A Guilty Pleasure That's Actually Amazing! | Review of Heroes Die, by Matthew Woodring Stover

Heroes Die is an epic, hybrid science fiction/fantasy novel that would rank high on my 'guilty pleasures' list for the story premise alone. It's bonkers! Can a book so over-the-top be taken seriously?
Short answer: Yes. The book is so well-written, there's no reason to feel guilty about it. It's an exhilarating pleasure to read.
Find out why authors Steven Erikson, Scott Lynch and Pierce Brown have credited this book with inspiring their respective Malazan, Gentleman Bastards and Red Rising series.
0:33 First impressions
1:01 Hypothetical pitch to publisher
2:04 As bonkers as it sounds?
7:07 Themes
8:52 Writing style
10:24 Worldbuilding
10:39 Acts of Caine series
11:06 Conclusion
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#booktube #booktubesff #sciencefiction #scifi #bookreview

[@thelibraryladder]

Despite its seemingly absurd premise, Heroes Die has a lot of interesting things to say about the role of mass media and the glorification of violence in society, as well as the exploitation of other civilizations for reasons of power and greed. It's a violent book that proves its own message by making the reader feel simultaneously exhilarated and a little ashamed of that exhilaration.

[@AnthonyEmmel]

Have to look this one up. I probably saw on the shelf back in the 90s, but dismissed it as schlock because of the cover. I know, I know, but to borrow a quote from a John Hughes film, "You can't judge a book by its cover but you can tell how much it'll cost." 😂 I would love to hear your take on Chalker, someone I've heard about for 40 years and I'm finally currently in the middle of "Midnight at the Well of Souls" and also just cracked the cover on "The Demons at Rainbow Bridge." Another author I'd love to discuss with you in person is Dennis L. McKierian. His work started as a rejected sequel to LotR, but it has become so much more.

[@fconstraints]

Wow dude, THAT was a review. Probably the best pitch for a book I've ever heard.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I had a lot of fun making this video.

[@ryanpennington9592]

I must say that I personally liked Blade of Tyshalle more than Heroes Die. I found it much more ambitious, and, given its more epic scope, more to my tastes as a reader of (mostly) fantasy. It also goes into a bit more philosophical depth than Heroes Die, something I love about Stover’s work, including his Star Wars novels. I can honestly say that the Acts of Caine just might be my favorite fantasy series, right up there with Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry (yes, I’m a heretic who enjoys his earlier work more than his later, more mature stuff). Stover is an incredible writer, and if I could, I would instantly make it so he was better known among fantasy readers. Thank you for reviewing this book. It gladdens my heart to find others who love this work, and even more those who spread word of it.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed Blade of Tyshalle, even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting. The tonal shift away from Heroes Die is pretty stark, but as you noted, it adds a lot more depth to the overall story. I still need to read the final two books in the series. :)

[@Muhavi835]

Right? Loved Heroes Die and it absolutely and positively set up Blade of Tyshalle perfectly. If Heroes Die is Caine battling physical demons, Tyshalle is Caine battling mental demons. As l love philosophical and esoteric conversations, l went NUTS!! Yet, l love my fisticuffs and the purity of the author's set pieces and fight sequences held me enthralled! I feel Matthew Stover got everything correct (including imaginative metaphors) and incredibly disappointed he is not more well known in best fantasy lists.

[@FlyFoxPro]

You are the first “booktuber” I have watched who has managed to make reviews interesting to watch. Congratulations on cracking the code!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you for your kind words! I’m simply trying to talk about books in a substantive, but non-spoilery way, that makes effective use of KZbin as a visual medium. (It’s a lot of work, though, so my video output is less frequent than many other channels.) I hope you enjoy my other videos.

[@FlyFoxPro]

@@thelibraryladder I've been working through the videos over the past few days. Thank you and take your time, if they are as good of the ones I've seen so far I look forward to more!

[@sciencefictionreads]

You're right. The cover doesn't inspire confidence but my god...I absolutely will be tracking down a copy and reading this asap! Great review! This sounds incredible!

[@thelibraryladder]

Great! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. Thanks for watching!

[@ignorethis214]

If you haven't found a copy and read it yet, the reader on audible I thought was very good.

[@ignorethis214]

A year ago, a girl I was talking to suggested this book, and I listened to it on Audible. I greatly enjoyed it! I thought it just felt good as a standalone, so I haven't listened to the sequel yet. Didn't know it was influential though! I had just walked in blind with nothing more than a 'read this'! Thanks for discussing it!

[@thelibraryladder]

I actually had a similar experience with the book, in that I had almost no preconceptions about it before reading it. It had been recommended to me as a very unusual and entertaining read, but that's about it. I had relatively low expectations for it after seeing the cover art, but I didn't know much about the story itself. After reading the book, part of my enthusiasm about it probably stemmed from how far it surpassed my low expectations.

[@danielsankey8786]

Stefan Rudniki did an amazing job narrating it

[@EllySpace]

Smoothly done review . You have a great voice.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the review.

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

SOLD!! I added it to my Want to Read list and my list of series to get to. Incredible video!!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy the book.

[@72mje]

This sounds absolutely insane... Insanely intriguing, that is. Man, you really know how to make a review and sell a book!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I had loads of fun making the video.

[@Starbuck825]

I first read Heroes Die back in 2010 when someone I knew recommended it to me. I loved it, and (may be concerning) related strongly to Caine. I just happened to stumble upon this review as I've been writing my own novel and researching authors and books I've admired over the years. Stover has a very unique voice that always hit home for me in his Acts of Caine series, and I hope to one day be able to create such nuanced characters in my own work.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I don't make many videos that review only a single book, but Heroes Die was such an unexpected revelation for me, and I felt it deserved more attention. I wish you all the best in your writing, and I hope you approach or surpass the heights Stover reached with Caine.

[@slackerpope]

This is one of my favorite series. Intellect, compassion and pure viseral savagery are not mutually exclusive. Kane is a top-notch antihero. Don't miss this series, unless you are the type who needs to like everything about the central character. Stover writes a complex and terrifying individual stuck in an impossible situation.

[@yelisieimurai]

One of the best booktube channel! Thank you for your work

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I have many more videos to come.

[@jakebishop7822]

This sounds so beautifully chaotic. I am sold

[@thelibraryladder]

That's a nice turn of phrase to describe the book.

[@zan8152]

Gosh, thank you so much for covering this, hopefully this excellent review will convince others to pick it up. I found it after meeting Stover through his Star Wars novels (still one of the standouts there, and honestly great books in their own right) but immediately fell in love with this. The concept is fantastic, both worlds as vivid and real as need be, the action great the characters memorable... I honestly think of it as fantasy Die Hard - the ur example of its grimy action subgenre. And oh boy the twist at the end is incredible (and expanded on so well in the sequel (though I do agree the sequel isn't as strong...)... Anyhow yeah. Anyone else in the comments, listen to him, read this book you won't regret it.

[@Crypt0Band1t]

1:11-2:03 had me smiling, chuckling, in shock - good hook/presentation without spoiling the story, definitely going to look out for this one.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I had a lot of fun making this video (and reading the book). :)

[@AndrewsWizardlyReads]

This review is super engaging!!! Now I want to read this lol

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks, Andrew! IMO, the book is more fun and thought-provoking than it has any right to be, given its bonkers premise. I hope you enjoy it!

[@wileyschmitt]

All right, something else to look for and look forward to, and to add to the seemingly endless 'to read' list (but it will inevitably get bumped up the list cuz your recommendations are gold), thanx again! :)

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. It was far better than I expected it to be.

[@JediHobbit89]

I'll have to check this one out! I've only ever read one book by him, and that was the novelization of Star Wars Episode III, which was actually one of the best books of that kind I've ever read. His writing style really elevated the material to a grand Shakespearean tragedy. Now I really wanna check this book out since I know he's a great writer and the premise here is just too wild to ignore!

[@thelibraryladder]

Grand Shakespearean tragedy is a great descriptor for what you'll find in Heroes Die (with a John Wick-ian ballet of violence).

[@drafferty6756]

Thank you so much for this video. As someone who tends to lean towards science fiction in my reading, I have seen this book more then a dozen times at various places and moved on with out a thought. I'm not sure if it was the cover art or simply the fact that I had not read any of Matthew Stover's work, but for some reason it has never really captured my attention. You have defiantly changed my option. Both your compelling description of the books premise and those other novels it inspired, all of witch I have enjoyed, have made me interested. I cant wait to give this one a try. Thank you again Bridger.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy Heroes Die as much as I do. The book really surprised me.

[@dcaf94]

Reading your comment six months later...I hope you picked up Heroes Die! If you haven't yet, I'll add my voice to the chorus-this series is truly one of the most incredible things I've ever read. Heroes Die is only the start, as each of the succeeding three books does something different in form and style while somehow still building to a cohesive whole.

[@shaftomite007]

This book was absolutely stunning, I couldn't believe what I was reading and when I was done I couldn't believe that apparently nobody else had read it and it somehow wasn't a massive blockbuster. A thrilling bucket of blood and guts unlike anything else ever.

[@thelibraryladder]

I felt much the same way when I read it the first time. I'm convinced the book was kneecapped on its release by incompetent marketing by the publisher (which includes the cheesy cover art).

[@levoyageurdelimaginaire]

Whao ! A history with SF and fantasy is very rare. Thanks for this review.

[@rerman6344]

Great review! The overworld/otherland mistake is no big deal at all. There’s so much social commentary in Matt’s books. So much philosophy. It’s hard to express how much in a review. This is a book where it’s kind of hard to tell who are the protagonists and who are the antagonists. But anyone on the fence, I highly recommend you take the plunge. I will say, I enjoyed Tyshalle more, not less. But to each their own. Stover intentionally changed tone across all four books.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! When I made this video, I had just reread Tad Williams’ Otherland series in preparation for a video about Tad’s works. As I was filming this one, my brain got its wires crossed. :D

[@chadandrews4347]

Just found your channel…Well Done Sir! I look forward to tracking down Heroes Die. Great review, very excited to crawl through all your videos.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks and welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy exploring the rest of my videos (and the books they discuss!).

[@fightronin3753]

Sounds like a fascinating book!!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I'm trying. New video coming very soon.

[@RichGignac]

To be honest, I almost abandoned Heroes Die , the first 100 pages seemed to drag a bit. But, I'm glad I gave Stover's novel another chance, it's a decent Sci-Fi/ fantasy tale. You will root for Caine/ Hari as he enters Otherworld on his Quest. And, please, don't judge this book by its cover !!

[@thelibraryladder]

I agree that the Otherworld part of the story is the most fun, with faster pacing. It's one of the reasons the second book in the series was a bit of a letdown for me (although I did enjoy it).

[@jojothepirate87]

Great video! I just added the book to my queue.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I do.

[@fofoagressive]

This book is sitting on the top of my to read list for a long time. Maybe it´s time to read it.

[@thelibraryladder]

Go for it! I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the book.

[@neilfeedthegoat9013]

Just purchased. Thanks!

[@thelibraryladder]

I hope you enjoy it!

[@Klymenthis]

This sounds VERY similar to a recent anime DECA-DENCE, where humanity survives in a post apocalypse world by living in a giant moving city and fighting monsters BUT - spoilers - they are really in a giant domed preserve as the last non-cyborg people owned by a giant company and used as the setting for essentially a massive video game for the cyborgs who can pilot human looking characters and play at killing monsters they create - without caring what happens to the real humans who regularly die in monster attacks. The lead is a cyborg whose conscience makes him stop wanting to play the game but doesn’t have any choice.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of that show, but I see it's available on Hulu, so I'll check it out. It sounds intriguing.

[@Klymenthis]

@@thelibraryladder it’s a great show, especially as it’s only about 12 episodes and a complete story!

[@Metateller]

Well, you certainly piqued my interest with this one (though that is true for many of your videos). I have a thing for works that combine elements from different genres, and although this particular book seems more like a mashup o whole genres, it's definitively interesting that renowned authors claim this to be inspiration for them. And while we're on the matter, it'd be brilliant if you could talk about more books that cross the barriers of more than one genre, mainly fantasy and science fiction.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I like to understand the writers and works that influenced other authors. Such as how Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow & Thorn inspired George R R Martin to write A Game of Thrones. Or how Edith Nesbit and Elizabeth Goudge inspired J K Rowling. It's also why I like a lot of Golden Age science fiction -- although some of it is pretty hokey today, it's amazing how many of the ideas, themes and tropes in modern SF originated there. The same is true of most of the pulp magazines in other genres, such as fantasy, mystery and horror. Great suggestion about genre-blending books. I'll give that some thought.

[@peterklenner2563]

What is Caine doing when Hari is not present? What changes for Caine between his Actor Hari being absent and present? I should add that I started but did not finish the book, but after all these years I still am trying to understand the world-building.

[@dcaf94]

He disappears. On Overworld, people just assume he's out of town, working for the Monasteries. The Monasteries assume he's off doing his own rogue thing. Basically, the Studio takes advantage of the lack of speedy communication channels on Overworld to give their Actors breaks.

[@danielsankey8786]

Reading heroes die today, you would think it was written very recently. Not nearly 3 decades ago

[@thelibraryladder]

I agree completely. I had the same reaction to it.

[@danielsankey8786]

@@thelibraryladder have you heard the audiobooks? Stefan Rudniki does a phenomenal job

[@thelibraryladder]

That's great to hear. Rudnicki is a narrator with whom I've had mixed experiences. His style fits some books like a glove, but with other books it doesn't mesh well for me. Given the tone of Heroes Die, I can imagine him doing it justice.

[@Revanchist]

I'm sold! The cover looks like a Mad Max ripoff but I'll definitely be reading this.

[@thelibraryladder]

I hope you enjoy it!

[@billmutisya]

lov the vid. It does the book justice

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the book and the video.

[@sdv198]

brilliant content

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks!

[@phillipwhitford4064]

Awesome video thanks

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@iSamwise]

Hey Bridger thanks for the great video! Have you read the rest of the series or just up to book two? What do you think of some of Matthew Stovers other books?

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I haven't yet managed to return to the Acts of Caine series, so I've still read only the first two books. I have the final two books, though, and I plan to finish the series eventually. I've heard that books 3 & 4 are very good reads. I haven't read anything else by Stover, such as his novels in the Star Wars universe.

[@iSamwise]

@@thelibraryladder That makes sense! 😁

[@turtle24uc]

Ok, sold.

[@RamBam3000]

As if the ignorant and illiterate office suits in Hollywood would know who the fireman, "Fahrenheit 451" or Logan Ninefingers. This sounds utterly mad. And utterly brilliant and you do an excellent job selling it.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I had almost as much fun making this video as I did reading the book.

[@v3rmilli0nair3]

Man, I've owned the e-book for Heroes Die for years now lol but never touched it. I think I got on a kindle sale or something lol. This video makes me really want to get to it! I still think the cover is ugly though lol like seriously I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I think every time I saw the cover I assumed this book was just the novel version of a low-budget B tier brainless action film lol

[@thelibraryladder]

The book's cover definitely has that B-movie action film vibe, and I have to assume that Ben Stiller's Scorcher character parody from Tropic Thunder is patterned after the cover, because they're wearing the same outfit (!!). I wonder, though, if the publisher chose the cover as a subtle way of poking fun at the type of violent, low-brow entertainment the book skewers. If so, I think their subtlety backfired on them by scaring away the readers they probably wanted to attract.

[@st6ph6n28]

9:20

[@thelibraryladder]

All the way to 11. :)

[@troisot1107]

What are others interesting fantasy books ?

[@thelibraryladder]

Examples of authors who write creative (and sometimes subversive) fantasy books and who don’t get a lot of coverage here on BookTube include Tim Powers (Last Call, Declare, The Anubis Gates), John Crowley (Little, Big; Aegypt), Dave Duncan (A Man of His Word series), C.S. Friedman (Coldfire trilogy), Mary Gentle (Ash), and Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast series). I hope that’s a helpful list!

[@skippen]

All I can say is, well, weird.

[@thelibraryladder]

Weird is an apt word. :D

[@dcaf94]

@@thelibraryladder Exceedingly apt. Just wait until you get to Caine's Law...the term "it's raining weird" is a motif there ;)

[@bretlyons2197]

um... it's "overworld," not "otherland." did you actually read this?!?! I appreciate you reviewing one of my favourites but... getting that wrong is kind of tragic bro.

[@thelibraryladder]

Oops! My brain must have gotten its wires crossed while filming. I was re-reading Tad Williams' Otherland in preparation for another video at the time I made this one, so I must have inadvertently made the substitution because it was fresh in my mind. As a matter of policy, I don't talk about books I haven't read. I've read every book I've discussed in my videos (with the exception of a small number of titles among the hundreds discussed in my Gnome, Arkham and Ballantine publisher overviews and SF anthology overview). :)