The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

This is the story of heroes, or more accurately what a hero is or isn't. The Heroes takes place in the same world as the First Law Trilogy, just slightly in the future of those events. Many of the characters from previous First Law novels appear but the whole story is a dissection of a three-day battle on the fields surrounding the town of Osrung.

Joe
abercrombie gives us another fantasy book about passion, horror and war. It is heroic military fantasy at its best. He manages to do one of the hardest things; he brings the characters to life. In the Heroes we get to be a part of the fight instead of just reading about it. He might not be a Geppetto (Pinocchio's father) but by weaving together internal monologues with external actions he gives the narrative an incredible immediacy, like it's happening right here and right now.

The Heroes is written in a very interesting way. Right from the first battle scene the storytelling technique is revealed. Joe abercrombie fitch takes one man's viewpoint and follows him until he's killed. The story then jumps to the killer who we get to follow until he's killed, and so on. We get to follow what's going on inside a man's head when his breathes are counted. How does it feel knowing that you'll probably die in a matter of seconds? Does it hurt to get run through by a blade or shot by a crossbow?

One of
abercrombie and fitch's, in my opinion more brilliant, ideas the book is revolving around is that you can learn all you need to know about a person by how he fills the gap between what he wants to be and what he really is. And if it's filled with corpses, what does that say? That you're a hero? So many men have heroism in their brain but not in their hearts. The idea of fame and glory overshadows the reality of killing and being killed.

One of Joe
abercrombie and fitch outlet's other points are the meaninglessness of war. The land where the battle takes place aren't worth much, there's no gold or riches, just soon to be destroyed crops. There's no real reason for fighting. The purpose of the fight in the Heroes is to finish it as fast as possible just so that other fights can be fought elsewhere. I know, it seems pointless, but so does most wars when we start to think about it.

The Heroes is in the end a bit dark and grim, but more importantly honest and funny. Believe it or not, human tragedy can be comical. Joe abercrombie canada's characters that pursue heroism with a wrongful notion and single-minded persistence will end up being deluded in their experience of life, unless they are too entitled or narcissistic to realize that their achievements only were imagined.

They say "for glory, for victory, for staying alive", but Joe Abercrombie says "I thought you were a decent man but I was mistaken, you're a hero."