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A review by lanko
What Remains of Heroes by David Benem
4.0
What Remains of Heroes actually surprised me after a really bad start.
First, one of the worst first chapters I remember having read. It's also incredibly long.
The girls really take him to their manse. The friend says the girl is ready. She spreads her legs and he has sex with the young girl, who is also a virgin. Best moment of his life, just like that.
Her dad walks in. It just happens to be the archenemy of the MC. He runs away through the window.
The MC returns to the bar. He drinks a bit more, I think. Of course, Archenemy gets the location from his daughter. MC hides. There's a way to escape, but he can't remember.
Archenemy yells to the barkeeper: "Tell me or I will drown you in your cellar!" MC remembers the cellar and escapes the bar.
He somehow returns home, get his sword and armor. He is located, of course. He kills 3 or 4 guys, despite being drunk as hell. He then receives a blow in the head and fall.
Archenemy yells to him (and everyone around) something like: "You fool! I would sacrifice my daughter to gain more power and advantage, because I'm really evil! In fact, I was just going to offer her to the evil necromancers!"
Archenemy apparently remembers who MC is and plans to send him to someplace instead of killing him.
Worse, the girl is never seen again the story, and actually would give a massive choice for Lannick, to kill her to avenge his own family (even knowing Fane wouldn't care) or somehow finding new love. Although that probably is planned for the sequel, and the love interest probably as Alisa.
Second, the next one is a massive info dump of deities, places and names. Third, the evil chamberlain is not allowing anyone near the king, and everyone blindly and sheepishly obeys. And finally, all the while evil necromancers are trying to resurrect the evil dark god that will destroy the world.
Could the recipe get even more cliché?
I continued reading and while the Necrists could creepy (wearing the faces of the dead), they were way stereotyped.
But the other characters surprised me. Lannick continues broken. Maybe he recovers in later books, but it was actually nice to see someone who actually was shown suffering for his heavy losses. Too often this is shrugged off in a few chapters and the character moves on with life. That's not the case with Lannick.
Initially, it may even seem annoying, but you do start to feel for him.
Bale was refreshing as well. He is an old, isolated man, frail and without any ability to fight. An scholar in the middle of a massive war.
If the two previous guys meant little action, Karnag is the total opposite. A barbarian assassin with a claymore and his band.
However, due to certain circumstances, and maybe reflecting that, he is slowly pushed away as a POV, even if he reappears now and then.
Fencress assumes the role of leading the group and becomes a major POV, and is an amazing character. Not because of any shallow label as "strong female", but simply because she had the best character voice in the book while also giving us a good deal of action and humor, which Lannick and Bale aren't able to provide.
These four are the major players, but now and then we get glimpses of some other characters to see the bigger picture of things.
I also really liked the deities. They are actually very active. There are two major gods and seven lesser ones, the Sentinels. One of them actively acts in the world. We meet another and then a character receives a task to go to a third (although this one doesn't appear in this book).
Also, while the characters (like Fane and the chamberlain) are a bit stereotyped in black/white, it's not so with the deities.
There are two (or more) stories about the deities and when we meet them, they are not the good, noble and kind-hearted beings you were expecting them to be.
And even the dark lord apparently had some reasons to act like he did. We don't get to know much about the main "good" deity, however.
The scale of the events are pretty good too. The worldbuilding takes a while to get to you, but it became satisfying, although very few places had something unique to make us really remember them.
The main problem with the book is actually the narrative/prose.
Except for Fencress and maybe one chapter from Lannick, the internal thoughts of the characters are handled as info dumps or the readers being spoon-fed on how they should feel about another character or a situation.
We are also told a lot of things that could've easily been shown and would allow the readers their own conclusions. Even obvious things anyone could see/feel are told, as if the author was afraid the reader wouldn't get it.
Even some dialogue is badly disguised, when characters babble for pages long about certain events. It felt unrealistic and unnecessary, something that could've been handled a lot better.
There are no wrong sentences, long winded descriptions or typos, but the narrative, while not rough, could have used a much better polish.
It's a debut novel, and the author will surely notice these things and improve. The story and the scale of events are solid (although you could say the main threat seem pretty cliché) and the characters felt different.
First, one of the worst first chapters I remember having read. It's also incredibly long.
Spoiler
The MC is an old man, drinking over and over in the bar. A gorgeous young noble girl enters with her friend. The friend invites the drunk old man to talk with the girl. He can't believe his luck.The girls really take him to their manse. The friend says the girl is ready. She spreads her legs and he has sex with the young girl, who is also a virgin. Best moment of his life, just like that.
Her dad walks in. It just happens to be the archenemy of the MC. He runs away through the window.
The MC returns to the bar. He drinks a bit more, I think. Of course, Archenemy gets the location from his daughter. MC hides. There's a way to escape, but he can't remember.
Archenemy yells to the barkeeper: "Tell me or I will drown you in your cellar!" MC remembers the cellar and escapes the bar.
He somehow returns home, get his sword and armor. He is located, of course. He kills 3 or 4 guys, despite being drunk as hell. He then receives a blow in the head and fall.
Archenemy yells to him (and everyone around) something like: "You fool! I would sacrifice my daughter to gain more power and advantage, because I'm really evil! In fact, I was just going to offer her to the evil necromancers!"
Archenemy apparently remembers who MC is and plans to send him to someplace instead of killing him.
Worse, the girl is never seen again the story, and actually would give a massive choice for Lannick, to kill her to avenge his own family (even knowing Fane wouldn't care) or somehow finding new love. Although that probably is planned for the sequel, and the love interest probably as Alisa.
Second, the next one is a massive info dump of deities, places and names. Third, the evil chamberlain is not allowing anyone near the king, and everyone blindly and sheepishly obeys. And finally, all the while evil necromancers are trying to resurrect the evil dark god that will destroy the world.
Could the recipe get even more cliché?
I continued reading and while the Necrists could creepy (wearing the faces of the dead), they were way stereotyped.
But the other characters surprised me. Lannick continues broken. Maybe he recovers in later books, but it was actually nice to see someone who actually was shown suffering for his heavy losses. Too often this is shrugged off in a few chapters and the character moves on with life. That's not the case with Lannick.
Initially, it may even seem annoying, but you do start to feel for him.
Bale was refreshing as well. He is an old, isolated man, frail and without any ability to fight. An scholar in the middle of a massive war.
If the two previous guys meant little action, Karnag is the total opposite. A barbarian assassin with a claymore and his band.
However, due to certain circumstances, and maybe reflecting that, he is slowly pushed away as a POV, even if he reappears now and then.
Fencress assumes the role of leading the group and becomes a major POV, and is an amazing character. Not because of any shallow label as "strong female", but simply because she had the best character voice in the book while also giving us a good deal of action and humor, which Lannick and Bale aren't able to provide.
These four are the major players, but now and then we get glimpses of some other characters to see the bigger picture of things.
I also really liked the deities. They are actually very active. There are two major gods and seven lesser ones, the Sentinels. One of them actively acts in the world. We meet another and then a character receives a task to go to a third (although this one doesn't appear in this book).
Also, while the characters (like Fane and the chamberlain) are a bit stereotyped in black/white, it's not so with the deities.
There are two (or more) stories about the deities and when we meet them, they are not the good, noble and kind-hearted beings you were expecting them to be.
And even the dark lord apparently had some reasons to act like he did. We don't get to know much about the main "good" deity, however.
The scale of the events are pretty good too. The worldbuilding takes a while to get to you, but it became satisfying, although very few places had something unique to make us really remember them.
The main problem with the book is actually the narrative/prose.
Except for Fencress and maybe one chapter from Lannick, the internal thoughts of the characters are handled as info dumps or the readers being spoon-fed on how they should feel about another character or a situation.
We are also told a lot of things that could've easily been shown and would allow the readers their own conclusions. Even obvious things anyone could see/feel are told, as if the author was afraid the reader wouldn't get it.
Even some dialogue is badly disguised, when characters babble for pages long about certain events. It felt unrealistic and unnecessary, something that could've been handled a lot better.
There are no wrong sentences, long winded descriptions or typos, but the narrative, while not rough, could have used a much better polish.
It's a debut novel, and the author will surely notice these things and improve. The story and the scale of events are solid (although you could say the main threat seem pretty cliché) and the characters felt different.