Heroes Die

The First of the Acts of Caine

By: Matthew Stover

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Fantasy, 2013

Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does.

At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he is shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet - and bound to keep his rage in check.

But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife, Pallas Rill, has mysteriously disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her, he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds.

©1998 Matthew Woodring Stover (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Stover's fans and those who like their fantasy/SF tinged red should enjoy this energetic tale." ( Publishers Weekly)

" Day of the Jackal meets Lord of the Rings.... A marvelous conspiracy thriller of worlds within worlds, where no one is necessarily who or what they seem." (Simon R. Green)

"Stefan Rudnicki performs with the skill of a master swordsman as he slices through the action scenes. His gravelly tone is perfect for the story as he portrays Caine's controlled wrath and tightly leashed passion." ( AudioFile)

A rather dark and violent fantasy

The book has an interesting concept. The 'realities' are not really spelled out until quite a ways in, though, so you have to just go with the flow until, all of a sudden, the setting makes sense. Of course, the book doesn't present a "future" that could be possible - like some types of sci-fi where you can see how technology could advance to the point that humankind could reach the described future - the fantasy component is too much for that, but as long as you can suspend disbelief, the story's setting/reality makes enough sense.

It is pretty violent and quite mature (language and actions, no sex though). It is kinda like a dark noir fantasy vigilante story. You might like this book if you like the kind of "human darkness" found in Joe Abercrombie's books: where men are very very bad, and nobody really calls them on their very bad behavior until the HERO steps in. My only problem with the book, actually, is that I think it went on a bit too long, and there was just a smidge too much political commentary on the state of the world (with the suggestion that the path it's following will result (socially) in where this book takes us). Maybe the moral in this story is "true", but I still prefer my butt-kicking to come without lectures.

It has a tone very similar to Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon series - and a kinda similar setting... but Morgan's is less "fantasy" based and quite a bit more sexually graphic. I'm going to read the rest of the series. The narration is very good.

Best Anti-Hero ever! Love this series.

Great descriptive fight scenes and great internal monologues for third-person. Very original story with complicated twists. Also, you never go wrong with this narrator.

Really. Really. No seriously, its really good.

I can't believe I just found this. I'm only half way through and this book is so good I had to write a review.

Great book

Unable to stop listening. Kept me always wanting to know what was next. Great story. Great narrator.

Enjoyable, but not outstanding.

Although it was an interesting idea for a setting, at first I couldn't quite get into the genre mixing, as the SciFi story/element wasn't catching my interest. But a few chapters it hooked me. When I was done with the book I was satisfied by the story, but I'm waffling on going on to the sequel.

What I liked:
The characters were written well enough to make you care about them.
Story was fairly fast paced and kept you entertained.
The conflict in both worlds was engaging and interesting.

What I disliked:
The "fantasy" side of the story was violent, but not truly dark or gritty.
There wasn't much development of the mythology or magical system.
Some of the dialog was nearing childish and caused me to loose my suspension of disbelief.

I'd put this in my "pass the time" category. Not sure if I'm going on the sequel yet.

Great series opener

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, as long as it is one of my friends who enjoy scifi/fantasy, because it has well developed characters and an interesting story line.

Have you listened to any of Stefan Rudnicki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have heard him several times before and always enjoy his narration.

Good "Read"

Would you consider the audio edition of Heroes Die to be better than the print version?

Wouldn't know. Good audio version. Narrator if fantastic.

Which character – as performed by Stefan Rudnicki – was your favorite?

Great performance. Love the voice. Puts the "Boom" behind the booming voice.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but at 22hrs long some might want to take a nap in the middle.

Any additional comments?

Good book. I'm used to "Epic Fantasy's" So not a ton of Character depth. All in All good read. Has the love, has the intrigue, but most of all has the great action

excellent book, will keep you hooked til the end.

excellent book. will keep you hooked until the end. the voice acting is perfect for the characters.

amazing amazing amazing

ignore the cover, this book is a breath of fresh literature for anyone looking for a deep comprehensive story of love passion and brute heroic action.

Wait for it....

Would you listen to Heroes Die again? Why?

Not for a while. Only because I have a huge backlog of reading to do, but yeah I think if I stepped away from it, and picked up another book in the series, I would give it a relisten.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Heroes Die?

Well I don't want to spoil it, so I don't really want to say. But basically after a time your perspective of the characters and storyline changes.

Which scene was your favorite?

The dungeon and the bridge.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were a few laughs.

Any additional comments?

So when I first started listening to the book, I started thumbing through my library thinking "alright what can I get to next." I even considered stopping the book short and jumping onto something else. I'm actually really glad that I didn't.

I think it started at the first point in which the protagonist, meets the major "antagonist", that it starts to turn around for me, but that isn't (as far as Audible Chapters are concerned 38 chapters into the story. And really at that point it's only the start of it moving in the direction that really got me liking it. I eventually got hooked.