Heroes Die

PLOT POINTS WILL LIKELY BE DISCUSSED IN THE REVIEW

'Heroes Die' is a testosterone filled extremely violent book that pushes an awful lot of button whilst managing to stay well paced, and have enough depths and layers to it that it serves as a critique on entertainment, consumerism, capitalism and corporate culture.

The premise of the book is that in a distant future Earth is a highly stratified caste based planet characterised by extremely authoritarian culture and governance with an exceptionally powerful capitalist business class. For entertainment, media companies have found ways to transport 'Actors' to another planet to engage in 'Adventures' for live streamed, virtual reality entertainment for those who can afford it. This planet on the face of it is your 'by the numbers' fantasy setting with Kings, low tech, high magic with obligatory fantasy races. Here, the 'Adventures' of the Actors have real world consequences.

Hari Michaelson is at the top of his game as an Actor and he is transported to the planet Ankhana where his alter-ego Caine is an amoral dangerous assassin. Caine gets the most viewers and the most sponsorship back on Earth but that's because he's the very best in his field at doing the very worst things. In the very first chapter he commits a shockingly violent regicide which destabilises the region - all for the views and 'experiences' back on Earth. The general set-up of the story is that his estranged wife on Earth is also an Actor and due to magic use on Ankhana she cannot get back to Earth and it is a race against time to save her.

So what do I like about the book? I was kind of expecting a violent grimdark fantasy, and it is that, but the juxtaposition between this world and Earth's future is very well done. It's a great idea and setting and is generally executed really well. It's not a short book but the pacing flies by as there is little let-up both on Earth and Ankhana. I also really love the action sequences in the book. They are gory of course, but they all feel incredibly fast paced as written and in such evocative detail that they feel fresh without being overwrought. I've learned since reading that Strover is a martial artist and it shows. It does feel like a 'action book for boys' and feels incredibly pulpy at times, and I'm saying that's a plus (even if I did have to roll my eyes at the depiction of women at times).

I really like how Caine is written. He is the hero of the book but he is not a good person. Indeed, a lot of what he does is morally reprehensible at worst and pretty grey most of the rest of the time. He doesn't come across as a cool villain either. He comes across as a broken man who is desensitised to not only his violence but that of the worlds he inhabits. His feelings and relationships with his ex-wife are kind of authentic in how broken he is. If I say I like how he is written without ever feeling like I 'like' him I think that's a good job by the author because it's almost like having some empathy or understanding without ever validating him.

Much of the plot is like a lot of other political intrigue, dark fantasy. Yep, there are twists and turns and betrayals galore. There are different groups in the city with their own agenda but in many respects their goals seem secondary to the actions of the Actors which is kind of the point of the book. There is a new King on the throne (because Caine killed the last one) and he is almost ridiculous in his strength, magic, stature - he is like a walking penis oozing ejaculate in every word and deed. At times I found him laughable, at other times I leaned into the homoeroticism of him. But Strover does something kind of cool. He depicts this unbeatable final boss villain as an archetype of evil, a god, unstoppable and then he humanises him. Ma'elkoth the ever feared God King is understood as human, with emotions and desires. Through his words he loves both his power and his subjects and of course he is on a collision course with his 'let it be me' fuck buddy Caine. I just love the flipping - of Caine realising that bumping off another Evil King may not be the best thing to do.

I was also thinking about how in some levels this book is a pastiche of the roleplaying game. Adventurers assume a role, travel to a made up place, accessed through one's imagination and mind and undertake actions of daring. They warn the army of an invasion, they find the hidden treasure, they kill the monster and they dispose of the tyrant. Through blade, spell, charm , good fortune and good looks they are the heroes. It's something familiar to us all, but Strover is really cute by asking if we ever consider the wreckage left by humans when we finish playing our games in our fantasy imaginations. Here it isn't a couple of dice and a pencil, it's real.

This book was written in the late 90' but it does kind of depict the increase in reality television and virtual reality and how today people are glued to devices revelling in real world suffering and death for entertainment. No suffering is too much and the people of Ankhana simply don't matter or are not considered as having any say or rights in what happens to them. The real world analogues feel close. Likewise Earth itself is even more controlled. Indeed, Ankhana ruled by a tyrant and filled with medieval weapon violence still seems inherently more free than their hidden oppressors on Earth. It made me think of how at times the West demonises the Global South in terms of it's governments, cultures, democratic institutions whilst much of the West today is trapped in a growing cycle of increased fascistic influence on society. Where one can point over there at the 'uncivilised' whilst ignoring the suffering we endure and inflict.

Indeed, I was reflecting that Caine, as Hari's alter-ego is like a professional mask, a corporate self. And it made me think about how often people assume a mask to justify actions corporately that we couldn't justify to ourselves. Okay, we may not be physically murdering people but I suspect many people have a conflict between their ethics and their professional life and masks help us to survive that conflict.

I love the setting, love the concept and really enjoyed all the plot twists and action scenes as well as the differing perspectives on show. So what doesn't hang together so well? I was really enjoying the book, but the finale felt that there was just too much going on and even with twists Caine seemed a little too perfect having played an incredibly complicated game of chess so to speak. It felt a little too neat. I did like Shanna / Pallas Ril, Hari's wife but she has this weird arc that didn't quite hit and I felt the way Shanna and Hari's romantic story concluded wasn't for me. I liked Shanna when she hated her husband more. The Earth plot where Hari is sticking it to his boss (who really is the cause of all the problems on Ankhana) was good but needed just a little more to me. I kind of felt a little disappointed by the end because I kind of loved the set up and was enjoying the story but it was all just a little to clever. I also would have liked to have seen the supporting characters on Ankhana given more time - there is a Fairy / Elven Casino that is so incredibly evocative early on and you're teased this will be important but then the characters disappear until near the end and even then they are not really that important.

It's not a perfect book and it won't be for everyone but like all good sci-fi it asks quite a few 'what if' questions and is a scathing critique of capitalist entertainment culture whilst being a blood-soaked fantasy page turner.