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Kaora's Reviews > The Heroes
The Heroes (First Law World #5)
by
by
Wow.
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.
And now I'm not sure what took me so long! Heroes is a gritty book about a war between the Northmen and the Union, which takes place around a hill called the Heroes.
It's a dark book, with rough characters and some pretty gorey deaths. Ambercrombie does a great job with his battle scenes, showing the confusion of war and the costs of being a hero.
But with a war comes a lot of downtime. But scenes without fighting are boring right? Wrong! Some of the best quotes came out of the downtime, and many times I found myself laughing out loud.
The fool's tasks lined up in crushingly tedious procession. Run. Practice. Shit a turd. Write a letter. Eat. Watch. Write a turd. Shit a letter. Eat. Bed.
Or nodding in agreement to some sound advice:
An unarmed man is like an unroofed house. They'll both end up leaking.
Through this great story however I found a deeper meaning. The book is divided into 5 parts:
1. Before the War
2. Day One
3. Day Two
4. Day Three
5. After The War
On coming to after the war I found myself stumbling on lines I had already read in before the war. Was this laziness on the authors part? Or was he saying this is just an endless cycle. Is before and after the war the same thing as after one war at some point becomes before another war?
And its books where I continue to think on them after I've put them down that show a talented writer. Mr. Abercrombie you have a new fan.
Everyone needs to read this book.
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.
And now I'm not sure what took me so long! Heroes is a gritty book about a war between the Northmen and the Union, which takes place around a hill called the Heroes.
It's a dark book, with rough characters and some pretty gorey deaths. Ambercrombie does a great job with his battle scenes, showing the confusion of war and the costs of being a hero.
But with a war comes a lot of downtime. But scenes without fighting are boring right? Wrong! Some of the best quotes came out of the downtime, and many times I found myself laughing out loud.
The fool's tasks lined up in crushingly tedious procession. Run. Practice. Shit a turd. Write a letter. Eat. Watch. Write a turd. Shit a letter. Eat. Bed.
Or nodding in agreement to some sound advice:
An unarmed man is like an unroofed house. They'll both end up leaking.
Through this great story however I found a deeper meaning. The book is divided into 5 parts:
1. Before the War
2. Day One
3. Day Two
4. Day Three
5. After The War
On coming to after the war I found myself stumbling on lines I had already read in before the war. Was this laziness on the authors part? Or was he saying this is just an endless cycle. Is before and after the war the same thing as after one war at some point becomes before another war?
And its books where I continue to think on them after I've put them down that show a talented writer. Mr. Abercrombie you have a new fan.
Everyone needs to read this book.
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Reading Progress
March 12, 2012
– Shelved
May 5, 2014
–
Started Reading
May 7, 2014
–
15.0%
""I've got a bad feeling. And I've learned to listen to my gut."
"Hard to ignore something so bloody big, I guess."
Took me a bit but I'm getting into it."
"Hard to ignore something so bloody big, I guess."
Took me a bit but I'm getting into it."
May 7, 2014
–
16.0%
""An unarmed man is like an unroofed house. They'll both end up leaking."
Some awesome quotes."
Some awesome quotes."
May 8, 2014
–
16.0%
""The fool's tasks lined up in crushingly tedious procession. Run. Practice. Shit a turd. Write a letter. Eat. Watch. Write a turd. Shit a letter. Eat. Bed."
Haha!"
Haha!"
May 8, 2014
–
49.0%
""The fool's tasks lined up in crushingly tedious procession. Run. Practice. Shit a turd. Write a letter. Eat. Watch. Write a turd. Shit a letter. Eat. Bed.""
May 9, 2014
–
67.0%
"Feeling a bit guilty that a book with so much killing and death has made me laugh out loud so much.
Fight scenes are epic but that downtime between battles is where the real reading magic happens."
Fight scenes are epic but that downtime between battles is where the real reading magic happens."
May 11, 2014
– Shelved as:
good-fantasy
May 30, 2014
– Shelved as:
favorites
October 3, 2016
–
7.0%
October 5, 2016
–
11.0%
"wars were made from ninety-nine parts boredom, usually in the cold and damp, hungry and ill, often hauling a great weight of metal uphill, to one part arse-opening terror."
October 6, 2016
–
14.0%
October 6, 2016
–
26.0%
October 7, 2016
–
40.0%
October 7, 2016
–
40.0%
"I made myself guilty of mass murder so I could be proclaimed innocent of incompetence. Sometimes they hang men for this type of thing, and sometimes they applaud."
October 8, 2016
–
59.0%
"Anyway, it seems to me a man can do an awful lot of evil in no time at all. Swing of a blade is all it takes. Doing good needs time. And all manner of complicated efforts."
October 8, 2016
–
66.0%
October 8, 2016
–
73.0%
"That was the trouble with pride, and courage, and all those clench-jawed virtues bards love to harp on. The more you have, the more likely you are to end up bottom in a pile of dead men."
October 9, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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by
David Sven
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rated it 5 stars
May 11, 2014 01:14PM
Great review. I love the one-liners in this book.
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Of all the First Law books, I think this one is the one I loved most.
I have yet to read the others. I need to get to them sooN!
So glad you enjoyed this one kaora ! I personally loved it too :D
Your status updates (and this review) have made me very curious so I'll keep an eye on this series and might find the time for it next year!
Fantastic review, Kaora. I am reading this one right now and am absolutely obsessed with it. Although, nothing will probably ever beat Best Served Cold for me. I laugh out loud too all the time. Abercrombie definitely has a knack for bringing humor, even in the darkest of scenes!
