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A review by mgerboc
The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Amazing ending to the new trilogy set in the First Law world. Joe Abercrombie is a true master storyteller. The characters are deep and colorful, the plot is exciting, and the whole world is so well realized.
The characters have always been Abercrombie's strong suit, and while this is categorized as grimdark, he manages to avoid over the top or truly evil characters. The arcs are true arcs - people change, even if that change is mostly guided by self-preservation, profit, and trauma. The senior leadership of the North, namely Sticky Rikke of the Long Eye, Caul Shivers, and Isern-i'-Phail, are actual perfection. Savine, Leo, and Orso (who, while as flawed as any other character is maybe the only one who is openly honest about it) in Adua are amazing as well.
The plot starts almost immediately after the end of The Trouble with Peace. I thought there was going to be a bit of build-up to the Great Change, but holy shit by page 25 we're in the middle of it, and Abercrombie does an amazing job of showing on-the-ground eye witness of a violent populist uprising. And the Breakers vs. Burners approach in the aftermath of the Great Change, historically informed by the the Menshevik/Bolshevik split in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, realistically portrayed the near impossibility of balancing that which worked from the old regime while denouncing it entirely and looking towards the future.
In the end, there are twists and turns, some of which were pretty predictable (but not in a bad way because they're still satisfying) and others which were not at all. Overall, this was an excellent end to probably my favorite ongoing fantasy series.
On a final note, this is supposed to be the final book in the First Law World. However, in addition to leaving a few loose ends, Abercrombie plants some very serious seeds for future stories (especially with Jonas Clover, one of my favorite characters). So, he either comes back to the world to explore more stand-alones or series, which would be beautiful, OR he never does, which proves a point he makes in the book that the struggle never ends, and the list of enemies will never be completely eliminated.
The characters have always been Abercrombie's strong suit, and while this is categorized as grimdark, he manages to avoid over the top or truly evil characters. The arcs are true arcs - people change, even if that change is mostly guided by self-preservation, profit, and trauma. The senior leadership of the North, namely Sticky Rikke of the Long Eye, Caul Shivers, and Isern-i'-Phail, are actual perfection. Savine, Leo, and Orso (who, while as flawed as any other character is maybe the only one who is openly honest about it) in Adua are amazing as well.
The plot starts almost immediately after the end of The Trouble with Peace. I thought there was going to be a bit of build-up to the Great Change, but holy shit by page 25 we're in the middle of it, and Abercrombie does an amazing job of showing on-the-ground eye witness of a violent populist uprising. And the Breakers vs. Burners approach in the aftermath of the Great Change, historically informed by the the Menshevik/Bolshevik split in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, realistically portrayed the near impossibility of balancing that which worked from the old regime while denouncing it entirely and looking towards the future.
In the end, there are twists and turns, some of which were pretty predictable (but not in a bad way because they're still satisfying) and others which were not at all. Overall, this was an excellent end to probably my favorite ongoing fantasy series.
On a final note, this is supposed to be the final book in the First Law World. However, in addition to leaving a few loose ends, Abercrombie plants some very serious seeds for future stories (especially with Jonas Clover, one of my favorite characters). So, he either comes back to the world to explore more stand-alones or series, which would be beautiful, OR he never does, which proves a point he makes in the book that the struggle never ends, and the list of enemies will never be completely eliminated.