Joe Abercrombie

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them. THE HEROES For glory, for victory, for staying alive.

The Heroes

Simon Lund Larsen

Huh. I ended up enjoying that a lot more than I thought I would. I was kind of not sure what to think of it as it started, and I found myself enjoying some POV's more than others. Gorst made me just flat out roll my eyes every other time he internally monologued (as one of the characters with the most internal monologuing because of his isolation, I basically rolled my eyes so much I gave myself quite a headache). But anyway.

Craw, Finree, and Calder were just joys. I loved their distinct voices, their traits and their strength. I like how these people were the smartest ones of those around them, and they knew it, and it grated on them as much as helped them through tough spots. But I was never irritated because of any of their not seeing a possible solution or making a dumb choice, which was refreshing.

There were nods to the game of thrones esque storytelling in that it was straight up about the horrors of war, and the camaraderie that springs up in spite of the gruesomeness. I was glad that it was basically able to capture the necessary gritty realism of war — it's often for nothing, with little results, with a ton of bloodshed and heartache, the fighting isn't glamorized, people die from random shit rather than epic 1v1 battles for the most part, etc — in the same way that ASOIAF often tries to, yet this book did so without resorting to needless & gratuitous violence against women. Which DOES have a place in this book, several times, but for those of you who are asoiaf fans/got fans and feminists, you probably kinda know what I mean.

This was my first try at broaching Abercrombie's work, and I found out after getting into it that it's book 5 or something. But it was enjoyable as a standalone book. It wasn't the most memorable fantasy book or the most ANYTHING, really, but I enjoyed it and appreciated it for what it was. In the future, (not right away but somewhere down the line) I'll probably happily look at more Abercrombie stuff.

Luke Kanies

I have multiple multiples books by this author, and this was my favorite. Haunted me while I wasn't reading it, and in general I really enjoyed the characters, flow, and story. Works well on its own or as part of the larger series.

Simon Harrison

Not quite up to the standard of the books that came before it, but it's an interesting take on the details of a medieval battle. Plenty of treachery all round, a couple of series favourites in there and the usual imperfect leading participants.

If the last book was a Tarantino Kill Bill revenge odyssey, this could be a Spielberg Saving Private Ryan bloody battle epic.

Still managed to tear through it in two days, I am feeling the need to get all of the First Law world done before I start exploring the wonderful opportunities in the wider fantasy space.

Heroes

Lewis John Fisher

Ben Nathan

This was excellent as a standalone built in the world of the first law. I missed being in this world and glad I'm back. Also, Abercrombie summed up my love of Grimdark (over other fantasy) with the line "every sword is a curse." This book was further proof that you can glorify anything if you try, but horrible things are still horrible no matter how you dress them up

Anyaconda

Re-listened to the audiobook 🎧 20/05/2021
Still not my favorite Abercrombie due to the focus on the military, but great entertainment nonetheless.

The Heroes

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