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8bitlapras 's review for:
The Heroes
by Joe Abercrombie
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 ðŸ˜
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 ðŸ˜
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!