Every time his POV came up I wanted to throw the book across the room because I knew it was going to piss me off LMAO but man. Absolute perfect representation of a self-victimizing incel manchild who blames their problems on everyone else and never takes accountability for anything. He's so well-written but he's now my least favorite character in the series. Congrats, Cosca, you've been dethroned.
I also became very fond of Beck by the end. Congrats to my son for being maybe the only character in the series to be a cycle breaker 😭
Already kind of touched on my problems with Craw (basically the same problem I have with Cosca; I just really don't like an authorial intent mouthpiece character but Cosca is by far the more annoying of the two so I dislike him a lot more), and honestly Tunny was kind of a nothing character in the end, similar to Shenkt and Friendly in BSC. But the comic relief was a welcome distraction. Overall, I liked this cast a lot more than BSC's, but nothing will ever hold a candle to the trilogy's, I fear.
In terms of the writing, I still feel like this was maybe 80ish pages longer than it needed to be and it dragged especially in the middle and towards the end. In true JA fashion, though, the denouement was maybe one of the most exciting parts of the novel. And unlike BSC, I understand why this book needed to exist. Feels like we got a LOT of setup for something that will pay off later on, while I still feel like BSC was a footnote given a 650+ page book DJDJDJ but this never felt like that.
While I did feel attacked by WAAAAAAY too much simile work going on (like... WAY too much, it was distracting), and by the weird immersion-shattering instances of fourth-wall breaking (like... why, when that's never been a thing before?), I think any wonky writing present in this book can be forgiven because of the way the big action scenes are written. I don't want to give it away, but man JA really flexed his character voice in this book especially. I kind of wish all battle scenes were written like this now tbh, it's so much more engaging.
All in all, I'm really glad that my foray into new-to-me TFL material after nearly 6 years was successful! I don't think this is a perfect book, and I strongly disagree that it's better than the trilogy as a cohesive unit, but I enjoyed my time with it, even though it ate up FOUR WHOLE PENS while annotating it. And of course, the audiobook listening experience is always one of the best parts of this series and I never have any complaints there. But man am I relieved to be done with this after a month of reading it LOL
Rated this one a 4/5!
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
This stands out as one of Abercrombie’s best. The characters are cynical, diverse, and brilliantly written, and Gorst’s dichotomy makes for one of the most enjoyable arcs in the series. Beneath the sharp character work, the futility and pointlessness of war sits at the forefront, making it both entertaining and deeply reflective.