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The Wisdom of Crowds

The Riotous Conclusion to The Age of Madness

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The Wisdom of Crowds

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Summary

 Concluding the AGE OF MADNESS trilogy, THE WISDOM OF CROWDS brings the series which is revolutionising fantasy to its stunning conclusion. . .

Chaos. Fury. Destruction.
The Great Change is upon us . . .
Some say that to change the world you must first burn it down. Now that belief will be tested in the crucible of revolution: the Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds.

With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies . . . while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.
The banks have fallen, the sun of the Union has been torn down, and in the darkness behind the scenes, the threads of the Weaver's ruthless plan are slowly being drawn together . . . Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Scary
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Critic Reviews

In book three of this dazzlingly gruesome and gripping cycle, Joe Abercrombie does politics much as he handles everything else: with a clear-eyed understanding of the limits of human kindness and the banal depths of evil.
Joe Abercrombie is doing some terrific work
No one writes with the seismic scope or primal intensity of Joe Abercrombie
Delightfully twisted and evil
Witty, Bloody and fun
A vivid and jolting tale
I had a blast with this trilogy.
Bravo, Joe Abercrombie; the bar for grimdark fantasy has been raised again. And you, Lord Grimdark, remain absolute as one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time
A cutting satire of political revolution with wonderfully dark humor and a grim mess of an outcome that will leave you wanting more. 9 out of 10.
The Wisdom of Crowds is Abercrombie at his best. It's fun, it's engrossing, it's brutal on its characters in all the best ways, and it's just a damned enjoyable way to spend a few days glued to the pages of a book
Thoroughly recommended - a definite book of the year
This is not just your average good third volume of a decent fantasy trilogy; this is the stunningly ambitious final section of what was clearly originally conceived and planned as a single, unified work of art. Not only do the plotlines, themes and narrative devices of the trilogy cohere into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts but they also speak to a second age of madness: the one we currently live in.
Bloodily brilliant...This is fantasy as it should be, with blood, guts and broken bones felt on every page.
All stars
Most relevant
Huge fan of this series and it's predecessor. Just can't get a wrap around the way this book ended it. Not disappointed, but in no way do I believe Mr. Joe ended it to the best of his potential. The climaxes and endings for all of the main characters fall short.
S. Pacey does a wonderful job becoming the characters, they will forever be thought of in my mind and reading in your voice.
And on a personal note, I was hoping that a 9 fingered old "realistic" man or a develish woman complaining of "pinks" showed up again.

Almost

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Abercrombie and Pacey is like Shaq and Kobey at there peak, unstoppable! Not gonna lie but I shed a tear for Bremer like I did for Harding Grim, besides San and Logan he has been my favourite character since "The Heroes" but at least he got his redemption, got be realistic about these things I suppose... please let a nine fingered old man make a cameo again

The best in the business

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I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of these books that are available.
I really like how Steven Pacey narrates , these books by Joe Abercrombie and I desperately want to hear more. Thanks

Good writing even better reading

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Awesome, awful and terrible at once. Heart wrenching and thrilling. Pacey is a performance master. Seamless, considered and entertaining in his narration and voice acting. Abercrombie has wrapped up his series with consistent wit and brutality. He goes places with his narrative most writers wouldn’t dare, given the chance. I wish in part the series would continue but also know there’s nowhere left for it to turn. Credit to the music designer too. That rattling of chains, sharpening sword and descending series of semitones will haunt a lifetime of anticipation and tragedy.

Masterful, clever and cold.

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Joe Abercrombie manages to bring to life so many of his characters, both major and minor, that praising his writing style is almost redundant by now. Continuing directly after the ending of the second book it wastes no time in bringing madness to the Union, throwing the main characters headfirst into revolution.
It's both a delight and a horror to see some of the events and character changes take place, but plenty of unexpected but logical twists and characters making really bad decisions that nevertheless fit their outlook on the world. You just want things to turn out all right but you can see that it's not likely to happen because of selfishness and arrogance on the part of some people. It hit a little to close to home during the pandemic...
My only concern is that of structure, where by the end it feels like a lot of plot threads sort of didn't go anywhere or pay off in a satisfying manner. Some of them feel like they might be setting things up for later books, but I think it might just be the problem with writing in a realistic style. In real life not everything gets wrapped up neatly all at the same time, but for a story it feels a little unsatisfying.

Intriguing but slightly disappointing conclusion

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