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The Heroes (World of the First Law)

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Whoa, whoa – his chief of staff? What kind of staff work is necessary in a pre-gunpowder army living off the land, without the logistical network, let alone the command and control capabilities, that would support a system of centralized staff planning?”

Colonel Wetterlant was still having trouble believing it, but it appeared the King’s Own Sixth Regiment was in a great deal of difficulty. The wall, he thought, was lost. Knots of resistance but basically overrun, and Northmen were flooding into the circle of stones from the north. Where else would Northmen come from? It had all happened so damnably fast. Abercrombie gets plenty of well deserved praise for his character writing. As expected"The Heroes" delivers on the promise of good character work. There's the usual grimdark cyncism in all the characters. While this is a through line running in the book, it never feels gratuitous due to how realistically flawed the characters are. You understand why the characters are shitty and the underlying reasons for their cynicism are things you can commonly find and identify with in real life. In particular, Bremers bitterness at a world that's made him an outcast juxtaposed by his frustration at himself for his own shortcomings was the written beautifully. The passion and love Bremmer has for battle due to it being the only outlet that lets him truly excel also fits perfectly in contrast with the meaningless, dirty, and stupid nature of war that Joe portrays.Master Swordsman: His swordsmanship skills are legendary. Gorst, a Master Swordsman himself, regards him as a Worthy Opponent when they meet on the battlefield. Alright, this all sounds fantastic, so how come that some First Law fans don’t love The Heroes as much as the other books in the series? The answer mostly comes down to the plot and the pacing. The plot can be summed up rather easily: three times waiting for a battle, fighting a battle, and then dealing with the consequences of the battle. As a result the story mostly involves lots and lots of waiting, some might even say too much. I can certainly see how this can be a bit rough for some readers, especially in the beginning when the stakes aren’t that high yet. The pacing isn’t perfect either, the story takes a bit too long to get going in m opinion, but once it does, it gets going big time. Another issue at the beginning was that Abercrombie introduces quite a few POV characters, which made it hard for me to really get into the book, as I hadn’t seen enough of a single character to be invested in their story. This wouldn’t have been as jarring if this book hadn't been a standalone novel. Aside from that, I didn’t have any real problems with the plot or pacing, because to me it always felt as if something important was about to happen, was happening, or just happened. On top of that, the plot development felt entirely natural, all of it seemed to fit perfectly into the story. Despite the “war is pretty shitty business” sentiment expressed throughout the book, the common soldier and those doing the actual fighting are shown, for the most part, to be men of quiet bravery and just trying to do their best and get through in one piece. Of course, there are certainly a lot of venom-filled cannon-shots fired across the bow of the leaders and instigators of the conflict and some fun poked at the conventions of war, but I found that Abercrombie was generally respectful of the fighting soldiers and didn’t portray them as murderous meatheads out to rape and pillage. SEFF: Yes, I would have been happier had there been more female characters, but this is the story of a three day battle out on the front lines so I guess it is forgivable. That said, Seff is an amazingly well realized female character and I thought she was terrific. 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.

They snapped around, but not at attention. In fact they stared at him as if he was a ghost risen from a grave. He thought he knew their faces, but it seemed they had turned suddenly from the most disciplined of soldiers into trembling, mud-smeared animals. Wetterlant had never been afraid of his own men before, had taken their obedience entirely for granted, but he had no choice but to blather on, his voice shrill with fear and exhaustion. The Eeyore: While his sour attitude initially seems like a natural reaction to the miserable state of both his life and the war, near the end he receives the royal forgiveness and reinstating into his previous position as royal bodyguard that he's spent the whole novel yearning for and working towards, and is happy for all of five minutes - after which he promptly finds new reasons to pity himself. The Heroes is the second standalone in this world, with its own nearly wrapped story within the larger world of the First Law, but it still has a feeling of gravitas and also of high stakes. It has brilliant characters, wonderful prose, and an awesome concept. Vocal Dissonance: His high, child-like voice notably clashes with his brutish appearance, to his eternal shame.Prince’ Calder (POV) – Bethod’s younger son, an infamous schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace too. Non-Indicative Name: He's never even been to Bligh. That's just the northernmost place that anyone locally has ever heard of, so he's assumed to be from around there. Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing! Lasmark turned, hoping he wouldn’t trip and catch a mouthful of barley, and urged his men forward with what was intended to be a soldierly jerk of the hand. Foreseeing My Death: He has no fear because the witch Shoglig told him to the day and manner of his death. He often gloats that today is not the day of his prophesied death, so he is sure to overcome his enemies. Subverted when he's mortally wounded by a random spear. As he lay dying, he's not too happy to realize that Shoglig had no idea what she'd been talking about all along.

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. A film adaptation of Best Served Cold from Skydance Media is currently in pre-production, with Tim Miller attached to direct. Abercrombie wrote the screenplay and Rebecca Ferguson is set to star as Monza Murcatto. [3] Published works [ edit ] SeriesThe Age of Madness takes place 15 years after the end of Red Country. The Union has begun to see rapid changes with the onset of an industrial revolution. Ferro Maljinn, an escaped slave from the south who puts her thirst for revenge over all else. She is part devil. A reference to something a character in the book says, referring to the Near and Far Country and specifically encroaching civilization. "The world out there is a red country, without justice, without meaning."

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.Sadistic Choice: Faced with one when his old friend and former chief's son Calder attempts to turn him against his new chief. The North is referred to as such not only by The Union (for whom it really is to the north) but also by those who live there, who refer to themselves as Northmen.

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