The Wisdom of Crowds

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

From the New York Times best-selling author of A Little Hatred comes a stunning fantasy novel that finds the world in an unstoppable revolution where heroes have nothing left to lose as darkness and destruction overtake everything.

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....

"A master of his craft." (Forbes)

"No one writes with the seismic scope or primal intensity of Joe Abercrombie." (Pierce Brown)

©2021 Joe Abercrombie (P)2021 Orbit

Two masters of their respective crafts.

The combination of Joe Abercrombie and Stephen Pacey will to me always be one of my favorite things in life. The end was agony, but it was perfect agony.

History Repeating Itself in Fiction

The story was well done, but pretty much ripped from the headlines of the French Revolution... the exception being that "our Marie Antoinette" makes it out the other side... but wearing the same white dress... Some good twists and turns that I couldn't predict. I definitely recommend it, but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of imagination and use of the French Revolution as a template. Clever, but lots of blatant reuse of historical fact...

The best so far.

So good! Twists I was not expecting. The way it ended! Ahhh, I need more!!!

Brutal

I Hate you and I love you Joe.

Steven Pacey was brilliant as always

More of the same with an interesting ending

Joe Abercrombie has a very particular writing style and about 5-6 characters he recycles in every story. If this book was edited better I suspect you could cut 25% of it and lose nothing. Many times a character will repeat their inner monologue to themselves and after reading many First Law books I have gotten very tired of hearing those same self loathing monologues. The story is ok, the real fireworks start going off at the end with many twists I saw a mile away and a few surprises that caught me off guard. overall I'm excited for the next trilogy and I hope some real progression can be made.

This trilogy was honestly filler. Maybe it needed to happen but it's all set up for the big finale. Hopefully the First of the Magi can get the spotlight in the next one.

A(nother) Masterpiece.

The Wisdom of Crowds is a masterfully crafted novel.
Abercrombie’s writing, plot-building, storytelling, character development, and creativity in general is second to none. And Steven Pacey’s narration is simply outstanding — he’s on the level with Abercrombie. Bravo.
HIGHLY recommended.

Fantastic

This series was exceptional. One of the best fantasy series ever written. It’s as good as First Law and almost as good as Red Country. The narration is amazing and I am only disappointed that it is over.

Fantastic story and narration!!!!

Story is even better than I had hoped. Very complex characters, great development. I have loved every one of these books. The narrator is wonderful and perfectly suited for these books! Absolutely recommend!!!!!

Never assume you know what’s next

Only Joe Abercrombie can make you love a character then hate them in such magnificent style. You really go through a wild range of emotions while being entertained at every turn. The visualization of every moment is easy with the perfect narration. I hope there’s more in the series

loved it but really more of the same

If your a fan already it's worth your time, no major complaints. I didn't find it as good as some of Joe's other works because his style of writing and the larger world is just no longer novel. Still was great to be back in the Union and the North and see how the next generation is fairing and placing there own mark on the world.

You do get alot of satisfying throwback characters to show up randomly. I think the reason I'm not super gung ho is I didn't like the final twist all that much (about who or what was behind alot of the events). I was actually suspecting it to occur but even still some things didn't quite fit right for me. Will probably listen to a dozen more times though in coming years.