The Heroes

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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. So there's no internal consistency, even within the conventions of the setting as depicted by the author?” 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. Colonel Bremer dan Gorst (POV) – royal observer of the Northern War and disgraced king’s First Guard.

The Farsnsbury Flopper whipped out a twinned pair of repeating crossbows and shot several bolts into each of the Gooch's eyes, which burst in sprays of glistening gore. The Gooch groaned and sunk to his knees, clawing at his eyes, as puke jabbed his molars. Miren deben tener en cuenta que las personas se comportan de manera estúpida casi todo el tiempo. Los viejos cuando se emborrachan. Las mujeres en las ferias de las aldeas. Los chavales cuando les lanzan piedras a los pájaros. Así es la vida. Está repleta de necedad y vanidad, de egoísmo y de derroche. De una mezquindad y tontería. Pero creen que en la guerra eso va a ser distinto, que va a ser todo mucho mejor. Que como la muerte aguarda a la vuelta de la esquina, todos se unirán frente a las adversidades y juntos combatirán al astuto enemigo, que la gente pensará más mejor y mas rápido. Que todo será…mejor. Que serán héroes. En cuanto un hombre está bajo tierra, ya sólo es barro. Barro e historias. Y las historias y los hombres de las que éstas surgen no suelen tener mucho en común"Culfer gave a thin scream. A narrow split had appeared in his shoulder, right down to his chest, splinters of white bone showing through it. Wetterlant wanted to tell him not to scream in a manner so unbefitting of an officer in the King’s Own. A scream like that might be good enough for one of the levy regiments, but in the Sixth he expected a manly roar. Culfer almost gracefully subsided to the ground, blood bubbling from the wound, and a large Northman stepped up with an axe in his fist and began to cleave him into pieces. Nel romanzo successivo, "Il Sapore della Vendetta" racconta una classica storia di vendetta ma con una protagonista decisamente antipatica e dura da digerire. Poi arriva "The Heroes" e scattano nuovamente gli applausi. Para mí simplemente no hay nadie que pueda escribir fantasía épica tan bien, dura, cruel y cínica como Abercrombie. Muchos han afirmado que este es su mejor libro. Por ahora coincido. Brittle weren’t sure whether to be pleased or not as Feathers’ corpse flopped over and over into the water. On the sunny side it looked like he was at the front of Golden’s whole crew now. On the shady, there was a strange-looking bastard bearing down on him, well armoured and well horsed, short sword and the reins in one hand, long sword ready in the other, catching the sun and glistening with Feathers’ blood. He had a plain round helmet with a slot in the front to see through and nothing but a big mouthful of gritted teeth showing below it. Riding at Golden’s cavalry all on his own while the rest of the Union fled the other way. 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.

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.Continuing my recent Joe Abercrombie First Law binge with the second standalone story, The Heroes. But, do not be fooled by the title. There are no heroes, just in keeping with everything in this world to date. No glory. No winners. No heroes. As always, most of the characters are self-serving, calculating and traitorous figures with a variety of power, with the main goal being just to survive. But, despite that, as a reader I love to accompany them. 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. CAUL SHIVERS: Supporting star of Best Served Coldand early proof that Abercrombie can take a character we have seen a lot of and shine a brand new light on him that feels as natural as life. Shivers is a new favorite character of mine. Joder, por las santas barbas de Abercrombie, qué puñetera obra de arte cruda salpicada y manchada con total impunidad y cinismo.

A 20,000 word 'planning' document which contains all of Joe's behind-the-scenes notes, plans and timeline for THE HEROES Como siempre, los personajes de Abercrombie es lo que yo consideraría como su punto fuerte. Ni buenos ni malos. Totalmente grises. Me han gustado los que aparecían en esta novela, sobre todo los nuevos. Sin embargo, echo de menos a algunos personajes en específico. Solo espero que las historias cortas me den un poco de ellos. 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. Because without a doubt, Abercrombie has some things to say about war in this book. And for a book that is, on its face, about battles, it is certainly pretty critical of the whole shebang. The commentary on war was some of my favorite elements of this one, and what elevated it over Best Served Cold for me.Probably my favourite POV character in this book was Finree, who's become my favourite Abercrombie POV female character to date. She's even surpassed Carlot Dan Eider as my favourite Abercrombie female character and is now among my favourite POV characters full stop. Unlike Abercrombie's other female POV's she isn't a scarred, impossible deadly warrior woman. Finree's skills are politics and intrigue. I've never liked 'warrior women' in fantasy especially when they're used as excessively as with Abercrombie. I've always found them both improbable( there were ALOT of barriers to a woman fighting in most societies throughout history, that most male authors tend to ignore) and unfair in how they imply that the majority of women who aren't warriors are inherently weak and worthless. Despite her flaws I found Finree a really likeable and admirable character. Turn for the hill!’ Scabna was bellowing, pointing at it with his axe, the smug arse. ‘To the hill, you bastards!’