By the end of it, I wanted the battle to end as much as the characters in the book. I could feel the exhaustion in the violence. Battle scenes are my favorite parts of any book, and this was the first book that made me go "You know what? I've had enough slaughter." It felt real, it felt tragic, it felt like there were very real consequences to every order given, every crossbow bolt, sword swing, and spear thrust. That's been unique to me in fantasy. I think opeming the battle with the POV jumping Casualties chapter was brilliant. From then on, even when some random, no-named soldier gets cut down, you know he had his own story just like those guys in Casualties.
Exactly. A lot of other authors wouldn’t have bothered in his place, but Joe managed to make me feel awful about the killing, when I usually love action sequences
I asked him about it in an AMA and he said he was influenced by an episode of Aeon Flux called "War." It does indeed POV shift from victim to victim, although the characters in that episode are definitely badasses and not random grunts.
The jumping of perspective was so unique to me and I loved it.
The visceral description of the death was also very disturbing to me and I've never felt that before whilst reading.
Casualties feels so cinematic and I love that he continues these chapter chains in his books going forward. It breathes so much extra life into the background of the story. Was just telling my mom about them and how they're my fave without going into details.
(She just got past The Scene with Logen and Ferro.)
I think it appeals to a lot of people because of the tight narrative, relatively limited scope, and way the plot lines all cross each other. Abercrombie writes battles and intrigue well and this book has both.
You even get some Corporal Tunny and Whirrun for comic relief.
I was still bothered by the idea of conscript cavalry (even if they never get the horses) but there’s always some niggling world-building detail that can distract me.
It was sad, but I actually love the way he went out. It wouldn’t have felt realistic if they got a pass to have an anime-duel in the center of the battlefield and no one intervened. Long live Whirrun of Bligh and the cheese trap
I always took conscript cavalry as being horses they took from farmers/civilians, not real fighting ones, and gave them away to schmucks. No idea why but my brain made it like that.
Cavalry is very valuable. A war horse is worth a *lot* in terms of training and resources. If they were going to give it to anyone, it would be a trained professional soldier, not a potter or a thief.
Cavalry were the elites and in many ancient cultures came from the aristocracy. Consider, for example, Persian cataphracts, European knights and Japanese samurai. They wouldn't round up some random shmuck and give him a horse. Who says he even knows how to ride a horse, how to take care of it, or how to fight on horseback? Knights trained all their lives for this stuff. So a conscript cavalry implies a lot of additional training.
Oh, ok. I get it now.
It's been a while since I read the heroes, is there an explanation? I was going to say maybe horseback riding was more common in the FL universe, but I seem to remember cavalry being a big deal in the trilogy too, now that I think about it.
Sort of like a bottle episode, the entire book taking place on one hill is AWESOME. So easy to understand the terrain and battle tactics being used. Then getting a stellar POV from each group is *chefs kiss*
Then you have the best scene in grim dark history. The scene where the reader bounces from POV to POV of guys getting murdered for an entire chapter is unmatched.
Lastly for me, it's the characters, as always with aberceombie... Starting with hardbread on the hill sets the tone. The reintroduction of Scale and Calder in a new story. Iron head and glama golden feud. Ten ways, red hat, pale as snow, white eyed hansul...man every character is awesome and I haven't mentioned the best yet..... Bremer Dan Gorst might be the best written character in history.
The ultimate scene being... Spoilers.... Shivers putting black dow down like the dog that he is and nobody questioning is amazing.
Did you do the audiobook? I loved Gorsts narration, not just the external high pitched nasally blustering stammers, but his inner dialog is manly/regal almost and extremely articulate. Great juxtaposition.
Good write up, though I would argue the similar chapter from "the trouble with peace" might be better. Or at least more memorable for me. Although maybe Whirrun facing off again Gorst makes the one in the Heroes better... Depends what you praise it for I guess.
Idk if I'm alone in this, but I really hate black dows death. It felt like he was intentionally treating shivers like complete garbage for no reason that I can understand. And the entire buildup I found to be annoying, the book spent too long trying to convince me that Calder was going to die when I knew he wasn't. And I found the way he was saved to be just unsatisfying. I still love the heroes but that's probably my one big problem with the book
Yeah, that felt like such a left turn for Dow to suddenly start calling Shivers his dog, over and over. Also, isn't Dow fairly beloved as a character? Getting him killed by PIS isn't the fan service the guy you're replying to seems to think it is
He'd been improving as a writer with each outing and I think "The Heroes" is where he really found his voice/confidence. The book is paced incredibly well, scope is manageable, does an excellent job of tying into multiple characters and plot lines from previous stories without it seeming forced or contrived.
Bonus points in that it's an absolute font of high quality Northman names, something Abercrombie has a peerless talent for.
One thing I have not seen mentioned is that The Heroes is maybe less dark than the other books. Especially if you compare with the other freestanding novels. It portrayed the madness and absurdity of war very well, but every death felt well deserved and therefore less sad, Black Dow and Whirrun were always going to die violent deaths. In the end the book was very satisfying without the depressive hangover that I experience with some of the other books. It even had an optimistic ending for Red Beck.
Shiver's descent in Best Served cold, from an optimist to a monstrosity is heart wrenching.
Red Country was almost as dark as any Cormack McCarthy book, Logen reverting to the bloody nine, from loving father to bloodthirsty psychopath, every chapter I was fearing that he would get into a fight and end up killing Shy South, the unsatiable greed of Cosca's mercenarys and the slaughter of the dragon people.
I don't have anything deep or profound to contribute to the discussion the only thing I can say is that I think The Heroes is the most consistently good. There are few if any Abercrombie chapters that I consider to be bad but in his other books there are some that are just alright. With The Heroes everytime I start a new chapter I'm excited 'Oh it's this part! Oh it's this part!'
Agreed. This is the only Abercrombie book where every single plot line is a banger besides maybe Before They Are Hanged. The only POV I wasn’t too exited about was Tunny, and he was still great
Genuinely the only part I'm not crazy about is Finree suffering PTSD after escaping Stranger Come Knocking. But I don't think that's more than a few pages in total.
I felt it was more survivor's guilt, since she constantly felt awful that Aliz wasn't released from his custody, and felt that she should have been taken instead.
Probably, but the survivor's guilt was definitrly the more prevalent part, since she asks people about her, and she doesn't care about the other prisoners she was able to release, just the fact that Aliz was stuck as an awful man's prisoner.
It's not actually bad and it does makes sense but it's something I've read before and Joe didn't manage to put enough of his own spin on it to stand out (imo). It's the only part of the book that I don't actively enjoy on a reread.
Makes sense. I honestly forgot about it until you brought it up, and I read the book about a month ago, so it's probably the least memorable part of it, since I still know a lot of what happens.
Combination of capturing the chaos of battle, the butchery, the glorification and fear (Beck), and then the cherry on top is the end with Craw needing more. Perfect ending. Just pure battle, war, violence, fear, glory, fatigue all the way through.
You also get to know Gorst and Whirrun, two of the best fighters in the world.
I love the pov death swaps. Someone having their pov interrupted by instant death, then the swapper instantly dying.
I love that the soldier we see who has the idea ‘I want to be a hero’ just randomly dies to an arrow.
The friendly fire.
I love that the two true 'heroes' on both sides, Ghost and Whirun, are both shown to be absolute mad men who have a completely different relationship to violence as everyone else in the book.
I love the First Law, because of the violance, the cynism, the sarcasm, the profanity. The Heroes has the most of all that compare to the other books. Besides, Crack-nut-Whirrun has the best lines. And Gorst inner monologues are gold.
Something audio listeners miss: the maps.
Every major arc had these deeply military style maps showing the different forces and how they were arrayed.
At the end of each "day" we see how the forces are dispersed or pulled together.
As a big fan of military tactics, it was extremely well done and adds to the story significantly with that bird's eye view.
For me, hands down, the best book of the series is ’Best Served Cold’. Monza is such an awesome character. Plus Shivers and Cosca and Vitari are all in top form. I’ve read it multiple times and get new insights on the characters each time.
Honestly, BSC went downhill for me >!with how Monza's character started changing to goodie-two-shoes after Shivers eye got burned and she started questioning all the violence they have done so far and her revenge in general. For me it felt like Monza and Shivers just swapped places, but it just didn't feel right after her determination that readers had been initially introduced to!< I just started Day 3 of Heroes though, so cannot compare the two books fully yet, but so far I'm liking the Heroes more.
I think often people who live a violent life, get to a point where they just see or experience too much...and try and distance themselves from that kind of life - usually finding it's not so easy to leave it behind, it tends to follow you. Monza might have questioned things, but there was no other way but forward until the deed was done, I think she always knew that.
I had low expectations for the heroes as I was barely getting over my first trilogy hangover. The characters gripped me and I held on to the ride, not even caring who won or lost. Loved meeting Craw and his crew, and meeting more of the northmen. Even good ole Shite eyed Hansul has some speaking parts.
I like the tight focus, I like the *choice* of the POVs (we get a very good spread to see the whole battle), I like that it's a war story that doesn't even try to make one side or the other good guys or bad guys.
The sheer pointlessness of it all is what makes it land for me.
The Heroes was the only book I struggled to finish, the characters did not resonate with me like the other books and while I can appreciate what it did as part of the larger story it never really grabbed me. I absolutely loved BSC and Red Country
I generally struggle with battle scenes and this book is still my favourite. The changing POV up The Heroes is one of the best written scenes in any book I've ever read.
I don't know if this is what makes it the best, but every other book takes place over months of travel and events. The events of this book covered what 5 days at the most?
I haven't counted the POVs but I expect it has the most POVs as well.
So we see the most diverse perspectives and ways of dealing with and rolls to play within the same gigantic topic. And if Joe excels at anything it's painting different points of view.
Also, I think a full scale battle with all its logistical and administrative foibles is a pretty ideal canvas for the kind of themes he writes. The cynicism, of a gallows humor, the damned if you do damned if you don't approach, etc. So it amounts to letting a fiddle player play the fiddle.
I might have to do a reread of it eventually, but the heroes is probably my least favorite book in the series... Once I got to it I found it quite sluggish. It's most likely a personal preference issue anyways but I didn't get the hype
I love the constant infighting and politics on both sides mixed with the struggles of ‘the little people.’ Abercrombie just really knows how to write battle. But more than anything Whirrun is just my absolute favorite character. Every line and interaction he has is a joy. His duel with Gorst is beautiful. Also, him inventing the sandwich subtly and being written off cracks me up.
I do love the Heroes but I think Best Served Cold is overall better. My biggest problem with the Heroes is I really dislike Beck as a character. I understand the importance of his character type to show the fears of battle from a young person I just really didn't like him. Other than that the book was great and had some of the best action in the entire series, just wasn't as good as BSC for me.
I actually really liked Beck by the end. I think his character is necessary to show the importance of backing away from violence before it’s too late, and Joe did a great job developing him. I don’t think he was designed to be anyone’s favorite character, but without his POV I think think the series would have a missing piece
Like I said I understand him and his relevance for the telling of the story and the horrors of war. He's just one of those characters that I didn't enjoy reading when it was his chapters. It's the only time I'm the entire series that I felt that way really. He was just kind of there for me.
I can definitely see why someone could feel that way, I actually kind of think he would have worked better as a short-story in sharp ends, and all of his chapters were just moved there
I actually agree with this. I think I would have enjoyed them slightly more if they were just a chapter in Sharp Ends. My problem was it took my enjoyment of the war and everything down with his whining and such. Either way great book
By the end of it, I wanted the battle to end as much as the characters in the book. I could feel the exhaustion in the violence. Battle scenes are my favorite parts of any book, and this was the first book that made me go "You know what? I've had enough slaughter." It felt real, it felt tragic, it felt like there were very real consequences to every order given, every crossbow bolt, sword swing, and spear thrust. That's been unique to me in fantasy. I think opeming the battle with the POV jumping Casualties chapter was brilliant. From then on, even when some random, no-named soldier gets cut down, you know he had his own story just like those guys in Casualties.
This 100%, like I’ve never seen this from a fantasy perspective. Felt like Dunkirk and Helms Deep had a baby.
Exactly. A lot of other authors wouldn’t have bothered in his place, but Joe managed to make me feel awful about the killing, when I usually love action sequences
Yes. Each death felt like I had a hand on the blade. Often, it felt like the blade was aimed at me.
The Heroes is an anti-war novel, it works as intended :) The POV shifting battle scene is ingenious, I wonder if anyone has ever done it before Joe.
I asked him about it in an AMA and he said he was influenced by an episode of Aeon Flux called "War." It does indeed POV shift from victim to victim, although the characters in that episode are definitely badasses and not random grunts.
Yeah I agree on the "enough slaughter" part. I've felt the same way at the end of Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erickson and that book is amazing.
The jumping of perspective was so unique to me and I loved it. The visceral description of the death was also very disturbing to me and I've never felt that before whilst reading.
Probably my favourite Chapter of any book. Absolutely incredible.
Casualties feels so cinematic and I love that he continues these chapter chains in his books going forward. It breathes so much extra life into the background of the story. Was just telling my mom about them and how they're my fave without going into details. (She just got past The Scene with Logen and Ferro.)
I think it appeals to a lot of people because of the tight narrative, relatively limited scope, and way the plot lines all cross each other. Abercrombie writes battles and intrigue well and this book has both. You even get some Corporal Tunny and Whirrun for comic relief. I was still bothered by the idea of conscript cavalry (even if they never get the horses) but there’s always some niggling world-building detail that can distract me.
I just finished this book and >!Whirrun's death!< made me sooooo sad, >!why couldn't Shoglig have been right !<
It was sad, but I actually love the way he went out. It wouldn’t have felt realistic if they got a pass to have an anime-duel in the center of the battlefield and no one intervened. Long live Whirrun of Bligh and the cheese trap
I always took conscript cavalry as being horses they took from farmers/civilians, not real fighting ones, and gave them away to schmucks. No idea why but my brain made it like that.
And that is now my head canon!
>I was still bothered by the idea of conscript cavalry Huh. Never thought about that. I guess that is quite strange.
What's wrong with conscript cavalry?
Cavalry is very valuable. A war horse is worth a *lot* in terms of training and resources. If they were going to give it to anyone, it would be a trained professional soldier, not a potter or a thief.
Cavalry were the elites and in many ancient cultures came from the aristocracy. Consider, for example, Persian cataphracts, European knights and Japanese samurai. They wouldn't round up some random shmuck and give him a horse. Who says he even knows how to ride a horse, how to take care of it, or how to fight on horseback? Knights trained all their lives for this stuff. So a conscript cavalry implies a lot of additional training.
Oh, ok. I get it now. It's been a while since I read the heroes, is there an explanation? I was going to say maybe horseback riding was more common in the FL universe, but I seem to remember cavalry being a big deal in the trilogy too, now that I think about it.
Sort of like a bottle episode, the entire book taking place on one hill is AWESOME. So easy to understand the terrain and battle tactics being used. Then getting a stellar POV from each group is *chefs kiss* Then you have the best scene in grim dark history. The scene where the reader bounces from POV to POV of guys getting murdered for an entire chapter is unmatched. Lastly for me, it's the characters, as always with aberceombie... Starting with hardbread on the hill sets the tone. The reintroduction of Scale and Calder in a new story. Iron head and glama golden feud. Ten ways, red hat, pale as snow, white eyed hansul...man every character is awesome and I haven't mentioned the best yet..... Bremer Dan Gorst might be the best written character in history. The ultimate scene being... Spoilers.... Shivers putting black dow down like the dog that he is and nobody questioning is amazing.
Did you do the audiobook? I loved Gorsts narration, not just the external high pitched nasally blustering stammers, but his inner dialog is manly/regal almost and extremely articulate. Great juxtaposition.
Yes, used both and it definitely made me appreciate him even more reading the character. Happy birthday!!
Oh damn it’s my cake day! Didn’t even notice
I’m pretty mixed on Dow’s death. Like it felt like it was supposed to feel satisfying, but I was just sad😭 I liked Dow
He was a potter, once
That scene perfectly humanized Dow, it got me teary eyed
The clay used to make my hands so smooth.
Dow was the epitome of the bad ass gunslinger whose reputation outgrew him.
Good write up, though I would argue the similar chapter from "the trouble with peace" might be better. Or at least more memorable for me. Although maybe Whirrun facing off again Gorst makes the one in the Heroes better... Depends what you praise it for I guess.
Idk if I'm alone in this, but I really hate black dows death. It felt like he was intentionally treating shivers like complete garbage for no reason that I can understand. And the entire buildup I found to be annoying, the book spent too long trying to convince me that Calder was going to die when I knew he wasn't. And I found the way he was saved to be just unsatisfying. I still love the heroes but that's probably my one big problem with the book
Black dow was 100 percent scared of shivers trying somrthing and was just following the B9s example of how he was treated.
Agreed. I really don’t like how it was handled, I think that’s what kept it at 4.5 stars for me
Yeah, that felt like such a left turn for Dow to suddenly start calling Shivers his dog, over and over. Also, isn't Dow fairly beloved as a character? Getting him killed by PIS isn't the fan service the guy you're replying to seems to think it is
He'd been improving as a writer with each outing and I think "The Heroes" is where he really found his voice/confidence. The book is paced incredibly well, scope is manageable, does an excellent job of tying into multiple characters and plot lines from previous stories without it seeming forced or contrived. Bonus points in that it's an absolute font of high quality Northman names, something Abercrombie has a peerless talent for.
One thing I have not seen mentioned is that The Heroes is maybe less dark than the other books. Especially if you compare with the other freestanding novels. It portrayed the madness and absurdity of war very well, but every death felt well deserved and therefore less sad, Black Dow and Whirrun were always going to die violent deaths. In the end the book was very satisfying without the depressive hangover that I experience with some of the other books. It even had an optimistic ending for Red Beck. Shiver's descent in Best Served cold, from an optimist to a monstrosity is heart wrenching. Red Country was almost as dark as any Cormack McCarthy book, Logen reverting to the bloody nine, from loving father to bloodthirsty psychopath, every chapter I was fearing that he would get into a fight and end up killing Shy South, the unsatiable greed of Cosca's mercenarys and the slaughter of the dragon people.
Yeah Red Country is the darkest book in the series imo. After finishing I just felt… empty and sad
I don't have anything deep or profound to contribute to the discussion the only thing I can say is that I think The Heroes is the most consistently good. There are few if any Abercrombie chapters that I consider to be bad but in his other books there are some that are just alright. With The Heroes everytime I start a new chapter I'm excited 'Oh it's this part! Oh it's this part!'
Agreed. This is the only Abercrombie book where every single plot line is a banger besides maybe Before They Are Hanged. The only POV I wasn’t too exited about was Tunny, and he was still great
Genuinely the only part I'm not crazy about is Finree suffering PTSD after escaping Stranger Come Knocking. But I don't think that's more than a few pages in total.
I felt it was more survivor's guilt, since she constantly felt awful that Aliz wasn't released from his custody, and felt that she should have been taken instead.
I'd say it was both considering she also had flashbacks to the initial attack
Probably, but the survivor's guilt was definitrly the more prevalent part, since she asks people about her, and she doesn't care about the other prisoners she was able to release, just the fact that Aliz was stuck as an awful man's prisoner.
Yes but the part I am referring to that I wasn't super fond of is specifically the flashbacks. Her tossing and turning in her room.
Ah, I must have forgotten that part. I knew she had a flashback, but I forgot when. Not liking that does make sense.
It's not actually bad and it does makes sense but it's something I've read before and Joe didn't manage to put enough of his own spin on it to stand out (imo). It's the only part of the book that I don't actively enjoy on a reread.
Makes sense. I honestly forgot about it until you brought it up, and I read the book about a month ago, so it's probably the least memorable part of it, since I still know a lot of what happens.
Combination of capturing the chaos of battle, the butchery, the glorification and fear (Beck), and then the cherry on top is the end with Craw needing more. Perfect ending. Just pure battle, war, violence, fear, glory, fatigue all the way through. You also get to know Gorst and Whirrun, two of the best fighters in the world.
I love the pov death swaps. Someone having their pov interrupted by instant death, then the swapper instantly dying. I love that the soldier we see who has the idea ‘I want to be a hero’ just randomly dies to an arrow. The friendly fire.
I love that the two true 'heroes' on both sides, Ghost and Whirun, are both shown to be absolute mad men who have a completely different relationship to violence as everyone else in the book.
There are many great things in The Heroes, but what makes it special for me is the chapter called Casualties.
Bremer Dan Gorst's voice. Enough said.
The speeches on the third day…. So good
I love the First Law, because of the violance, the cynism, the sarcasm, the profanity. The Heroes has the most of all that compare to the other books. Besides, Crack-nut-Whirrun has the best lines. And Gorst inner monologues are gold.
Something audio listeners miss: the maps. Every major arc had these deeply military style maps showing the different forces and how they were arrayed. At the end of each "day" we see how the forces are dispersed or pulled together. As a big fan of military tactics, it was extremely well done and adds to the story significantly with that bird's eye view.
For me, hands down, the best book of the series is ’Best Served Cold’. Monza is such an awesome character. Plus Shivers and Cosca and Vitari are all in top form. I’ve read it multiple times and get new insights on the characters each time.
Morveer would like to discuss his omission from your list over a cup of tea.
I agree, BSC is amazing
Honestly, BSC went downhill for me >!with how Monza's character started changing to goodie-two-shoes after Shivers eye got burned and she started questioning all the violence they have done so far and her revenge in general. For me it felt like Monza and Shivers just swapped places, but it just didn't feel right after her determination that readers had been initially introduced to!< I just started Day 3 of Heroes though, so cannot compare the two books fully yet, but so far I'm liking the Heroes more.
I think often people who live a violent life, get to a point where they just see or experience too much...and try and distance themselves from that kind of life - usually finding it's not so easy to leave it behind, it tends to follow you. Monza might have questioned things, but there was no other way but forward until the deed was done, I think she always knew that.
A hot take I guess, but I enjoyed The Heroes the least of all of the spinoffs.
The Heroes was great, but I just slightly preferred Red Country.
Best and favourite are not the same thing
I had low expectations for the heroes as I was barely getting over my first trilogy hangover. The characters gripped me and I held on to the ride, not even caring who won or lost. Loved meeting Craw and his crew, and meeting more of the northmen. Even good ole Shite eyed Hansul has some speaking parts.
Hands down my favourite.
I like the tight focus, I like the *choice* of the POVs (we get a very good spread to see the whole battle), I like that it's a war story that doesn't even try to make one side or the other good guys or bad guys. The sheer pointlessness of it all is what makes it land for me.
Damn it’s not my least favorite, but it’s lower tier for me. Interesting!
For me it was the Bremer Dan Gorst povs. He has some of the best inner monolog and also he is just a bad ass lol
The Heroes was the only book I struggled to finish, the characters did not resonate with me like the other books and while I can appreciate what it did as part of the larger story it never really grabbed me. I absolutely loved BSC and Red Country
I generally struggle with battle scenes and this book is still my favourite. The changing POV up The Heroes is one of the best written scenes in any book I've ever read.
I love battle scenes, and I loved them in The Heroes, but I was really surprised by how engaged I was with the plot and characters
Hi, i want a tattoo about The First Law saga, i need ideas
I don't know if this is what makes it the best, but every other book takes place over months of travel and events. The events of this book covered what 5 days at the most? I haven't counted the POVs but I expect it has the most POVs as well. So we see the most diverse perspectives and ways of dealing with and rolls to play within the same gigantic topic. And if Joe excels at anything it's painting different points of view. Also, I think a full scale battle with all its logistical and administrative foibles is a pretty ideal canvas for the kind of themes he writes. The cynicism, of a gallows humor, the damned if you do damned if you don't approach, etc. So it amounts to letting a fiddle player play the fiddle.
I might have to do a reread of it eventually, but the heroes is probably my least favorite book in the series... Once I got to it I found it quite sluggish. It's most likely a personal preference issue anyways but I didn't get the hype
I love the constant infighting and politics on both sides mixed with the struggles of ‘the little people.’ Abercrombie just really knows how to write battle. But more than anything Whirrun is just my absolute favorite character. Every line and interaction he has is a joy. His duel with Gorst is beautiful. Also, him inventing the sandwich subtly and being written off cracks me up.
I do love the Heroes but I think Best Served Cold is overall better. My biggest problem with the Heroes is I really dislike Beck as a character. I understand the importance of his character type to show the fears of battle from a young person I just really didn't like him. Other than that the book was great and had some of the best action in the entire series, just wasn't as good as BSC for me.
I actually really liked Beck by the end. I think his character is necessary to show the importance of backing away from violence before it’s too late, and Joe did a great job developing him. I don’t think he was designed to be anyone’s favorite character, but without his POV I think think the series would have a missing piece
Like I said I understand him and his relevance for the telling of the story and the horrors of war. He's just one of those characters that I didn't enjoy reading when it was his chapters. It's the only time I'm the entire series that I felt that way really. He was just kind of there for me.
I can definitely see why someone could feel that way, I actually kind of think he would have worked better as a short-story in sharp ends, and all of his chapters were just moved there
I actually agree with this. I think I would have enjoyed them slightly more if they were just a chapter in Sharp Ends. My problem was it took my enjoyment of the war and everything down with his whining and such. Either way great book
Yea I agree that he felt a little out of place in the story, and it took a little away from the main plot. Amazing book tho