Starred review from December 13, 2010
This blood-drenched, thought-provoking dissection of a three-day battle is set in the same world as Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy (The Blade Itself, etc.), but stands very well alone. Union commander Lord Marshal Kroy coordinates the fight with the aid of a motley group of incompetent, self-important officers. The strangely sympathetic Col. Bremer dan Gorst is officially a royal observer who nurses a burning desire to kill or be killed. Leading a much smaller army against the Union is Black Dow, whose grip on the throne of the Northmen is tenuous and based on fear and brutality. Calder, a slippery and cunning egotist, advocates peace while plotting to take Black Dow's place. 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.
January 1, 2011
Black Dow, Protector of the North, wages war against the King of the Union as their great armies meet on a plot of ground near a ring of stones known as "The Heroes." Heroic fantasy, with an emphasis on military actions and magical warfare, marches to the forefront in Abercrombie's (Best Served Cold) latest novel. Featuring a colorful cast of warriors, wizards, and royalty, this tale of individual heroics in the context of a three-day battle blends broad-scale action with the gritty details of men at war. VERDICT Reminiscent of Steven Erikson's Malazan novels and Jim Butcher's Codex Alera novels in terms of scope and military action, this will appeal particularly to military fantasy buffs.
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2011
A stand-alone set in the same world as the author's The First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold (2009), this down-in-the-mud military epic may call itself a fantasy, but it reads more like a bracing blast of cruel reality.
The King of the Union seeks the overthrow of Black Dow, the uncouth warlord who calls himself the Protector of the North, which sets the doughty but fractious fighters of the North against the more sophisticated and numerous army of the Union. Over the course of three days, well-meaning but incompetent generals, bloodthirsty thugs, vengeful magi, scheming princes and military wives, cynical veterans and painfully na�ve recruits engage in bitter clashes in an attempt to seize the hill bearing the standing stones known as the Heroes. The plot is almost incidental, a mere vehicle to convey the author's gritty, eloquent screed on how war is no neatly ordered chessboard; rather, it is a messy series of blundered encounters, where cowardice and mismanagement meet happenstance and bloodlust. Brave warriors die pointlessly, and those with the connections, luck and ability to turn up at the right time are dubbed heroes.
Long on message and nuanced character development, short on entertainment value.
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February 15, 2011
When hes not writing large-scale fantasy novels, Abercrombie moonlights as a freelance film editor, a skill that undoubtedly contributes to his forte of crafting cinematically vivid action and crisp, witty dialogue. His latest novel revisits territory well trodden in his First Law trilogy, which opened with The Blade Itself (2006), and traverses an imaginary landscape reminiscent of a medieval Europe populated by citizens of the Union Empire and its tribal enemies to the north. Here the story concentrates on a sometimes violent, sometimes bafflingly strange three-day battle taking place on and around an insignificant Northlands hill crowned by monolithic burial stones called The Heroes. While the battle looms as only one stepping stone in a larger campaign by the Unions Lord Marshal Kroy in preventing the Norths Black Dow from seizing more lands, the clash of key adversaries will prove decisive. Yet the premise here is less important than the multiple political intrigues, scandals, and jealous feuds enacted by Abercrombies parade of colorful characters. One of Abercrombies most masterfully executed and compellingly readable novels to date.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)