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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I usually don't enjoy violent characters but this story engaged me.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Drew on Inking Out Loud has talked this book up many times and recommended it a bunch. I was about to start another book that wasn't Heroes Die when Drew sent they EYES emoji so I decided to finally give Heroes Die a go.
This book is fantastic, just like he promised. The worldbuilding and social commentary is incredible and interesting. The use of multiple tenses is unique and really brought the book to life in ways I didn't expect a Portal Fantasy book to do. There are a couple of characters that are so memorable that I won't be forgetting them for decades.
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 9
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 7
Entertainment: 7
My only complain is that I didn't expect the social commentary and the worldbuilding and my mindset was focused on action. This was a personal issue and I recommend starting the book when you are ready for those aspects in your action oriented Portal Fantasy.
This book is fantastic, just like he promised. The worldbuilding and social commentary is incredible and interesting. The use of multiple tenses is unique and really brought the book to life in ways I didn't expect a Portal Fantasy book to do. There are a couple of characters that are so memorable that I won't be forgetting them for decades.
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 9
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 7
Entertainment: 7
My only complain is that I didn't expect the social commentary and the worldbuilding and my mindset was focused on action. This was a personal issue and I recommend starting the book when you are ready for those aspects in your action oriented Portal Fantasy.
Dystopian world escaping into entertainment - similarities to the Hunger Games, more brutal. Fast paced and compelling action, hard to put down. Some of the violence crossed over with unnecessarily unpleasant sexual deviancy.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved this like I love the Dark Tower series and the Thomas Covenant books. The same concept of travelling between universes. Thomas and Hari are both complicated and flawed fantasy protagonists. He was inspired by Covenant, among other things.
Generally this was a more thoughtful book than I was expecting. The author is pretty smart, I think, reading the Q&A at the end. He wrote a very fun and clever book, and packed it with intention and allusions and interesting themes. Well written all around. Good shit. Quality action adventure. It has soul.
But my god, the cover is atrocious...
Generally this was a more thoughtful book than I was expecting. The author is pretty smart, I think, reading the Q&A at the end. He wrote a very fun and clever book, and packed it with intention and allusions and interesting themes. Well written all around. Good shit. Quality action adventure. It has soul.
But my god, the cover is atrocious...
I really wanted to like this book. I wanted to give it 5 stars like many others before me did and many others after me too but i am sad that this is not such a book to me. Maybe i'm not in the right headspace or maybe it's not what i wanted from this book but this is my review and rating after reading nearly 200 pages in this book.
The story of Heroes Die is very good. It revolves around Harry Michelson and his entertainment persona Caine. When Harry's wife got missing, he uses his Caine persona to find his wife at all cost.
The story deals with many of the current world scenarios like the difference between a On screen personality and his real life personality, problems of fame and success doesn't define how you live your life etc. The thing that was not working for me is the characters. I felt like the characters needed more depth in this book. If you don't care for the characters, then no matter what they do, it wont affect you and gradually you don't care about the story which is exactly what happened to me.
The story of Heroes Die is very good. It revolves around Harry Michelson and his entertainment persona Caine. When Harry's wife got missing, he uses his Caine persona to find his wife at all cost.
The story deals with many of the current world scenarios like the difference between a On screen personality and his real life personality, problems of fame and success doesn't define how you live your life etc. The thing that was not working for me is the characters. I felt like the characters needed more depth in this book. If you don't care for the characters, then no matter what they do, it wont affect you and gradually you don't care about the story which is exactly what happened to me.
Read about a 100 pages of this and just couldn't get happy with it. There's a lot of glowing reviews for it and maybe it gets a lot better as you get further into it but the book was depressing the heck out of me and I just couldn't go further. This is a very bleak, anti-hero, dystopian world and I need something to cheer me up right now not depress the heck out of me.
Really interesting concept, but the middle really dragged on. Super confusing ending though.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Buy this book.
I first read this book around 2000/2001. I'd read a great review of it by a reviewer who had never steered me wrong, but almost never bought it. That cover...it just looked so cheesy. After a lot of dithering I did buy it. I read it, it changed my life.
Since then I've bought and given away 10 or 12 copies of this book. The last one I gave away just a couple weeks ago.
Caine is my hero, and Matt Stover deserves far more love and fortune than he's received thus far. So....
Buy this book.
I first read this book around 2000/2001. I'd read a great review of it by a reviewer who had never steered me wrong, but almost never bought it. That cover...it just looked so cheesy. After a lot of dithering I did buy it. I read it, it changed my life.
Since then I've bought and given away 10 or 12 copies of this book. The last one I gave away just a couple weeks ago.
Caine is my hero, and Matt Stover deserves far more love and fortune than he's received thus far. So....
Buy this book.