The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

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 . . .

6 stars!
Seriously, I need to reevaluate my rating system in order to do justice to this book.

I've been looking forward to the conclusion of The Age of Madness all year and by the dead, Joe Abercrombie did not disappoint. The characterization and dialogue are off the charts. It's been quite the emotional and intellectual ride. I miss it already.

I am blown away. This is a masterpiece of work. Joe is currently dining with the great fantasy writers, alongside GRRM, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, amongst others who should be named but I'm far too lazy.

This is one of the worlds that you could read for the rest of your life and never tire.

The plot was fantastic, twist and turns throughout, keeping you on your toes.

Characters, well this is the author's speciality. He could make you hate someone for half the book, to then turn him/her into one of your favourites. The growth these characters go through is brilliant.

World building is top tier. You feel as though you are in this world with the characters, living, breathing the world of Adua and the like.

It doesn't get anymore epic than this. No criticisms, none at all. 5/5, my best read of 2021.

I should have “made my heart a stone”, I'm never going to emotionally recover from this

People who know me know that I am a massive Abercrombie fan. His Third Law world ticks all the boxes for me - the grittiness of grimdark, a wonderful cast of characters and dark, cynical sense of humour. This world has evolved from the more classical fantasy settings of the earlier books to a world of industry in this latest series and the parallels it draws to the French Revolution and Industrialization of Europe are fascinating. This is fantasy based on real world events that have transferred to a fantastical setting.

The Age of Madness has evolved from the initial Luddite style anti-progressive rumblings of the first novel into a full on revolution at the start of this. King Orso's victory is short lived as he stumbles straight into revolution as the Breaker's and the Burner's take charge. We continue to follow Savine, Leo and Rikke as they navigate this new order, with Savine and Leo learning to survive the revolutionaries and Rikke learning how to control the North.

The strength of Abercrombie is really in his characters. They are all flawed, all somewhat Machiavellian. You end up both liking and despising them at the same time. The growth in the characters over the series arc is impressive as well - the naivety has definitely worn off and these are some clever, scheming and morally ambiguous people. Abercrombie's world has no room for shining paragons of virtue. It gives it all a gritty reality that belies its fantasy setting