The Heroes

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Length: 23 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's 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

Need more like this.

Very very well done, looking forward to the next one .great story all around, enjoy the journey my friends.

buy it

best narrator, close 2nd tim gerard reynolds but boy oh boy is this guy great

just an unbelievably good book for fantasy. bedtime stories for days. epic. out of over 150 audible fantasies, this is very well done and up among the rirya chronicles and the like. instabuy the next in the series

Work of Genius

Abercrombie is a genius. His characters are rich, complex, and highly flawed. He is so good you almost feel like giving up your own writing. Almost.

Can't wait to read/listen to more of his work!

Outstanding

Joe Abercrombie continues to shine. The story was well crafted and truely gripping. The plot twists and turns, making you feel as though you know where the story is going, only to surprise you with all manner of surprises. The language is as gritty as battle scenes described. The characters are despised, but in equal measure captivating. The battle between good and evil is played out through the eyes of the little man as much as the grotesque hero. There are real parallels between the heartlessness and self interest of the characters in the book and the people of the 21st century. This, for me, was one of the best books I have listened to in the last 12 months. Highly recommended.

Mr. Abercrombie, you're the best.

Cunning, funny, fast! I love the language, the plot and, most of all, the characters!
Really amazing read!

"Heroes" Give the Great Leveler Plenty of Work!

Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes was a can't stop listening to audiobook, wonderfully read by Michael Page. It is full of humor and terror; exciting and horrific battle scenes; and believably flawed characters. Abercrombie creates a vivid fantasy world that exists in its own terms with its own history and cultures and that also sharply comments on our own violent real world, through epigraphs about heroes and war by the likes of Berthold Brecht, Will Rogers, and Mickey Mantle, as well as through its depiction of the unheroic folly of "the Black Business" of war, fought by canon-fodder commoners (from ignorant new recruits to cynical grizzled veterans) led by incompetent, arrogant, jealous, and overly bold commanders, everything clotted with the devastating and wasteful cost of bodies, lives, land, and resources. What is war for, finally? Money? Glory? Xenophobia? Patriotism? Power? Boredom?

The novel is an unsparing investigation of martial heroism, asking from a variety of points of view what is a hero: the man who is an insanely brave and monstrously capable killer? The man who is a "straight edge" who strives "to do the right thing" no matter what? The man who is killed outside a battle by friendly fire? The man who leads from the front? The man who leads from the rear? The man who gives up war for life on a farm?

And in addition to all that, Abercrombie writes many memorable characters, witty lines, cool similes, vivid descriptions, and page-turning set piece scenes.

Michael Page was great, doing all sorts of different voices, all with perfect pitch and emotion and intention, bringing the book even more to life. My favorite is his high-pitched and nasal Gorst, his utterances never failing to surprise me by how mis-matched they are with his hulking body and cynical thoughts.

If you like the epic fantasies of Steven Erickson and George R. R. Martin, you'd probably enjoy this one.

Brilliant stuff !

Buy it ! Just buy it. Doesn't matter what your tastes are. This is high quality writing combined with a high quality reading performance. Listened to it 3 times over the last year and will no doubt do so again in the future.

One of the best books on war.

incredible narrator performance.

Not much story, but superb characters and action.
The author shows what war is all about from different point of views.

Giving a story to the living and the dying

A realistic story in the eyes of a living man and a dying one. And my compliments for the narrator, just one word he tells and you know witch character it is. Just marvellous

Disjointed and confusing

Not my type of story. I just couldn't stay interested. I couldn't even keep track of the characters and which side they were on.