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Heroes Die: A Fantasy Novel
- GenresFantasy
713 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2008
80 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Woodring Stover
51 books1,006 followersMatthew Woodring Stover is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He is perhaps best known for his Star Wars novels -- Traitor, Shatterpoint, Revenge of the Sith and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. He has also published several pieces of original work, such as Heroes Die, which Stover described as 'a piece of violent entertainment that is a meditation on violent entertainment'. Stover's work often emphasises moral ambiguity, psychological verisimilitude and bursts of intense violence.
Stover is deeply interested in various forms of martial arts, having trained in the Degerberg Blend, a concept that utilises the thought behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as its foundation.
Stover is deeply interested in various forms of martial arts, having trained in the Degerberg Blend, a concept that utilises the thought behind Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do as its foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 29, 2024
so awesome it’s fantastic and brutal.
Matthews acts of Caine series are so good. This is my 5 th time reading, bought them all off Amazon, 3 times I have bought these books! Unfortunately we are not far from hari’s world. This is a classic novel the best of the 4 and I’ll read them all again in year or 2.
Matthews acts of Caine series are so good. This is my 5 th time reading, bought them all off Amazon, 3 times I have bought these books! Unfortunately we are not far from hari’s world. This is a classic novel the best of the 4 and I’ll read them all again in year or 2.
July 25, 2025
Take Tron and The Running Man, with a main character that uses martial arts dropped in a fantasy world, and what do you get? An awesome romance, thats what. Stover pulls it off wonderfully. It took a little bit to heat up but once it did oh baby.
It's a sci-fi/fantasy and one of the better crossovers I've read (which is not many). The main character Hari plays a character, Caine, in the Overworld. Overworld is infiltrated by "actors" like Hari and go on adventures. These adventures are watched, bought and sold to others back home that can re-enact them with special sim-chairs. Caine is like a Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt, but with a bad attitude. In his real life he is married to Shanna, who is famous actress that goes by Pallas Ril in the Overworld.
Overworld is starting to catch on to these "aktiri" coming into their world and messing with it. Governments are toppled for profit. Shanna wants to help the people of Overworld. She gets kidnapped. Hari goes in to save her. As he finds out more, the executives back home start getting anxious.
Caine and Pallas couldn't be more opposite. He's a loose canon killer with no remorse. She shows mercy and goes out of her way not to kill everyone. They had "separated" a year prior to all this going down. Hari loves Shanna, but doesn't quite know how to get her back. When she's kidnapped, he goes in, and the executives are going to make a killing off of it.
Overworld is a fantasy world, with magic. The fight scenes are great, very detailed, and with a character using their fists and feet compared to shield and sword, it was refreshingly gruesome in some spots.
The dialogue (and his inner dialogue) can go from humorous to poignant within a short amount of time.
Interesting notes and highlights:
“Hari, listen,” Duncan whispered, his eyes fluttering closed. “The smartest . . . the smartest man in the world once said, ‘Anything that is done out of love takes place beyond good and evil.’ You get that? You understand? Beyond.”
He struggles beneath me, but I’ve got him now and there’s no way I’m gonna let him go. I slam his head into the curving step, and again, and again and again; the purple-veined marble is now artistically spattered with the crimson of Berne’s blood.
Ceremony is for insignificant men who lick others’pretended awe like spittle from their chins.
and, y’know, there are few attitudes as seductive as uncritical adoration.
You’ve already beaten the worst enemy you’ll ever have—that voice in your head . . . It tells you the fight’s already over . . . whispers there’s nothing you can do . . . If you beat that voice, it’s a victory that can’t be taken from you. You might die, but you’ll die fighting.”
In corporate slander, truth is not a defense.
“Does it matter? When you tell a story loud enough and long enough, a story that plays right into people’s worst fears of betrayal, it grows its own truth.”
It's a sci-fi/fantasy and one of the better crossovers I've read (which is not many). The main character Hari plays a character, Caine, in the Overworld. Overworld is infiltrated by "actors" like Hari and go on adventures. These adventures are watched, bought and sold to others back home that can re-enact them with special sim-chairs. Caine is like a Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt, but with a bad attitude. In his real life he is married to Shanna, who is famous actress that goes by Pallas Ril in the Overworld.
Overworld is starting to catch on to these "aktiri" coming into their world and messing with it. Governments are toppled for profit. Shanna wants to help the people of Overworld. She gets kidnapped. Hari goes in to save her. As he finds out more, the executives back home start getting anxious.
Caine and Pallas couldn't be more opposite. He's a loose canon killer with no remorse. She shows mercy and goes out of her way not to kill everyone. They had "separated" a year prior to all this going down. Hari loves Shanna, but doesn't quite know how to get her back. When she's kidnapped, he goes in, and the executives are going to make a killing off of it.
Overworld is a fantasy world, with magic. The fight scenes are great, very detailed, and with a character using their fists and feet compared to shield and sword, it was refreshingly gruesome in some spots.
The dialogue (and his inner dialogue) can go from humorous to poignant within a short amount of time.
Interesting notes and highlights:
“Hari, listen,” Duncan whispered, his eyes fluttering closed. “The smartest . . . the smartest man in the world once said, ‘Anything that is done out of love takes place beyond good and evil.’ You get that? You understand? Beyond.”
He struggles beneath me, but I’ve got him now and there’s no way I’m gonna let him go. I slam his head into the curving step, and again, and again and again; the purple-veined marble is now artistically spattered with the crimson of Berne’s blood.
Ceremony is for insignificant men who lick others’pretended awe like spittle from their chins.
and, y’know, there are few attitudes as seductive as uncritical adoration.
You’ve already beaten the worst enemy you’ll ever have—that voice in your head . . . It tells you the fight’s already over . . . whispers there’s nothing you can do . . . If you beat that voice, it’s a victory that can’t be taken from you. You might die, but you’ll die fighting.”
In corporate slander, truth is not a defense.
“Does it matter? When you tell a story loud enough and long enough, a story that plays right into people’s worst fears of betrayal, it grows its own truth.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews