The First Law Universe by Joe Abercrombie spans a two trilogies, a short story collection and three standalones. In the official reading order, the standalones should be read after the first trilogy however, they can technically be read on their own. I am currently working my way through the full series so opted to do the official reading order. The Heroes then, is essentially the fifth book I have read in the First Law Universe and boy was it the worst yet. In this post, I’ll be getting to the root of why.
They’re gearing up for the lastest war between the North and the Union. Black Dow’s men are poised on The Heroes, with Craw, Caulder and a number of other divisions spread throughout the region. The Union on the other hand, have Bayaz the unpredictable magician, a leader whose daughter is meddling in the affairs of men and teams hosted by the King’s friends. The clash is coming but will this be the battle that decides the fate of the way once and for all?
First of all, I went into this book with fairly low expectations as I hadn’t heard great things about from the Becca and the Books readalong of the series (though I’m behind on actually taking part in it). As well as that, the book is basically one long battle scene and these aren’t usually my favourite part of books, in fact they’re usually the parts that I skim read more than anything else. They’re just not as engaging to me as the actual build up. Safe to say, it wasn’t the best start to reading this one.
Initially, I was getting into the story but it was difficult to get a grasp of the many different characters within it. We read from the perspectives – in third person – of all the different sectors of each of the armies which obviously have a lot of characters within them. This meant that overall – and especially in the opening few chapters – it was difficult to keep track of who was who as quite a few of the characters were less familiar from earlier books in the series. That being said, there were some characters that I became invested in. Craw and Caulder were probably my two favourites and I also enjoyed reading Gorst’s perspective too. A lot of the characters are also very complex and morally grey which gives them an extra layer of interesting for the reader.
However, for the most part this one was just a slog to get through. It was so boring…. That sounds really harsh but, I really struggled to get through it. It took me so long to read this book and, whilst I was busy, I just didn’t want to pick it up even when I had the time. The Heroes is 600 pages of setting up for a battle, doing battle and resolving the conflict. There was just not enough in it for me in terms of plot and character development to actually enjoy the reading experience. Every so often, there was a moment that was engaging for about 100 pages but then it quickly lost that compulsion again.
I do want to note that Joe Abercrombie is a good writer and I have enjoyed his writing style in all of the previous books in the series. This one was fine too and I enjoyed the sarcasm and humour he injected into the story through the character of Gorst. Like the rest of the books in the series, this is a dark story. It has gruesome sexual references that make you cringe rather than root for the romances – they’re certainly not sexy in any way. The humour I mentioned is also very black humour about murder and enjoying killing which still manages to be humorous in a more perverse kind of way. These morally grey characters are the true definition of being unlikeable but also, some of them, have a quality that you can’t help but root for despite their actions.
My main issue with this so-called standalones though is the fact that they feature characters and references to all the other books in the series and the previous standalone. I truly don’t think you would get anything out of this book by reading it alone. Perhaps, Best Served Cold, the first standalone, could be enjoyed on its own merit but, unless you absolutely love battle sequences, I wouldn’t read this one without having read the rest of the books in the series. You won’t understand how the characters came into the position that they are in at the start of the book or the references to other nations and their leaders without it. Why these are marketed as standalones I don’t know!
I hate to be so negative but I didn’t enjoy this one and gave it a rating of two stars overall. I understand the merits of Abercrombie’s mind in the world and characters but it was overall just a drag to get through. It wasn’t compelling enough for a higher rating.
Rating: 2 stars
Have you read this one? What did you think?
Amie x
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