A review by josiah17
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Unfortunately, this is my least favorite First Law book so far. While I can appreciate what Abercrombie attempted to do with the plot and structure of the book covering all 3 days of a brutal battle, I was not a fan of the limited scope and it felt stale and repetitive at times. The characters were also not quite clicking for me early on. And as the book progressed, too many pov's were introduced and I thought some side characters were meshing with others and it felt somewhat messy. 

What I did like though was of course Abercrombie's humor. He made the dull moments tolerable with some laughs. The last 35% or so has some pretty good stuff. The character arcs for the book wrap up well and I look forward to hopefully encountering some of these characters again in future books. 

Overall, it's a decent read. But I did struggle in the beginning. Still very excited to continue with First Law.

Edit 1/20/24: I think after sitting on this for a while, I'm bumping up to 3.5 stars.
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