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A review by duffypratt
The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
On reread 10/2020: Nothing much to add to the review below. Will say that the use of Shivers as a non-POV character was brilliant. He is becoming my favorite character in this world, or at least right up there with Glotka, Logen, and Bayaz. End update.
Slathered in gore, awash in shit, and mired in cynicism. I think this book probably is the true test of whether someone would like Abercrombie or not. I like him alot. I thought this book was almost perfectly done, except for one story line that I found a bit too sentimental and pat. That would be Red Beak, the ambitious kid who turns out to be a coward and then finds both a sort of redemption and a way out of the shitstorm of war. I had a hard time getting my head around Abercrombie being so nice (well, at least for him).
But forget about Beak. There's a host of despicable characters to love here, both old and new. My favorite was the central character of the book: Cramden Craw, who is a "straight edge" and tries to adhere to the old ways, even though its pretty clear that there never really was an old way, and also clear that he knows it. He's looking to retire after this one last fight. And then there is the return of some great characters from the last books: Bayaz is back! and as wise/evil as ever. And so is Black Dow, and Dogface, and Caul Shivers. (Forget everything else, if you don't like the names here you should probably not read Abercrombie. I love the names, especially of the northern "named" men. And I also tend to love the explanations of how characters got their names.
I haven't read The Killer Angels, which is the acclaimed novel about the battle of Gettysburg. But from the little I know, I would be willing to bet that that book was some of the inspiration for this one. It chronicles a multi day battle on a little known hill that is the crux of a war between the Northman and the Union. The battle scenes are good, but even better, Abercrombie uses this book to tell some good personal stories, and at the same time manages to advance the overarching plot of this world -- the war between Bayaz and the Gurkish prophet and his "eaters".
Some of the writing was fantastic. There's a chapter where the point of view rests with a character, until that character gets killed, and then shifts to the killer until he/she gets killed, and so on. And it's pretty riveting, especially when the point of view passes to one of the main characters. And then there are brilliant touches, like when you get a colonel's point of view describing exactly how and why one of the general's is a complete ass, and the colonel is completely right. And then the point of view shifts to the general, who then skewers the colonel in a similar way, and is also completely right.
One of the great things about these books is that the last two have been truly standalone. Sure, it would help some here to know who the Bloody Nine was, or how the king of the Union became King. But I don't think it's necessary. You could start anywhere in these books and be on pretty sure footing. I would still recommend starting with The First Law series. But if you just wanted to test whether you were really going to like Abercrombie, it might actually be better to start here: less commitment involved, and you would likely know pretty soon.
Slathered in gore, awash in shit, and mired in cynicism. I think this book probably is the true test of whether someone would like Abercrombie or not. I like him alot. I thought this book was almost perfectly done, except for one story line that I found a bit too sentimental and pat. That would be Red Beak, the ambitious kid who turns out to be a coward and then finds both a sort of redemption and a way out of the shitstorm of war. I had a hard time getting my head around Abercrombie being so nice (well, at least for him).
But forget about Beak. There's a host of despicable characters to love here, both old and new. My favorite was the central character of the book: Cramden Craw, who is a "straight edge" and tries to adhere to the old ways, even though its pretty clear that there never really was an old way, and also clear that he knows it. He's looking to retire after this one last fight. And then there is the return of some great characters from the last books: Bayaz is back! and as wise/evil as ever. And so is Black Dow, and Dogface, and Caul Shivers. (Forget everything else, if you don't like the names here you should probably not read Abercrombie. I love the names, especially of the northern "named" men. And I also tend to love the explanations of how characters got their names.
I haven't read The Killer Angels, which is the acclaimed novel about the battle of Gettysburg. But from the little I know, I would be willing to bet that that book was some of the inspiration for this one. It chronicles a multi day battle on a little known hill that is the crux of a war between the Northman and the Union. The battle scenes are good, but even better, Abercrombie uses this book to tell some good personal stories, and at the same time manages to advance the overarching plot of this world -- the war between Bayaz and the Gurkish prophet and his "eaters".
Some of the writing was fantastic. There's a chapter where the point of view rests with a character, until that character gets killed, and then shifts to the killer until he/she gets killed, and so on. And it's pretty riveting, especially when the point of view passes to one of the main characters. And then there are brilliant touches, like when you get a colonel's point of view describing exactly how and why one of the general's is a complete ass, and the colonel is completely right. And then the point of view shifts to the general, who then skewers the colonel in a similar way, and is also completely right.
One of the great things about these books is that the last two have been truly standalone. Sure, it would help some here to know who the Bloody Nine was, or how the king of the Union became King. But I don't think it's necessary. You could start anywhere in these books and be on pretty sure footing. I would still recommend starting with The First Law series. But if you just wanted to test whether you were really going to like Abercrombie, it might actually be better to start here: less commitment involved, and you would likely know pretty soon.