Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.

Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own.

Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself.

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?

Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail.

Three men. One battle. No Heroes.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Black Dow, Protector of the North, wages war against the King of the Union as their great armies meet on a plot of ground near a ring of stones known as "The Heroes." Heroic fantasy, with an emphasis on military actions and magical warfare, marches to the forefront in Abercrombie's (Best Served Cold) latest novel. Featuring a colorful cast of warriors, wizards, and royalty, this tale of individual heroics in the context of a three-day battle blends broad-scale action with the gritty details of men at war. VERDICT Reminiscent of Steven Erikson's Malazan novels and Jim Butcher's Codex Alera novels in terms of scope and military action, this will appeal particularly to military fantasy buffs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

This blood-drenched, thought-provoking dissection of a three-day battle is set in the same world as Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy (The Blade Itself, etc.), but stands very well alone. Union commander Lord Marshal Kroy coordinates the fight with the aid of a motley group of incompetent, self-important officers. The strangely sympathetic Col. Bremer dan Gorst is officially a royal observer who nurses a burning desire to kill or be killed. Leading a much smaller army against the Union is Black Dow, whose grip on the throne of the Northmen is tenuous and based on fear and brutality. Calder, a slippery and cunning egotist, advocates peace while plotting to take Black Dow's place. Abercrombie never glosses over a moment of the madness, passion, and horror of war, nor the tribulations that turn ordinary people into the titular heroes. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

When he's not writing large-scale fantasy novels, Abercrombie moonlights as a freelance film editor, a skill that undoubtedly contributes to his forte of crafting cinematically vivid action and crisp, witty dialogue. His latest novel revisits territory well trodden in his First Law trilogy, which opened with The Blade Itself (2006), and traverses an imaginary landscape reminiscent of a medieval Europe populated by citizens of the Union Empire and its tribal enemies to the north. Here the story concentrates on a sometimes violent, sometimes bafflingly strange three-day battle taking place on and around an insignificant Northlands hill crowned by monolithic burial stones called The Heroes. While the battle looms as only one stepping stone in a larger campaign by the Union's Lord Marshal Kroy in preventing the North's Black Dow from seizing more lands, the clash of key adversaries will prove decisive. Yet the premise here is less important than the multiple political intrigues, scandals, and jealous feuds enacted by Abercrombie's parade of colorful characters. One of Abercrombie's most masterfully executed and compellingly readable novels to date.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A stand-alone set in the same world as the author's The First Law trilogy andBest Served Cold(2009), this down-in-the-mud military epic may call itself a fantasy, but it reads more like a bracing blast of cruel reality.The King of the Union seeks the overthrow of Black Dow, the uncouth warlord who calls himself the Protector of the North, which sets the doughty but fractious fighters of the North against the more sophisticated and numerous army of the Union. Over the course of three days, well-meaning but incompetent generals, bloodthirsty thugs, vengeful magi, scheming princes and military wives, cynical veterans and painfully nave recruits engage in bitter clashes in an attempt to seize the hill bearing the standing stones known as the Heroes. The plot is almost incidental, a mere vehicle to convey the author's gritty, eloquent screed on how war is no neatly ordered chessboard; rather, it is a messy series of blundered encounters, where cowardice and mismanagement meet happenstance and bloodlust. Brave warriors die pointlessly, and those with the connections, luck and ability to turn up at the right time are dubbed heroes.Long on message and nuanced character development, short on entertainment value.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.