It's an adroit technique which keeps the pace rapid, and which inevitably gives the reader a clearer impression of what's happening on the front line than any of the combatants. Eight years after the end of the original trilogy, The Union and The North are at war once again, but impatience is growing on both sides. There are scores of vignettes as the perspective flows from one person to another for instance, we see the general signing an order, then follow the messenger taking it into the valley, then trail the heavies who ambush him as they carry the intercepted message to their commander, and so on. The Heroes is the fifth book and second standalone set in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law world as old foes locked in a new war that suddenly comes down to a devastating battle for all involved. It shifts viewpoint from one camp to the other, equally highlighting examples of cowardice, self-interest and incompetence from both sides. We previously bought and/or sold this book in the following, or similar, condition: A SIGNED US first / limited edition, first impression. Set in the same universe as Abercrombie’s previous books, the story is vividly focussed on three days of fighting. The Union and the Northmen are at war and squaring up to clash over a hilltop henge called The Heroes.

But it's no less true for being oft-repeated and The Heroes, his excellent fifth book, is a mud-splattered exploration of just how messy and humiliating a battle can be. 'War is hell, and all that.' Even Joe Abercrombie's characters realise that sentiment is trite. Joe Abercrombie is the author of the First Law Trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings).

The heroes book joe abercrombie