Please note, The Wisdom of Crowds is a direct sequel to The Trouble With Peace and the final book in The Ages of Madness trilogy. I would strongly recommend reading books one and two in this series before proceeding any further. There are minor spoilers ahead and I’d hate to ruin the experience for anyone. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 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…

You know the drill. What follows is the review of the second book in a trilogy. If you’ve not read book one in this series, A Little Hatred, then it is likely there may be minor spoilers ahead. Do not tell me later that you haven’t been suitably warned. Conspiracy. Betrayal. Rebellion. Peace is just another kind of battlefield . . . Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way. For heroes like Leo dan Brock and Stour Nightfall, only happy with swords drawn, peace is an ordeal to end as soon as possible. But grievances must be nursed, power seized and allies gathered first, while Rikke must master the power of the Long Eye . . . before it kills her. The Breakers still lurk in the shadows, plotting to free the common man from his shackles, while noblemen bicker for their own advantage. Orso struggles to find a safe path through the maze of knives that is politics, only for his enemies, and his debts, to multiply. The old ways are swept…

I’ll preface this review with a warning for the more delicate amongst you. If you choose to read any further please note there will be some swearing. I normally try to keep things PG13, but I’m reviewing a Joe Abercrombie novel and if ever there was an appropriate time for a little mature content this would be it. The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal’s son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments. Savine dan Glokta – socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union – plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control. The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles…

Sharp Ends “is the ultimate collection of award winning tales and exclusive new short stories from the master of grimdark fantasy, Joe Abercrombie. Violence explodes, treachery abounds, and the words are as deadly as the weapons in this rogue’s gallery of side-shows, back-stories, and sharp endings from the world of the First Law. Let’s get this out of the way right up front –  I’m a huge fan of The First Law trilogy. In fact, I’ll go further than that, I’m a huge fan of all the books set in the First Law universe. With that confession in mind, you’ll not be surprised when I tell you the opportunity to learn more about some of the characters, and the world that they inhabit, was too good to miss. Sharp Ends, Joe Abercrombie’s latest, collects together thirteen adventures chronicling life over a twenty-six year period. The good news, if you’ve read any of Abercrombie’s First Law books then there is going to be so much here you’ll enjoy. Some of my personal favourites… A Beautiful Bastard – The Union army may be full of bastards, but there’s only one big enough to think he can save the day single-handed when the…

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain his throne. First he must survive cruelty, chains and even drowning. And he must do it all with only one good hand. The deceived will become the deceiver. Born a weakling in the eyes of the world, Yarvi cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. The betrayed will become the betrayer. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast, he finds they can help him more than any noble could. Will the usurped become the usurper? Even with loyal friends at this side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy… I have to start with an apology. After about an hour of reading Half a King, I had already re-christened this book as Game of Throne in my head. I couldn’t help it, but I’d like to stress that I do mean this as the highest form of compliment. Abercrombie’s latest has a distinct flavour of George R R Martin about it. Not only is there plenty of adventure and fighting, it also deftly explores the same sort of political power plays, skull-duggery and manoeuvrings that Martin…

They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried. Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust. . . The past never stays buried . . . After reading the book blurb above you could easily be mistaken for thinking that Joe Abercrombie has flipped his lid. Where the hell is the grimness? What has happened to the darkness? Shouldn’t…