Doesn’t that sound like one big heroic headache? See! I can do it too Joe. Maybe that makes me a hero. Damn I’m getting good at this. The Heroes was a very good standalone book that shares many similarities to the First Law Trilogy, but doesn't quite hit the same "highs". All you can do is take each day as it comes. Try and do the best you can with what you’re given. You won’t always do the right thing, but you can try. And you can try to do the right thing next time. That, and stay alive.” 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. Nella trilogia della Prima Legge si è divertito a sovvertire i cliché del genere puntando tutto sui rapporti tra i protagonisti tralasciando la storia che ricopre solo un ruolo marginale.

Turn for the hill!’ Scabna was bellowing, pointing at it with his axe, the smug arse. ‘To the hill, you bastards!’ Esta historia gira en torno tres días que marcaron la historia, tres días sangrientos de la batalla culminante entre la Unión y el Norte. Eso es todo. Esta es la trama principal del puto libro. Tres jodidos y sangrientos días de guerra tan llenos de barro como de gente que vuelve a el, no deja indiferente y ahora venero bajo un altar. This is a gritty fantasy story, playing with the genre conventions by mashing up movie, television, and other source material familiar to its audience,” growled Brandis. “Just enjoy the story, you butthead.” The world is dark and that’s not a surprise since it is an Abercrombie book. I like how some of the secondary and minor characters from the older books gets bigger roles here and are thus more fleshed now for me. I think if I reread the first trilogy it will be a much better experience now! They hopped over a ditch patched with brown puddles and were out of the trampled crops at the foot of the slope. ‘Up the hill, you bastards!’ screeched Scabna, waving his axe.La preparación, las guerras y las secuelas de cada batalla escritas impunemente sin rastro de piedad. Fue absolutamente impresionante lo ágil que se sentía el flujo del libro, lo devoré sin pausa pero sobretodo la intensidad de la guerra que se hizo más palpable con cada página hasta llegar al orgasmo final. Whilst trying not to regurgitate what I have said for every other Abercrombie book I have reviewed, I will mention again that his prose is brilliant. It is used to reveal so much about the characters, depending on the perspective he is with, with specific vernacular and structure enforcing the creation and crafting of character. Also, whilst talking about prose I cannot ignore a certain chapter in this. In an action sequence, we follow about a dozen perspectives who we do not follow again before or after. You change to the perspective of the killer of the previous character. And the way it is done is absolutely masterful. It has become iconic since, and for good reason. 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. Abercrombie does an excellent job, both in the preparation of the battle, focusing on the many characters involved, and in the incredible action scenes in which the realism and drama emerges forcefully. Masterful. The idea of writing a whole book about one battle over the course of three days felt somehow both refreshing and stale. I've never read a fantasy book that has such a limited scope before, which will good also made me hungry for the larger world and the grand scope of things that the First Law Trilogy did so well.

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. Gorst slowly let his arms drop as the sound of hooves faded and left, aside from the chattering of the water and the moaning of the wounded, an uncanny silence. The sight below gave a moment’s pause, even to a man of his experience. The foremost Northmen had reached the hill and were charging up, slowing on the grassy slope but showing no sign of stopping. Their war cry got worryingly louder as he came up from behind the wall, the vague keening becoming a shrill howl. Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.” The thing I like is Abercrombie’s writing, the humor works for me most of the time, it is atmospheric and the moral compass of all the characters is broken! There are very good quotes and the internal monologue of some of the characters is the best thing ever (Gorst gets a special mention). I can’t say I connected to the characters as much as I wanted to but it was still good.

Names turned over by time, like the plough turning the soil. Bringing up the new while the old were buried in the mud.”

This one has been on my To-Be-Read pile for a long time. In an effort to clean out some of my older books I finally got around to reading it. This is the First Law standalone that I was most anticipating, and I'm really glad to say it mostly met my expectations!Joe Abercrombie always has smth tasty in his books. “The Heroes” is a military fantasy novel, which offered me a rather unique and interesting glimpse into war and warriors who are annoyed with fighting a war.