The Heroes

This is the First Law standalone that I was most anticipating, and I'm really glad to say it mostly met my expectations!

The Heroes follows a three day battle from both sides as they fight a battle over...some hills known as The Heroes. And it has all the things a three day battle would entail- pointless death, the tedium of campaigning, violence, pointless death, politicking, commander hubris, great duels, pointless death.

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.

The character work was also, as always, excellent. Abercrombie was able to make me invested in several new characters - Craw, Whirrun, Finree, Beck- as well as several returning characters from the original trilogy that are expanded here. I also think The Heroes has some of his most “good” characters - most of (all?) the characters in the last four books are various levels of trash bags, but several characters in The Heroes I would describe as atleast mostly good people. It was refreshing.

Two of my favorite characters from the original trilogy return in this one, and one is utilized excellently and one is, unfortunately, just around for a cameo or two. The fight scenes were once again excellent, especially the more intimate fights. The chapter “Casualties” is one of the best chapters Abercrombie has written, showing a bunch of regular soldiers during battle. The humor was outstanding, once again. Genuine laugh out loud moments. The cheese trap!!! Now that's progress.

My only criticisms of this book is that one POV, Tunny, is just a waste of page time. I think the book would have had better pacing if he was cut. I also think Abercrombie got a bit too into his whole “there are no heroes” bit. We got it, Joe.

I'll leave you with a piece of wisdom by this book's real Hero, Whirrun of Bligh: “Armour is part of a state of mind in which you admit the possibility of being hit.”

9/10