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The Heroes Hardcover – February 7, 2011

by Joe Abercrombie (Author)

310 customer reviews

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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.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (February 7, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316044989
ISBN-13: 978-0316044981
Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.8 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (310 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #489 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Men's Adventure
- #1152 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
- #3784 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

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Customer Reviews

310

4.4 out of 5 stars

5 star		66%
4 star		16%
3 star		13%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

201 of 207 people found the following review helpful

Was that a tear in my eye?

By Tim Himes on February 9, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

The Heroes embodies everything I like about the fantasy genre right now.

I was an English major once upon a time, and used to read plenty of serious literature. But as I've grown older, I have less patience for that kind of fiction. Writers of genre fiction, and fantasy in particular, haven't forgotten that great books are ultimately about great storytelling. It's about putting interesting characters in tight spots and seeing what happens. Everything else is secondary.

And The Heroes is a bloody great story. It's tightly focused on a single battle over a three-day period. The action is well done, but it's mainly the very flawed characters making good and bad decisions in desperate situations that make the story so entertaining. Each chapter has a point-of-view character, and the tone and style change, sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically, as the story shifts between them. (The dialog and language of the northmen is just one example, and Abercrombie deliberately draws some humor out of this.) Each chapter reads like a well-honed short story, with a mini story arc for that particular character. I found each of the points of view interesting and entertaining -- there wasn't a single chapter where I found myself skimming to get to the next good bit, because every page is a pleasure.

There is a theme here (the nature of heroism), but it's not heavy handed and adds some emotional depth to the story. I even had a tear in my eye at one point. But mostly the book struck me as honest, funny, touching, and vastly entertaining.

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76 of 81 people found the following review helpful

Need MORE. More books, faster damn it!

By Norma Harnack on February 16, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

SOME VERY SMALL SPOILERS BELOW -

The book - Set in the world of the First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold. Familiar faces return but have relatively small parts. The return cast includes: Calder, Scale, Black Dow, Shivers, Gorst, Bayaz, and a few others. Gorst it turns out, is one hell of a character. Trying to redeem himself after an incident in Styria involving the King, his blood-lust rivals that of some of my old favorite characters.

When I first read "The First Law Trilogy," I was completely blown away. This author has reinvented the Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre. Gone is the stereotypical "young sissy, in small town is attacked by unknown forces, distant uncle who raised him is killed, sissy inherits great magical powers/artifact/ability from said uncle, sissy becomes an ultra-mega bad ass at everything, raises army of do-gooders who don't ever die and eventually defeat the super duper evil army of trolls, orcs, and plum smugglers."

We all know the routine, and Mr. Abercrombie finally broke the tedious traditional fantasy outline. I'm not sure if he's the first to do this, but I hope he's not the last.

"The Heroes" is a great novel. Being set only over the course of three days is not as big an issue as some reviewers are making it out to be, as a lot of what has happened between novels is explained. Though I didn't care much for the outcome of the North, I still highly recommend this novel, even to those who have never read an Abercrombie Novel.

Of course reading the first four books that are set in this world will greatly improve your appreciation for this amazing story.

I know everyone will hate me for saying this but I do miss, with a fierce passion, Logen Ninefingers/The Bloody-Nine.Read more ›

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65 of 72 people found the following review helpful

Abercrombie adds another grand chapter to his world

By Matthew D. StPierre on January 31, 2011

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

There's no need to go into the premise of the book, which both other reviews and the solicitation material already describes. "The Heroes" follows Abercrombie's previous titles chronologically, so for any potential readers reading this, as no doubt other reviewers have stated, start with "The Blade Itself" and work your way here. You'll be glad you did, assuming you like what you read. In the event you don't like what you read, I imagine you'll be quite displeased. But like it or not, it's good stuff. And it's gotten better.

The essentials, for purpose of review and questions of potential readers:

- Abercrombie has made steady progress as a writer. His writing is more technically sound and is overall tighter. Words are worth more. His voice and the voices of his characters have become more sure. His ability to juggle multiple characters and an increasingly-numbered cast has likewise improved.

- "The Heroes" displays Abercrombie's improved ability to weave character arcs. While this has not been necessarily suspect, it was a slight problem in the initial trilogy, in which many, many characters came through as flat, and only a handful of characters had arcs and growth to speak of. This was less of a problem in "Best Served Cold," due to improvement as an author and his shift to a very tight cast of characters, and indeed, BSC had some brilliant character work and character arcs to show for. With "The Heroes," we find Abercrombie juggling a huge cast and keeping up with most all of them, whether major, mostly-minor, or minor-minor POV characters, and they all have character arcs, fleshed out from start to finish.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Four Stars

Well crafted characters, as usual. Less compelling lead story lines this time.

Published 11 days ago by Amazon Customer

Bloody Great!

The Heroes is another Fantastic book by fantasy author Joe Abercrombie. Its about the struggle between the Union and the North focusing in on a 3 day battle that takes place in a... Read more

Published 14 days ago by Helpful Henry

Must Read for Abercrombie fans

Of the three stand-alone books set in this world, this one was my favorite by a lot. Loved the characters (Bremmar most of all) and the plot was gripping. Read more

Published 16 days ago by Trevor Blumenfeld

Three Stars

gift

Published 25 days ago by Raynell

it's still an entertaining read if you've enjoyed his other works

Another solid dark fantasy book by Abercrombie. He fits a solid job of subverting the typical hero stereotype while emphasizing the need for politicking and alliance building even... Read more

Published 27 days ago by Kris Bachmann

Burned through it

Great book full of realistic characters and he doesn't GRRM people just to piss you off. People you like die and people you hate... But you gotta be realistic.... Right?? Read more

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer

Five Stars

ONE WILD RIDE!!!!

Published 1 month ago by Donald J. Martin

The Heroes is great! Best Served Cold

The Heroes is great! Best Served Cold, the preceding book is also excellent, and these "Set in the world of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Steven M. Penner

Five Stars

Fantastic novel that really adds to the world of the First Law.

Published 3 months ago by Big Moe

I love this author.

Awesome author and awesome book. He's clever and quick. Keeps a healthy amount of action and plot rolling along at the same time. Read more