The Heroes

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Scale – Bethod’s eldest son, now the one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, with a bull’s brain

There are no heroes in this book; each protagonist is a villain from the opponent’s perspective and vice versa. Although The Heroes can be read as a standalone, and it indeed has a self-contained story, I strongly suggest that you read The First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold first. This is crucial; many side characters from the first trilogy and Best Served Cold played a bigger role this time. Bremer dan Gorst, for example, has become one of the main POV characters in this book. There’s a huge cast of characters in The Heroes, and Abercrombie made sure to introduce the characters to the readers first. Readers need to feel invested in the characters first, and this, I feel, has been successfully delivered. As expected, Abercrombie’s characterizations towards his variety of characters—both returning and new characters—were incredible. The character development of the six main POV characters was outstanding; whether physically or mentally, almost every character in the novel ended up being changed by the three days of mayhem. There is no exception; war changes you. I bloody know,’ gasped Lasmark, no breath to spare for moaning now, ‘I can’t hear a word he’s … oh.’ There are two things that I liked most about this book. First is how Mr. Abercrombie has described the battle scenes, from one person to another, almost in a sequence. He made these battles alive with his words. Second thing that I liked is I really never got settled for one side. Sometimes I wanted Union to win the war and at other times I was rooting for Northern side. None of the side was good, at the most they’re the evil sides led by equally evil leaders.Terrific characterizations aside, one of the best strength of the book definitely lies within the stupendous battle scenes. Abercrombie’s masterful usage of consecutive perspective change exhibited the relentless coup de grace dealt from both sides of the armies brutally. This was also the first time I read a fantasy novel that utilized the view of war from the eyes of a common soldier, and they’re terrifying as hell. The action sequences felt incredibly cinematic; it’s brutal, visceral, and bloody thrilling. I’ve read plenty of epic/grimdark fantasy, and other than John Gwynne, no one else can write realistic and explosive close-quartet combat scenes—imbued with raw emotions—as good as Abercrombie does. Every action scenes were truly breathtaking; most epic fantasy books featured one climax sequence to conclude their story, but The Heroes featured five. Consisting of five parts, each part displayed a compelling vivid war or duel scenes. Combined with Abercrombie's impeccable prose, The Heroes is filled with memorable and rewarding battle sequences. 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. BAYAZ: The First of the Magi: The most amazingly complex and compelling wielder of magic that has ever been inked on paper. While the Bloody-Nine is an awesome character, it is Bayaz that has all TEN fingers on the strings of the world.

Savor the little moments, son, that's my advice. They're what life is. All the little things that happen while you're waiting for something else.” The Gooch carried on, heedlessly. “This is supposed to be a gritty military story, about armies and warfare and all that cool shit. Shouldn't it have at least the basics right in regards to military structures and tactics? I mean, if the author has free license to go completely off the grid about this stuff, why not include jeeps and predator drones? That's about as plausible as an ostensibly renaissance-era army set up like a - “ I was eager to put my eyes on “The Heroes”, because I was still high from Best Served Cold and I didn’t read Mr. Abercrombie’s book for some time. The fact is that “The Heroes” decreased my fangirlism a little bit. But let’s start from the tasty bits.Shaking with fury, the Big Chief drew his dread sword Dreadblade, shimmering in the torchlight, and brandished it balefully before the mouthy critic. The Heroes is arguably my biggest surprise of 2022. Not only did I enjoy this book, I LOVED IT! While it is true that this book focuses on a large battle (or battles), the focus in this story is very much on the characters, the themes and the different experiences people have in war. Let’s start talking about the characters. As always, Abercrombie’s character work is top-notch. It is astounding how well Abercrombie is able to flesh out each character in this book. Each character has such a distinctive tone and voice and is deeply flawed. Almost none of these characters are likeable, but Abercrombie is somehow able to get you fully invested in everyone’s story.