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The Heroes

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The Heroes

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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About this listen

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 Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Heartfelt Scary

Editorial 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.
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Took me a bit of time adjusting from James Marsters voice in the Dresden Files series to this, but it was a fantastic book and impressive performance .

lovely

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Add to that. I think I like the standalone books better than the three others too. I find the Union officer imitations hilarious and the simplicity of the Northmen’s way of life and fighting appealing

My favourite of the series

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An epic, suspenseful and witty tale. Steven Pacey is the best narrator I've had the pleasure of listening to

Best Narrator on Audible

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Fantastic war story filled with complex flawed characters, wit and sarcastic humour. Great battle scenes and interesting inner dialogue as we focus on our main pov characters as they fight, trudge and scheme their way through a war fought to fuel the egos of more powerful people.
What completely blows me away though are the scenes with some background characters, the short sharp focus on one background character leading to the next, those sequences are pure gold. You may only be in one of their heads for 2 sentences but damn its good! Current film and tv writers could learn a lot about writing characters from this book.
The Heroes is some of the best storytelling filled with real characters that are cruel, clueless, self effacing, loyal, ambitious, powerful, self aware, powerless and everything else a person can be... and also that some dreams are better left unrealised.
Joe Abercrombie is my hero (favourite author)!

Fantastic war story.

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Good story as always by Joe, Steven Paceys narration is the highlight - so many character voices !

Fabulous narration!

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you have to be rerealistic ...after listening to all of Joe's other books and reading the reviews about this one i was very excited..but over all i was un satisfied...it was true to form hilarious, bloody and entertaining but i found i got lost in the apparent 3 days of battle...i was expecting so much more...3 continuous days maybe..no stopping just because it got dark..i still highly recommend the book..the narration was spot on..and Gorste had me wanting to grab him and well...you know...😜 The ending was dragged out and that twist kinda ruined it for me :(

kind of disappointed

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This book is about conflict, warfare, and battles. You are stuck in the mud with the soldiers. You are following their hopes and dreams from the mundane to the ridiculous. In his storytelling, often violent, the author shows just how pointless those battles are. It's a bit of a jumble with lots of characters and initially, you might struggle to keep track but then, as with other Abercrombie masterpieces, you are caught up in it and can't put it down. It is different from his other works - but somehow the same. I ended up loving it. Some have said there are no characters to follow like his other works, but some great ones were in this- like Black Dow, Craw, and his crew (love Whirrun of Bligh, a legendary warrior, and the female Craw relies on). There's also Prince Calder, Beck, Kroy, Finree, and Corporal Tunny. This book felt like a "Meanwhile, over on a little hill, this happened . . ."What a great tangent to follow.

warm up to it slowly but stick with it

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Another fantastic story by Joe Abercrombie and the narration really brings it to life. Bravo!

Great read/listen

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A really good book. The sort of book that makes you sad when it is finished

One of the best books from one of the best writers

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Steven nails his voices so well I couldn't imagine hearing Joes work from another voice.
This book is perfect and shines a light into wars darkest corners

Excellent

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