The Wisdom of Crowds

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

From the New York Times bestselling 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

For more from Joe Abercrombie, check out:

The Age of Madness
A Little Hatred
The Trouble With Peace
The Wisdom of Crowds

The First Law Trilogy
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
Last Argument of Kings

Best Served Cold
The Heroes
Red Country

The Shattered Sea Trilogy
Half a King
Half a World
Half a War

Critic reviews

"A master of the genre."—Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Abercrombie's satisfying plotting and expert subversion of genre expectations are sure to please. Readers will be gripped."—Publishers Weekly on The Trouble With Peace

"Abercrombie squeezes your heart till it matches his beat. No one writes with the seismic scope or primal intensity of Joe Abercrombie."—Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on A Little Hatred

"Abercrombie continues to do what he does best . . . Buckle your seat belts for this one . . . . A vivid and jolting tale."—Robin Hobb, New York Times bestselling author, on A Little Hatred

"Highly recommended - a funny, finely-wrought, terrifically energetic work of high fantasy. Seek it out."—Joe Hill on A Little Hatred

"Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say that he's a master of his craft."—Forbes on A Little Hatred

"A Little Hatred is Abercrombie at his very best: witty, wise, and whip-smart. Masterfully plotted . . . . I had high hopes for this book, and it exceed them all."—Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld, on A Little Hatred

"Brutal, unforgiving, and terribly fun. Everything awesome readers have come to expect from Joe Abercrombie."—Brian McClellan, author of Sins of Empire, on A Little Hatred

"With expert craft, Abercrombie lays the groundwork for another thrilling trilogy."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on A Little Hatred

"Rife with emotion with wit to spare, both honed to an effortlessly fine edge. A Little Hatred is the joy of watching a master of the craft with his tools at their sharpest."—Sam Sykes, author of Seven Blades in Black, on A Little Hatred

"Joe Abercrombie's powerful voice raises the bar in any literary genre. Fantasy fans are beyond fortunate he chose this one."—Myke Cole, author of The Armored Saint, on A Little Hatred

"Abercrombie unerringly juggles a large cast of multifaceted, morally ambiguous characters, each embroiled in their own complicated story."—Booklist (starred review) on A Little Hatred

"A critical, compelling epic fantasy loaded with wonderfully drawn characters, the bloodletting tempered with sharp social commentary and a touch of satire . . . . It doesn't feel like a stretch to say Abercrombie's on his way to writing another masterpiece of epic fantasy."—B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on A Little Hatred

"A Little Hatred may be the most accomplished work from a writer who many already consider a master."—SFF World on A Little Hatred

"[Abercrombie] might have his most important series of novels yet."—Locus on A Little Hatred

"Bloody and relentless."—George R. R. Martin on Best Served Cold

"Bold and authentically original."—Jeff VanderMeer on The Blade Itself

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.