Coffee good. Get The Book You MONSTERS: amzn.to/3fPfNgl

"Armour is part of a state of mind in which you admit the possibility of being hit."

“You get scared, ?” A pause, that eye of his glinting as the sun peeped through the branches. “Used to. All the time.” “What changed?” “Got my eye burned out o’ my head.” So much for calming small talk. “Reckon that could change your outlook.” “Halves it.”

"I'm not your ****ing dog". Most brutally nihilistic ending that was a shocking surprise without being at all Deus ex machina which is a serious feat of writing.

Calder: "Knives, and threats, and bribes, and war? What kind of a fucking wizard are you?" Bayaz: "The kind you obey." Sums up the vibe of all Abercrombie books!

Can we please talk about the Chapter in which we get a POV shift every couple of pages? This Chapter is just incredible. To see the battle from different sides of the Battle and from different perspectives within one army. I was speechless

I cannot recommend the audiobooks for this book enough. The entire series, but especially this book. Steven Pacey absolutely nails the emotion and nuance of each and every character. Such a pleasure to listen to.

Curnden Craw is probably one of my favorite characters. Ever.

The "standalone" First Law books aren't really that standalone. I consider them as loose sequels to the first trilogy and they must be read in order of publication to understand the full story.

Fun fact: "The Heroes" has been my favourite book since 2017 (when I first read it) and I didn't know it was part of a bigger story, and the thing I loved the most from it was how these characters had such an interesenting background that was never really shown (later I knew it was because that background was told on the previous novels). So I'm grateful "The Heroes" was the first Joe Abercrombie book I read.

I love the way the audiobooks reader does Gorsts voice

After reading The Heroes is when I knew without a doubt Joe is my favorite author. His ability to pull you into a story and not let go is amazing. His character work is top notch. But I think it is important to start with The Blade Itself and read all the books in order, no reason to jump around bc all the books are very entertaining and worth the read

The Heroes is my favourite Abercrombie book at the moment. It's filled with so many amazing quotes.

My favorite thing about this book is how despite how much it is a "low" fantasy, with a lot of grit and barely any magic playing a part in the narrative, it's still so good at crafting these larger than life, living legend kind of characters, and shows them in a way that allows you to appreciate both the legend and the man behind it, without losing the gravitas of either. I understand you've read A Little Hatred, but coming to it after reading the standalones, and seeing Bremer Dan Gorst and Caul Shivers appearing in those stories is special in a way that few other books can ever manage to do properly.

The Heroes was actually my first Abercrombie book, one hell of a way to get into the series. As a huge Civil War nerd I could immediately tell that it was inspired by Gettysburg, the back and forth flow of combat, the storming of hills and flanking maneuvers, the final glorious charge at the end that gets torn to shreds. Was immediately hooked on the premise, and Abercrombie's writing won me over. Awesome book, imo.

Saw the title. Excitement meter went from 0 to 100! Cannot wait for Daniel to read Red Country. Such a feat.

Gorst is one of my favorite character in his series because of this book..all my life i struggled with a speech impediment and i found the juxtaposition between his inner monologues and the way he views his own verbal expression hugely relatable. in his own mind and in the ears of others he sounds gentle like Micheal Jackson(the simpsons episode with the fake MJ is an example..he even looked like i would imagine Gorst) but in his own ears he sounds like Mickey Mouse and he assumes that all anyone hears. I Empathize greatly with the struggle and non-desire to speak based on a skewed self-perception. to mutter out half sentences that are a stark contrast to the flowing and highly intelligent inner monologues. to see how it effects the respect hes given and how he dooms his own love interest through an inferiority complex in spite of there being actual mutual interest, also how he over compensates with showing might and recklessness.

The Heroes was my favorite before A Little Hatred was released. Bremer Dan Gorst is such an amazing character.

The historical fiction author Bernard Cornwell has written stories involving intimate, medieval battles like the heroes. Books like Azincourt for example. Obvious its not fantasy, but its a good example.

The Heroes is my favourite book of ALL TIME

To me, The Heroes is the best of the standalones and probably the second best overall. I think I enjoyed Last Argument of Kings a little more.

I think this is my favorite novel ever. Like The Killer Angels with fantasy. I loved the sequences where the point of view jumps from one character to another after an interaction between them, giving us both character's perspective of the interaction and their thoughts on each other. It is the first Joe Abercrombie book I read, and it got me hooked on his work.

I'm halfway through second book of first law and I have decided, First Law is my new top favorite book of all time. I love how Joe Abercrombie writes. So realistic! No flowery, lyrical shit yet, everything is so vivid. His characters are so enjoyable, even the ones I was annoyed at at first. Love it! I can't say it enough! I'll certainly be reading all of Abercrombie's books before the end of the year

Damn, this sounds really interesting. I should pick the first law series back up sometime.

My favorite First Law novel. Loved how Joe fleshed out so many side, often antagonistic, characters from earlier books (Calder and Gorst being the prime examples). Black Dow also gave off this Fire Lord Ozai-ic presence which was chilling to experience and see how he’s developed since the climax of Last Argument of Kings. 10/10. Also, did you notice that Whirrun invented the hamburger lol?

This one is *so* good, my fave of the standalones.

Also didn’t expect the shout out and it almost gave me a heart attack

This novel has some of THE BEST combat writing I’ve ever experienced. I felt completely drawn into the battle sequences especially.

I'll admit, your thumbnail saying "War! War! War! War!" made me instantly sing it like the dwarves in Discworld sing "Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!"

The Heroes is probably my 3rd favorite First Law book. 1st-Best Served Cold 2nd-Before They Are Hanged

I just started reading this last night. I decided to just open the book and all of a sudden 3 hours had passed.

Considering Murphy also just posted a video about the war in books, I'm guessing she's the one your colabing with

This and last arguments of kings are just the best first law books for me

Before I watch this I have one thing to say. The heroes is my all time favorite fantasy book.

The culmination of the "Abercrombie Masterpieces Trilogy", consisting of "Last Argument of kings", "Best Served Cold" and "The Heroes" of course. Best fantasy novels ever. The heroes is my favorite due mainly to the staggering amount of deep character moments (something you unfortunately haven't touched upon). SPOILERS: Gorst realizing he was always miserable, not just since that one event, Whirrun telling Craw that the sword is only a curse, Beck realizing he was made to be a wood choper and not a warrior and that it made him the luckiest character in the book, even Black Dow showing he is as human as the rest of us reminiscing about being a potter, and to top it all off - Craw getting excited about returning to his crew family even knowing how horrible war is, because that is his life and all he knows... Seriously man, less than 10 for this great study of characters, war and the purpose we find in it all is just missing the entire point of this book... especially if you did get into it :(

Can’t believe no one mentions the bit where Red Hat does his Bloody Nine trick and it’s enough to make everyone run like billy-oh! Put shivers down my spine. Not even in the same country and still deciding the outcome of battles. The most feared man in the north. I kept thinking about that whenever stour nightfall was posing.

At first I didn’t find The Heroes that interesting but by the end I LOVED it, so glad I read it before A Little Hatred

The Heroes was the first Abercrombie book I read, and I absolutely loved it. Read all of first law since and while I generally agree with you, it worked as an entry point for me

Loved this book, it had all of the realism and grit of a Bernard Cornwell novel but with Joe Abercrombies witty dialogue and brilliant characters. He actually writes at a decent pace and is only in his 40's too so hopefully we can look forward to lots more books in the world.

I actually tried to make this my entry to the first law world and read the first hundres pages. I enjoyed it but could tell i was missing a backdrop of history. I put it down, read the trilogy and picked it back up(i should have read best served cold too). Loved it so much more knowing the history Joe made to get us to this point. Feels very authentic to how a battle of this scope would occur. My favorite book from my favorite author.

Does anyone else just look at Daniel's book collection in the background? On that note, I would love to see a tour of his library at some point

I had quite a few "Wait, what?" moments when I began reading this book, but I stuck with it and was vastly rewarded. Joe Abercrombie is one of those authors where I get giddy when a new novel drops.

*Oh, how I have waited for this moment Daniel*

loving the frenetic energy Daniel!

This one is probably my favorite of all the First Law books! I’m not usually a big military fantasy guy but this book is just incredibly written. His character and dialogue work is always so gripping

Have waited ages for you to read it. My heart jumped when I saw this at my front screen. Yes yes yes!

This book is soooo good. I love the standalone novels much more than the original trilogy because the way he framed these stories in different genres almost was brilliant. And seriously, who’s better than Abercrombie at character work?

I describe Abercrombie's work as Pessimistic Fantasy, rather than grim dark. GD has alot of negative baggage which I don't think really applies to Joe's work. This book felt like Generation Kill, but swords, and I loved it.

I’m actually kind of surprised that no one has taken that title yet, it’s literally called “heroes” lmao. But your review gives me hope that it’s not quite as generic as it’s name, I’ll be sure to check it out- after the other books of course

Haven't read First Law yet but I need to very soon! This book sounds exactly like something I would love to read, great review.

The Heroes is my fav First Law Book. (Tho keep in mind I haven't read the newest books of the new trilogy yet.) Kinda spoiler for the book so read with caution I absolutely loved the chapter with the random soldiers where you are in pov of one soldier, see his death and are then in the pov of the one that killed the previous guy, see him die and so on. That kinda hit hard

I absolutely live First Law but I really want to learn more about Gurkhul and the lore of the demons and the eaters. I'm ready for some answers

The Heroes is Abercrombie's best book in my opinion.

Right now Im working on the third Stormlight book, but my next book of his I plan on reading is Before They are Hanged. So far it feels like grim dark Lord of the Rings in the best of ways. He definitely takes the lotr tropes and makes them something new and original.

next series i read is first law, sold

Before even watching the review. I love this book so much. Because Joe Abercrombie was clearly intend on exploring how a book would turn out in such a small timespan, focused on a single battle over a couple days. It's such a successful experiment on his part. I'm itching to see if other authors are adapting this idea.

I loved this book so much. What you did not mention, is the simple fact, that in this conflict, you as a reader are going to like and understand every single character. And you know, that soon, they will be at each other's throat. And you can not escape this fact ever. That made The Heroes the most epic and gutting book I have ever read. And of course because of Whirrun, who is kissed by the moon.

Daniel chugging that coffee is a big mood

Great review Daniel !

Great review, thanks for sharing it. Becky's story and payoff was maybe my favourite. I totally agree what you mean about the depth - it reminds me more of an account of Waterloo (which I'm sure is what Joe was going for) than say, Helm's Deep.

This is a bloody brilliant review. TBR'd this, instantly!!!

2:47 ''Im working on a video with another youtuber about battles in fantasy, but im not gonna disclose it cause its early stages'' Merphy 1 hour ago; releases a video about battles in fantasy. Coincidence? I think not!

The Heroes is my favorite fantasy book of all time, though at least in First Law terms, Red Country follows very closely behind. But the Heroes just has a way of immersing you in this environment of conflict. You see just how much of warfare is just sitting around, talking, waiting, and followed by moments of sheer terror. Casualties is likely my favorite battle chapter in the genre as well, how perspective travels from character to character as they fall. The scene with Beck and his small crew fighting in the house might be one of the most harrowing scenes the series has to offer. But man, Whirrun of Bligh just had all my favorite moments in this book. He had such a fun personality and was endearing in his crack-nut tendencies. I think those cheese-traps might just take off. SPOILERS! Bayaz brings such an element of menace to the story, his gaze falling all over this battle and from the context of previous books, you know he has nothing good in mind for what is to come and you can feel his fingers manipulating so much even without arcane means. Finree was my second favorite character as it's the one spot where we get something of an outside perspective and it's her and Gorst and Beck where we get few really good takes on what Trauma does to people in warfare. Tunney was fun and a nice way to break up the pacing, unfortunately while I enjoy all the POV characters in this, he and Craw I have the least to say about. And last but not least, Shivers. Man what a journey this guy has been through and what a journey he still has. In some ways, I feel like the First Law series is a story about Shivers and his journey through it. I can't wait to see Daniel's perspective on Red Country and I really can't wait for A Trouble with Peace to come out later this year.

Found this in the British Heart Foundation for £2. Abercrombie is my one of my teacher's favourite authors. He always brings him up when he sees me reading WoT, LotR, SA, ASoIaF etc. Seems promising. I'll read it over this week.

The Heroes is one my favorite Joe A. books, truly what I'd love to see more in fantasy but thats my favorite style

I loved this book. As he said in your interview the book was inspired from the war movie "Bridge Too Far" which is an awesome movie.

His attention to detail in the battle aspects reminded me of a Bernard Cornwell Sharpe novel. Cprl Tunney would be well at home in Sharpe's regiment.

I actually read this one before I read any other Abercrombie books and really enjoyed it. Especially the way they mythologise one of the main characters from First Law - seeing the disconnect between the way he is written in The Heroes vs the reality of the main trilogy was awesome. Plus Wirrhun of Bligh is one of my favourite characters ever.

Actually finished reading heroes last week. Great Abercrombie as usual.

Glen Cook, author of the Black Company books, is a navy vet

After the grimdark anti-Belgariad of the trilogy, and the grimdark Count of Monte Christo, we have the grimdark Sharpe's Waterloo. And I loved it. Of course I like decent epic battles in my fantasy. Next up, the Western gets the Abercrombie grimdark treatment. Not saying which book.

Thx for the Video...Will have to check this out...Glad you mentioned Black Company, which was on the back of my brain while listening to you. You should read the 2nd and 3rd books of that series when ya get the time. (The rest are optional in my opinion, but one wants to know what happens after). Stay safe. Gruß from Germany

You're very close to me reading the First Law books. I finished a couple of weeks ago and you release this review. I mostly agree with you. I think the pacing being a bit odd made it a little harder for me to get into, but after the first third I was completely hooked. I think by the end I preferred to Best Served Cold. I'm so excited to read Red Country and finally A Little Hatred

The Heroes is my favorite of the independent novels between The First Law trilogies! It was EPIC!!

Sounds really interesting. I'm just finishing up Best Served Cold and I'll probably read Red Country next (since I own that one too). Waiting for this book to go on sale.

Love The Heroes, it's my top 3 favorite books of all time

I haven't read The First Law yet (I plan to), but I've read Half a King and Half a World, and what struck me about Joe Abercrombie's writing was that, while it was very different from what I was used to seeing in fantasy as a genre, I was still drawn in, partially because of his character work and world-building (which are masterful) but I was also struck by how different the novels felt, even from other Grimdark authors. I felt like I was in an alien land, and it's hard to explain the feeling I had, but it reminded me of my first explorations into fantasy as a child, the wonder (and sometimes horror) of what I was reading, the immersion into a world where I didn't have familiar touchpoints that helped me make sense of things. I was completely thrown off-kilter from the get-go, and while that was disorienting at first, it grew on me until I just had to know where these characters would end up. It's been a long time since I've felt that compelled to keep reading, even though it made me deeply uncomfortable. I think it was that discomfort that kept me so interested, and curious, in what was going to happen next. Can't wait to read this one (after First Law, obviously). Great review.

I think Best Served Cold and The Heroes is essentially just book 4 and book 5 after the original trilogy. These both take place in the same world, and just shortly after the original trilogy and even have "some" of the same characters. These don't strike me as standalones at all really.

3:33 and this is where I started because it was the only 'First Law' I found at the time and looked like a good stand alone. Can't wait to re-read the series in a proper order.

Heroes is my favourite Abercrombie novel in the First Law world. I love Curnden Craw and his crew. Whirrun of Bligh is probably one of my all-time favourite characters in fiction. I would actually love to read a book on his story, just awesome.

Great video 👍. Where should I start with first law?

Reading First Law in order and I’m now half way through Heroes. All the books so far have been more like movie scenes than literature. They are fast paced and the text is almost entirely devoted to what is happening and what is being said in that scene, the same experience you get in a movie. The Heroes is the first book that actually feels like a book. It’s slower, more descriptive and more atmospheric. The POV characters in this book are no where near the best in the series, but this book is the most immersive so far, even if it does sacrifice some of the ‘fun’ of the previous books to get there.

This was actually the first book i read from Abercrombie. I really loved it and would mention that this book gave me some serious laughs at some points (like the settlement of Jalenhorm troops described by Gorst on the first day of the battle)

The Heroes is my absolute favourite standalone - but Red Country is sooooo very close. What I loved about The Heroes is its critique of war itself. The futility of it and how it affects the lives of veterans.

WH40K: I'm all about the Grimdark Joe Ambercrombie: Hold my beer (reluctantly).

I hope you have the opportunity to read/review Red Country sometime this year

Having the point of view character change from one death to the next in the heat of a battle.... so... damn... good. Also no need to debate.... you must read all of the books in order. First law does not have a stand alone book. You will almost certainly not be able to appreciate the characters if you don't. If you don't know Bremer dan Gorst prior to this... going backwards would change so much.

For those interested in an excellent mix of historical inspired medieval combat and fantasy, I might suggest The Red Knight by Miles Cameron. As the first book of the Traitor Son series, it is a ton of fun and really utilizes Cameron's background as an author of historic fiction (Miles is a pseudonym, most of his other works are under his actual name Christian) who really can strike a balance between detailed tactical minutiae without sacrificing the pace of prose. In fact, I'd love to see Daniel tackle series at some point.

Finally!!! Made my day

The Heroes is absolutely one of my very favorite Abercrombie books. Glad you liked it, Daniel.

Just wait until Red Country, my fav Abercrombie book

Sometimes I have no idea what you are talking about but it’s very entertaining to watch and I always leave with something new 💖💖💖

Gotta say I have loved all of the First Law books, I'm halfway through Sharp Ends now. I think I'll pick up something different after I'm done and leave A Little Hatred until closer to TTWP is released.

Finished this book yesterday and it's awesome

I actually read the Heroes as a first Joe Abercrombie book, because I thought it was a pure standalone book. I really liked it, but after reading The First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold and then rereading The Heroes I loved it so much more. I finally could understand all the little details and hints and what's more important I understood all the characters' work, motives and how they were shaped by the world they live in

Great book and great review

I went into this book fairly unenthusiastic because I'm not usually a fan of battle scenes. But this book was so funny. Gorst and Caulder are both hilarious on their own and the way Abercrombie juxtaposes povs is great. Maybe not my favorite FL book, but i respect it alot

Got that first First Law book just sitting on my bookcase looking at me in disappointment that I've not picked it up yet!

I loved how concise and succint this book was. No frills, no padding. Just one long battle that was brilliant and thrilling from start to finish

I enjoyed this book, though I had more gripes with it than some of his others, like the Tunny character (boring and unnecessary imo), or the ending which without spoiling it, was something Abercrombie has done before. My favourite part of this book though is its scathing condemnation of glory, heroism, and war in general. There's a bunch of good quotes regarding this, for example: “So you love war. I used to think you were a decent man. But I see now I was mistaken. You're a hero.” or: "I'm a fucking coward." "Maybe." Craw jerked his thumb over his shoulder at [spoiler's] corpse. "There's a hero. Tell me who's better off.”