The blurb:
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 . . .
The review:
Note: I’ve tried to keep this review as spoiler-free for the trilogy as a whole as I can, but there are some aspects that I couldn’t word my way around. Namely, the state of the revolution by the third book!
The Wisdom of Crowds is now out! The ninth book in Abercrombie’s cynical-though-charismatic First Law world brings an end to the most recent trilogy.
I’ve praised the books in this series to no end. A Little Hatred may have been my favourite ever series opener, and I waxed lyrical about The Trouble with Peace. Whether this trilogy is better than the first will be a matter of personal opinion, but if you ask me? Absolutely.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t have my criticisms. The Wisdom of Crowds had a lot of aspects that I loved, but there were also a few that I wasn’t so keen on. Much like how I felt after the first First Law trilogy, I think my opinions on this one need some time to settle and ferment. For now, though…
Let me start off by saying that I was still utterly entranced by this cast of characters. The way that the old guard is used in conjunction with the new POV cast is something I continue to think is brilliant. The way that personal and cultural histories are leant on to give additional context and tension to certain scenes? I thought that was incredibly well done. Then there’s all the stuff that our characters have gone through over the course of the trilogy… They felt almost like children in the beginning, but by the end of the trilogy they are legends and villains in their own right. No heroes, though. Never that.
Even by the end, I struggle to pick out a favourite. Rikke, Savine, Leo, Orso… it’s incredible to consider how they have grown (or… declined… in some cases) as characters. The roles they fill when you would never have expected it from them. Leaders, Politicians, Kings, and the faces of a Great Change. Then there are the likes of Broad, Clover, and Vick, who are more often than not forced to adapt to the moves made by others.
You get it. I loved the characterisation in these books. Voice, depth, scope, variety, I loved it all. So where does the criticism come in? Well, there are a couple of things.
The main one is something that I feel is going to be incredibly subjective, but it did have an impact on my engagement. At the end of The Trouble with Peace, we get the big reveal, and are left with the idea that shit is about to hit the fan very soon. Well, it does. And as silly as it sounds, It felt to me like that almost happened too soon? I understand that the revolution had been built up over the course of the proceeding two books, but I expected to see a little bit more of a transitionary state in this one before the revolution reached its end game. Instead, it felt like it jumped straight from A to Z. “We are going to revolt… aaaaand we have revolted. Good effort, everyone. Does anyone know if Phil survived?”
My other nitpick has a few parts to it. One of the overarching themes of this trilogy, particularly evident in the second book, is that it is far easier to criticise leadership than it is to practice it. While I have enjoyed reading how Abercrombie has explored that idea, in the first 50% of the Wisdom of Crowds it started to feel like he was beating a dead horse. Tied into this, I hadn’t really appreciated until the final book that we’d never had an “inside” perspective on the revolution — with Broad being the closest thing. This meant that when the revolution was eventually set up as the main opposing force to some of our characters, it felt a little one-dimensional to me. Even though there were competing factions with the burners and the breakers, I really feel much of a difference between them. Besides, I guess, the fact that one side had Judge.
Considering all of the above as a whole, I had a bit of a conflicted start to this novel. I found the characters as captivating as ever, so much so that I never really felt bogged down by those parts that didn’t land with me. But I did, for a moment, think that the book was spinning on its wheels just ever-so-slightly. The second half completely won me over, however, with some great scenes that felt tailor-made for these characters (some of them final). I don’t want to say too much, and I don’t want to give away the ending… But I don’t think the world of The First Law ends here.
There are some other aspects I want to briefly mention. One character in a past book has a few homophobic moments, which are framed in a way that suggest his own repressed attraction towards men. That subplot continues in this book. There is also a character who actively fosters a racist agenda, with dialogue along the lines of , “It was a bad message to send, having brown faces around the royal(…)”. These are subplots which don’t necessarily get resolved. The behaviour is always framed in a negative light, but it is nonetheless portrayed. I mention this so that any prospective readers may make their own informed decisions as to whether to pick these books up, if the inclusion of such things is something they’d rather avoid.
Taking it all in, am I satisfied with how the Age of Madness trilogy has ended? Yes. Am I happy? Absolutely not — Joe killed off some of my favourite characters! But in all seriousness, these small criticisms aside, I had a blast with this trilogy. I feel like anyone who enjoyed the first two books is going to be the same.
But… when is the next one?
We received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you to Gollancz for the review copy!
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