Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?

This is a gritty fantasy story, playing with the genre conventions by mashing up movie, television, and other source material familiar to its audience,” growled Brandis. “Just enjoy the story, you butthead.”The words froze in his throat. Cavalry had emerged from behind a village even further to their left. A considerable body of cavalry, bearing down on their flank, hooves threshing up a pall of dust. He heard the gasps of alarm, felt the mood shift from worried resolve to horror. This is one of those books which compared to other Abercrombie novels is a bit more modest, but compared to any other book on the market is still superb. Divided into three days, with a before and after the clash, in which a multitude of characters from both sides move, each explored in a masterly way, with dreams, grudges and personal or political motivations. But if this great multitude of characters gives substance to the novel, the true protagonist is undoubtedly the war in all its atrocity. Get on!’ Scabna dragged one scavenger up and booted him in the arse to set him going. ‘Bloody get on!’

The fool's tasks lined up in crushingly tedious procession. Run. Practice. Shit a turd. Write a letter. Eat. Watch. Write a turd. Shit a letter. Eat. Bed. Lasmark turned, hoping he wouldn’t trip and catch a mouthful of barley, and urged his men forward with what was intended to be a soldierly jerk of the hand. Es una "fantasía" dura, muy sombría, militar; Abercrombie no rehuye mostrar el horror de la guerra. Además física como mentalmente, a los participantes, novatos y los más curtidos de las batallas. Scale – Bethod’s eldest son, now the one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, with a bull’s brainUn libro complejo sobre una sola batalla en el transcurso de tres días enteros que puede dar lugar a engaño o una falsa densidad, se sintió refrescante, muy ágil, engancha que hay que joderse. Es una guerra fría, cruda y rancia. The real power of this novel is on the exploration of the characters on both sides of the scrimmage, measuring what makes a hero and what makes one something else. On the North side, you have a crew of barbarians akin to Vikings or Cimmerians to whom battle is all. Indeed, many of these mighty warriors can do little else. And, it being the North, one man's enemy today is one man's ally the next and vice versa. Loyalty is great, but it can change like your wardrobe. Abercrombie nació para esto, tiene un don para escribir y regalarnos joyas así. No solo a nivel narrativo es muy bueno, lo que escribe por muy enrevesado, detallado o complicado que pueda llegar a ser, él consigue que el lector lo lea de forma ágil y fluida. Culfer gave a thin scream. A narrow split had appeared in his shoulder, right down to his chest, splinters of white bone showing through it. Wetterlant wanted to tell him not to scream in a manner so unbefitting of an officer in the King’s Own. A scream like that might be good enough for one of the levy regiments, but in the Sixth he expected a manly roar. Culfer almost gracefully subsided to the ground, blood bubbling from the wound, and a large Northman stepped up with an axe in his fist and began to cleave him into pieces.

Nel romanzo successivo, "Il Sapore della Vendetta" racconta una classica storia di vendetta ma con una protagonista decisamente antipatica e dura da digerire. Poi arriva "The Heroes" e scattano nuovamente gli applausi.Un año y medio he tardado en volver de verdad a la primera ley. Todo por esta novela, la que fue por estas fechas el año pasado mi talón de Aquiles.