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The Heroes cover art

The Heroes

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Editor reviews

Prepare for one of the fiercest battle’s you’ll ever hear in The Heroes, written by the brilliant Joe Abercrombie with the complete and unabridged fantasy audiobook narrated by English actor Steven Pacey. Black Dow is a legend. He will kill any man that stands in his way. When the Union Army starts heading towards the North, he prepares for battle and for victory. There are only two people brave enough to fight against this impenetrable enemy alongside him. This is an all-encompassing saga of incredible scope and unparalleled depth. Available now from Audible.

Summary

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 neighbour, 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.

Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts or even the strongest arms that prevail.

Three men. One battle. No Heroes.

©2011 Joe Abercrombie (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

What listeners say about The Heroes

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

New recording with the original narrator

This book was originally sold with a change of narrator from the First Law books however the publisher has taken note and re-recorded this title and the following book with Steven Pacey. If you bought this with the other narrator you can re-download the title and it will be the new version with Steven Pacey. Excellant news given his brilliant performance.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The best of Joe Abercrombie's books

some of the reviews put me off initially about how this was set over too short a period of time and it was an experiment by the author, however I found it the most enjoyable of all of Joe Abercrombie's books (which I stumbled across whilst feeling lost, looking for something to replace the whole game of thrones series which I'd just listened to back to back NB Game of Thrones series is fantastic but Steven Pacey is a far superior narrator). I like the lack of magic and I like the 'heroes' on each side of the battle. The work is thought provoking. I'm missing Steven Pacey's voice already and will now no doubt download something else he's narrated with my credit that's just arrived.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Bloodthirsty antiwar adventure

I have now listened to this for the third time each time understanding a bit more of the complexities of the plot and understanding more of the character of the major protagonists. A grand yarn that I cane to before the First Law but I corrected that to find out more of the history. The enjoyment of the book is enhanced tremendously by the masterful narration of Stephen Pacey: a man with a hundred accents.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Can't get enough


Very different to the other JA novels, but he just keeps getting better and better

Story – 5/5

Joe Abercrombie has taken a different approach to this story – he has removed pretty much all of the plot, and created an entire story based on a single battle between the Union and the North which spans a few days.

What this story does concentrate on though is the character development and how different people cope with a bloody battle from both sides and all officer levels (including new recruits). He does this superbly, incorporating his usual sharp whit and ensuring that all characters are extremely likeable; both the good and the bad ones. I especially loved Wirren of Blye’s character (apologies if I have spelt that wrong), even though he wasn’t a main character in the story. As usual with JA, I found myself laughing out loud on a regular basis.

As you can expect with a story-long battle, there is plenty of action – probably the most I have come across in a single novel before. There was no confusion for what was happening, even though the small interwoven sections of each day of the battle make it an extremely complex story to tell. This shows masterful writing on JA’s part, and a very well deserved 5/5 stars

Performance – 5/5

Steven Pacey is one of the best narrators out there. His character acting was flawless, each having a distinctive and believable voice. His narration enhanced the dark comedy and whit of Joe Abercrombie’s writing, and I felt myself absorbed into the action scenes/battles.

Music/sound effects between scenes/chapters was a nice touch as well, although it would have been nicer to not re-use sound effects from the previous books.

Overall – 5/5

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disapointing after the First Law Trilogy

I loved the First Law Trilogy by the same Author, and Stephen Pacey is my favourite narrator, so I eagerly downloaded this title and started to listen with relish.



Overall I was somewhat disappointed with the story, it has none of the character development that the First Law had, and as one reviewer here points out - the characters names and titles are not important. And this is its failing.



You feel no real empathy with the characters, and although the book is set over a very short period it seems to drag to its conclusion. One of the rare times that an abridged version may be preferable.



Can we have another story focused on Glokter please!!!

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Nothing like his previous work

Quite predictable, none of the knife edge moments where the story can go either way like in the last two novels. The relationship developed with most of the characters feels superficial. Especially as most of them seem to do little that is significant. I simply listened to the end to say that I had finished it. Not because I was curious to discover the plot as in the former four stories. Not recommended.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Dissapointed

Having listened to all the other books from Joe Abercrombie this was the first and only one I have not really liked. Its OK is about all I could say, It seemed almost like an experimental writing spanning just a few days in the timeline of the book, just not quite enough story for me there I am afraid and really felt a bit slow.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterly

This is great stuff. Ok, a lot of swearing is involved but some is extremely funny. This book is an exploration of what is a hero, if indeed any such thing actually exists, and - even where it does - does the person subject to that label think of themselves as such.

To maintain a narrative of a battle lasting just 3 days and maintain interest is a feat in itself. Back are some old charaters that minored in the First Law Trilogy, Gorst being the most obvious and of course Caul Shivers from Best Served Cold. The story looks at war generally, why wars are fought, considers if they ever serve any real purpose and, provided you 'look' as you read, you find many other issues to occupy your mind. The battle scenes are excellent as always and this is a superb adition to Joe's already impressive publications.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Maybe it's just me but I'm sure I've read this already...

A wronged man, a fallen outsider, saying one thing and thinking another.

Battling Union generals.

Young people on each side discovering themselves.

It's all just far too similar to many other Joe Abercrombie books. Maybe it's the way Steven Pacey reads it, but Gorst in this book is spouting the thoughts of Glokta from the First Law books.

And two army officers who think each other 'a***s' is Poulder vs Kroy and then quelle suprise, when Mitterick replaces Kroy he too suddenly gains wisdom and reason, just like Kroy did.

This is good writing, but it smacks of the publisher telling the author to just knock out the same plot again because the readers liked it last time.

I have bought Red Country but if it's also just a rehash of something else then it will be the last Joe Abercrombie book I buy.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, sad to see it end.

I?ve just finished The Heroes and would strongly recommend it - terrific, gritty battle scenes and some great gallows humour from the soldiers help to make it an audiobook you can really get immersed it. By the time I finished it, I felt like I was waving goodbye to old friends.

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9 people found this helpful