Wisdom of Crowds

The only reason this is getting 4 stars is because my favorite character bloody died.

In the previous books, the nobles rebelled against their king, lost and everything should be fine, right? Only The Weaver has other plans and as the king returns home, he comes back to a bloody revolution that takes control of the Union and loses Orso his throne. Savine and Leo take the opportunity and rise to the top as Citizens of the quasi French Revolution. None of the characters come out of this revolution unchanged.

The Weaver reveal at the end had me a bit flabbergasted, but in Abercrombie's writing, no character is ever safe. Nor are they ever truly good or noble, like them in one book, despise them in the next book. I will say that Abercrombie's portrayal of women is soooo vastly improved, and in general, he just seems to keep growing.

This better not be the last we've seen of the First Law world. Especially the vision in the final chapter of the book has me screaming for more.

Imagine the French Revolution covertly instigated and conducted by a few influential figures of the establishment. With the sole aim of screwing other such people. Just to reinstall the monarchy in the end. A noble cause, perhaps. And a cunning plan. Quite naturally, things do not go as planned and take a turn for the worse. Things burn and people die in spectacular manner.

Surprisingly, the one who emerges as a complex character is Leo dan Brock. And that's it, as anything else in the book is predictable and happens exactly the way a reader had suspected since a certain prophecy in A Little Hatred. Still a great page turner.

Joe Abercrombie writes top contemporary fantasy, so do get The Age of Madness Series. You won't regret it.