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A review by maxsebastian
The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I started The Blade Itself over five months ago. Having just completed The Wisdom of Crowds, I can say truthfully that Joe Abercrombie is one of the most impressive writers currently working, full stop. Since that first entry, Abercrombie has improved his prose, theming, pacing, narrative structure, and even, yes even, his character work to the point where he's standing with the titans of the genre and of modern fiction. If you're a fantasy skeptic (which I doubt for anyone reading a review of the tenth book in a fantasy world), Abercrombie is probably the best person to win you over to the genre.
In particular, The Wisdom of Crowds strikes an impressive balance of fast paced action like the takeover of the union in the first "The Little People" chapter right at the book begins , political scheming like our final glorious scene with Sand dan Glokta , and emotional trauma like Queen Rikke's "I am the owl" moment with King Orso . Looking back on The Age of Madness, I am shocked with how well Abercrombie was able to satisfy my need for answers from previous works while simultaneously leaving me profoundly unsatisfied. To be specific, his choice to take the most complex character in fantasy, Sand dan Glokta, and make him start a revolution of common folk to overthrow an evil wizard disguised as a Gandalf-like figure is so smart and surprising I really could never have predicted it.
Like every good Abercrombie story, I finished this book in utter frustration at the profoundly important questions remaining at the end of this story. I finally got some of the closure that I wanted from certain plots set up as early as The Blade Itself, but I have to ask, was the result worth the cost? That, if anything, is the question of the first law.
In particular, The Wisdom of Crowds strikes an impressive balance of fast paced action
Like every good Abercrombie story, I finished this book in utter frustration at the profoundly important questions remaining at the end of this story. I finally got some of the closure that I wanted from certain plots set up as early as The Blade Itself, but I have to ask, was the result worth the cost? That, if anything, is the question of the first law.