The Heroes were a pleasant summer read worth 3,5 stars. For me it was tipped to four stars by humorous passages of Corporal Tunny. There are many tie ins with the trilogy, but not necessary to understand the story. 
 By nature, The Heroes are more hack'n'slash read, full of fighting - it's depicted quite well so I don't dare to call it a weakness. However I didn't like the last, after battle part, which was too much explanatory for my taste. Abercrombie's first-time reader won't probably appreciate the status of Bayaz anyway and those who know don't need to spell it out. Moreover the character of the witch has no ending and serves as a cheap way to get Bayaz involved and let Black Dow know more than he should know. 
 In the end, it's still a good, well-written book.