The Heroes

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

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.

Critic reviews

"Lord of the rings as directed by Kurosawa" --- Wall Street Journal.

"Magnificent, richly entertaining." --- Time

"Abercrombie never glosses over a moment of the madness, passion, and horror of war, nor the tribulations that turn ordinary people into the titular heroes." --- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"The Heroes is an indictment of war and the duplicity that corrupts men striving for total power: bloody and violent, but never gratuitously so, it's imbued with cutting humour, acute characterisation and world-weary wisdom about the weaknesses of the human race. Brilliant." --- Eric Brown, The Guardian (UK)

"Delivered in Abercrombie's trademark witty style ... This is an action-packed novel full of brutality, black humour and razor-sharp characterisation." --- Dave Bradley, SFX (5 star review)

"It's an excellent tale and arguably Abercrombie's best book yet ... Its pace really showcases his talent for differently voiced and realistically motivated characters ... any genre fan can enjoy what's one of the best fantasy books of the past year." --- SciFi Now (5 star review)

Liked best served cold better

Love all his books but this felt the most shallow. Too much war and not enough of the larger universe

Fabulous

Abercrombie keeps me coming back for more with his hard-edged, morally questionable characters, and epic fantasy.

He is in my top five without question.

Engaging

Well read, love this series, look forward to continuing to listening to the conclusion of this vivid story.

So what studio will pick up Joe's work?

Amazing work, great story telling. Rich world. Action till your nose bleeds. Author would be a great pickup for HBO.

Bloody fantastic

Inexpressibly well written, and the performance was peerless. This book is one of the best I've ever read--anywhere. It is Joe Abercrombie's best so far, and impressive. I guess those are the times...