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. He rolled stiffly over, groaning. His sword was gone, his right hand red raw. Twisted from his grip as he fell. The blade his father had given him the day he received his commission in the King’s Own. So proud. He wondered if his father would have been proud now. He was in among trees. The orchard? He had abandoned his regiment. Or had they abandoned him? The rules of military behaviour, so unshakeable a foundation until a few moments ago, had vanished like smoke in a breeze. It had happened so fast. Colonel Bremer dan Gorst (POV) – royal observer of the Northern War and disgraced king’s First Guard.

Abercrombie does an excellent job, both in the preparation of the battle, focusing on the many characters involved, and in the incredible action scenes in which the realism and drama emerges forcefully. Masterful.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.

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. They hopped over a ditch patched with brown puddles and were out of the trampled crops at the foot of the slope. ‘Up the hill, you bastards!’ screeched Scabna, waving his axe. I'll leave you with a piece of wisdom by this book's real Hero, Whirrun of Bligh: "Armour is part of a state of mind in which you admit the possibility of being hit." Las caracterizaciones y diálogos que se saca de la manga este genio, con una gran variedad de personajes, los que regresan como los nuevos, fueron increíbles. Increíbles.

The world is dark and that’s not a surprise since it is an Abercrombie book. I like how some of the secondary and minor characters from the older books gets bigger roles here and are thus more fleshed now for me. I think if I reread the first trilogy it will be a much better experience now!

Nella trilogia della Prima Legge si è divertito a sovvertire i cliché del genere puntando tutto sui rapporti tra i protagonisti tralasciando la storia che ricopre solo un ruolo marginale. Terrific characterizations aside, one of the best strength of the book definitely lies within the stupendous battle scenes. Abercrombie’s masterful usage of consecutive perspective change exhibited the relentless coup de grace dealt from both sides of the armies brutally. This was also the first time I read a fantasy novel that utilized the view of war from the eyes of a common soldier, and they’re terrifying as hell. The action sequences felt incredibly cinematic; it’s brutal, visceral, and bloody thrilling. I’ve read plenty of epic/grimdark fantasy, and other than John Gwynne, no one else can write realistic and explosive close-quartet combat scenes—imbued with raw emotions—as good as Abercrombie does. Every action scenes were truly breathtaking; most epic fantasy books featured one climax sequence to conclude their story, but The Heroes featured five. Consisting of five parts, each part displayed a compelling vivid war or duel scenes. Combined with Abercrombie's impeccable prose, The Heroes is filled with memorable and rewarding battle sequences. The words froze in his throat. Cavalry had emerged from behind a village even further to their left. A considerable body of cavalry, bearing down on their flank, hooves threshing up a pall of dust. He heard the gasps of alarm, felt the mood shift from worried resolve to horror.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) This is one of those books which compared to other Abercrombie novels is a bit more modest, but compared to any other book on the market is still superb. The world building and writing is one of the best that I've ever read, its no surprise Abercrombie is good at what he does, I think its safe to say that he's the best Grimdark author. The writing style adapted here is easy to comprehend and lots of old English is used, its unlike when authors use contemporary English for Epic Fantasy. This book is written in third person multiple POV of the main characters but during the battles the book was narrated by random characters. Names turned over by time, like the plough turning the soil. Bringing up the new while the old were buried in the mud.”