The Wisdom of Crowds

The Riotous Conclusion to The Age of Madness

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Concluding the AGE OF MADNESS trilogy, THE WISDOM OF CROWDS brings the series which is revolutionising fantasy to its stunning conclusion. . .

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....

©2021 Joe Abercrombie (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

"Joe Abercrombie is doing some terrific work." (George R. R. Martin)

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

"Delightfully twisted and evil." (The Guardian)

Masterfully written, god-level narration

Abercrombie delivers and wraps up the series nicely. Witty dialogue and elegant good-byes. Pacey is a master of narrating and brings Abercrombie's characters to life (and death) flawlessly.

Thanks Joe and Steven for the hours of company and hope to listen to further material from both. Whatever it will be, I'm sold already.

Good book, but could have been better.

It's worth a read or a listen, but the author is getting too predictable. These books are just history repeating itself over and over and over again.
I was hoping for my favorite character to finally be a shining beacon of hope, but of course that wouldn't be gritty and realistic enough. So we're getting more disappointment and nothingness. It's hard for me to stay with characters and a world, where nothing matters and all goes down the drain. It really loses all appeal for me, if there is nothing and no one to root for.

Thats it…

Joe is my favorit author, can’t deny it no more… just read this and enjoy every friggin sentence as if it was the last thing you are going to read this life

The best there is

Thanks for "a little private hanging" You executed my heart with one chapter. I'll never stop listening to this book

Couldn't stop listening!

How's the leg?!

Rikke's storyline wasn't perfect, but it's still a great listen.

I have listened to the whole series 3 times so far, and Steven Pacey is a genius.

Dark, cruel and fascinating

The Union lived through the Great French revolution combined with Bolsheviks upraising. Dark but great.

amazing. could not stop listening.

both narrator and writer best there are for these books . recommend for anyone

never disappointed!

fantastic interwoven stories, grit and good reading! I'm just sad I've run out of Joe Abercrombie's books! to have books so emersive and so well written that actually get finished in this genre is just the best thing ever!

Best performance ever, best dark fantasy ever

Steven Pacey gives the best performance you'll ever hear a 1 man team put in for an audiobook

Joe Abercrombie does an excellent job writing fantasy. Dark fantasy, regular fantasy, doesn't matter really. The important part is that the underlying message in any of his works is usually a damn fine one and expressed so well that we may not see anyone rival him in this lifetime.

The only downsides for listening to the audiobooks in the Age of Madness trilogy that I can think of are:
-You may never be fully satisfied with another narrator's performance again.
-You may never be fully satisfied with another author's fantasy book series again.

If those side-effects are acceptable, by all means go ahead!

an absolute gem

really delivered. once again Steven Pacey knocks it out of the park. and when I thought it was over. well, it wasn't over. tremendous. I thankyou Joe and Steven. one of the best audio experiences I've had.