The Heroes

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Abercrombie never glosses over a moment of the madness, passion, and horror of war, nor the tribulations that turn ordinary people into the titular heroes." --- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Other than the main POV characters we get some brief POV's from other characters. 2 of these were really interesting as in the first the POV character is killed and the narration passes to his killer who is killed in turn and so on. This was really well written and creates a mounting sense of genuine danger to the characters especially when a major POV character takes over. In another chapter we follow a command as it is passed, along with the narration, down the line from the general. This scene shows us the arguments that can exist even among the same side in a war. While the third chapter like this, which this time just jumped around randomly, was disappointing this was still a cool feature that broadened the perspective on the battle. Highlights included a good soldier reflecting on his girl at home as he dies 'she'll probably marry her cousin, terrible business that', two officers (validly) criticising each other in consecutive POV's and a mortally injured cavalryman leading a doomed charge. I also enoyed how Heroes presented war as a hypocritical, horrific endeavour without ever becoming preachy or self righteous. The Heroes is the second standalone in this world, with its own nearly wrapped story within the larger world of the First Law, but it still has a feeling of gravitas and also of high stakes. It has brilliant characters, wonderful prose, and an awesome concept. They kept even to no noticeable degree, indeed in the main they appeared rather ragged and reluctant, and Lasmark could hardly blame them. He didn’t much care for charging unsupported into an empty mass of barley himself, especially since a good part of the regiment was still clogged up in the shambles of men and equipment on the bad roads south of the river. But an officer has his duty. He had made representations to Major Popol, and the major had made representations to Colonel Wetterlant of the Sixth, who was ranking officer on the hill. The colonel had appeared too busy to take much notice. The battlefield was no place for independent thought, Lasmark supposed, and perhaps his superiors simply knew better than he did. He rolled stiffly over, groaning. His sword was gone, his right hand red raw. Twisted from his grip as he fell. The blade his father had given him the day he received his commission in the King’s Own. So proud. He wondered if his father would have been proud now. He was in among trees. The orchard? He had abandoned his regiment. Or had they abandoned him? The rules of military behaviour, so unshakeable a foundation until a few moments ago, had vanished like smoke in a breeze. It had happened so fast.

Colonel Bremer dan Gorst (POV) – royal observer of the Northern War and disgraced king’s First Guard. I bloody know,’ gasped Lasmark, no breath to spare for moaning now, ‘I can’t hear a word he’s … oh.’ He could not stay here. He would never make it to the river. But he could not stay here. It had to be now. He broke from the undergrowth, running for the shallows. There were other runners everywhere, most of them without weapons. Mad, desperate faces, eyes rolling. Wetterlant saw the cause of their terror. Horsemen. Spread out across the fields, converging on the shallows, herding the fleeing Union soldiers southwards. Cutting them down, trampling them, their howls echoing across the valley. He ran on, ran on, stumbling forwards, snatched another look. A rider was bearing down on him, he could see the curve of his teeth in a tangled beard.Take victory quiet and careful, Rudd Threetrees used to say, ’cause you might soon be called on to take defeat the same way."

Rose started cranking, aware of other men around him doing the same. Sweating, struggling, cursing, leaning over the wall to shoot. He could hear wounded men screaming, and above that a strange howl. He fumbled a bolt from his quiver, slotted it into the groove, cursing to himself at his trembling fingers, all smeared pink from Gaunt’s blood. He was lying in some dirt. A pile of trampled dirt, in the shadow of one of the stones. He had the torn flag in one hand. For me, there’s simply no one that can write grimdark fantasy as good as Abercrombie. The Heroes has been claimed by many Abercrombie’s fans to be his best book so far, and although I disagree because in my opinion that crown still belongs to Last Argument of Kings, I rank The Heroes as his third-best work so far. I loved it almost as much as I loved Before They Are Hanged, which is a LOT. Wetterlant simply turned away. ‘We stand! We stand and fight!’ He was a proud man of a proud family, and he would stand. He would stand until the bitter end, if necessary, and die fighting with sword in hand, as his grandfather was said to have done. He would die under the regimental colours. Well, he wouldn’t, in fact, because that boy he ran through had torn them from the pole when he fell. But Wetterlant would stand, there was no question. He had often told himself so. Usually while admiring his reflection in the mirror after dressing for one official function or another. Straightening his sash. That isn’t the only reason I hated the novel, but it did piss me off the most. Nothing speaks the word redundancy more than an overly used metaphor. The entire novel also felt restrictive. It is essentially one big battle sequence. So, its layers of action upon action in the same boring place. I hated the end. I hated the beginning too. And I especially hated the middle. This is Joe Abercrombie’s worse book. Please bear in mind that I’m actually a big fan of this author. I’ve read all of his books, and this is the only one I strongly dislike. So, don’t hate me. I do like Joe Abercrombie, but not this book.A before-and-after chapter showing the first draft, the last draft, and many stages in between if one of the most critical chapters of the book The real power of this novel is on the exploration of the characters on both sides of the scrimmage, measuring what makes a hero and what makes one something else. On the North side, you have a crew of barbarians akin to Vikings or Cimmerians to whom battle is all. Indeed, many of these mighty warriors can do little else. And, it being the North, one man's enemy today is one man's ally the next and vice versa. Loyalty is great, but it can change like your wardrobe. Alguna vez has pensado en ponerte un parche? —inquirió Craw, mientras tomaba su espada y la deslizaba en su vaina. Llevé uno una temporada —contestó Escalofríos, señalando la enorme cicatriz alrededor de su ojo—. Pero picaba de cojones. Así que pensé: ¿por qué voy a llevarlo? ¿Sólo para que estos cabrones se sientan más cómodos? Si yo puedo vivir con esta cara, ellos pueden vivir viéndola. Y si no, que se jodan."

Abercrombie nació para esto, tiene un don para escribir y regalarnos joyas así. No solo a nivel narrativo es muy bueno, lo que escribe por muy enrevesado, detallado o complicado que pueda llegar a ser, él consigue que el lector lo lea de forma ágil y fluida. Este libro pertenece a las novelas independientes de la Primera Ley. Sin embargo, yo no lo consideraría como tal. Si algo he aprendido leyendo por orden estos libros es que te destripas mucho sobre los personajes de la primera saga. Además, te los encuentras en estos libros bien como protagonistas o como personajes secundarios. The main problem I faced with this one is that it had too many characters for my liking and the way they are introduced did not work for me. I don’t mind books with many characters if they are introduced well and given the appropriate time to do that but I do mind it when it feels like info dumping and it becomes too hard for me to remember who is who. If there was not a character’s list at the beginning of the book, I would have probably lost interest much faster. I prefer when characters are introduced gradually and given the time to become realistic which was the case for BSC. To be fair, after 40% of the book, we say goodbye to many characters and the ones that stay are more fleshed which made the second half of the book better than the first half! Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail...

Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him? The world building and writing is one of the best that I've ever read, its no surprise Abercrombie is good at what he does, I think its safe to say that he's the best Grimdark author. The writing style adapted here is easy to comprehend and lots of old English is used, its unlike when authors use contemporary English for Epic Fantasy. This book is written in third person multiple POV of the main characters but during the battles the book was narrated by random characters. It's a dark book, with rough characters and some pretty gorey deaths. Ambercrombie does a great job with his battle scenes, showing the confusion of war and the costs of being a hero. This is the First Law standalone that I was most anticipating, and I'm really glad to say it mostly met my expectations!