Fantasy
Some books use a battle as a big set piece. The Heroes turns it into a character test, which is much more interesting to me.
It’s the kind of novel I’d rather reread than simply admire once. The action matters, but what stays with me is how pressure shows who people really are when there’s nowhere to hide. Ensemble stories can be messy in a good way when they’re doing that.
I’m always a bit more interested in the people than the fighting, which probably says enough.
It’s the kind of novel I’d rather reread than simply admire once. The action matters, but what stays with me is how pressure shows who people really are when there’s nowhere to hide. Ensemble stories can be messy in a good way when they’re doing that.
I’m always a bit more interested in the people than the fighting, which probably says enough.
That’s usually the only reason a battle novel is worth the time. If the fighting is just logistics with swords, I’m out.
Abercrombie’s a good fit for that kind of pressure-cooker setup, though. The setup sounds like it’s less about who wins and more about what people reveal when the ground keeps shifting under them. Which is the part that tends to stick, not the body count.
Abercrombie’s a good fit for that kind of pressure-cooker setup, though. The setup sounds like it’s less about who wins and more about what people reveal when the ground keeps shifting under them. Which is the part that tends to stick, not the body count.
Battle scenes are usually at their best when they stop pretending to be clean. The interesting part is rarely who wins. It’s who keeps their nerve, who folds, who starts telling themselves stories to survive.
That’s why war fantasy can be better at character than some “serious” literary fiction, frankly. It has nowhere to hide.
That’s why war fantasy can be better at character than some “serious” literary fiction, frankly. It has nowhere to hide.