Wednesday, June 24, 2026

Book Review: The Wisdom of Crowds (The Age of Madness book 3) by Joe Abercrombie

 First, here's the usual plot:

 From the New York Times bestselling author of A Little Hatred comes a stunning fantasy novel that finds the world in an unstoppable revolution where heroes have nothing left to lose as darkness and destruction overtake everything.

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 . . .

 My review:  

This book picks up right where the 2nd book ends. Right away we find out what happens to Leo dan Brock. Savine is still very pregnant at the beginning too. 

This book is non-stop action. You just have to keep reading to find out what happens with all of our characters. 

At the halfway point in the book, there's a battle in the North. Not going to say how that goes. You need to read for yourself. It was a bloody battle. Lots of twists.

When you reach up to Part IV, boy oh boy, does it get intense. The pace picks up even more than it was at the beginning. Some of our character's lives are at stake. Will they make it? Keep reading...

Oh the huge surprises later on. Some people who were not who we thought they were and some were more involved that what we figured. Surprise! We also find out who was behind The Great Change, that was part of this entire series. Again...Surprise! I didn't think this person was the instigator of the entire thing, as well as the person known as The Weaver. 

All loose ends were tied up, by the end. We learn what happened to our characters, at least those that did survive to reach the end.

The ending itself seemed like that there could be an opening left for another series of books. It would be nice to see what will become of  these characters. If not, the ending is perfect too. 

I've really enjoyed this series, this world and all of the characters. I give this book, 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It was well worth the read. 

As always, the covers are great.  



 

 

 

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Book Review: Sublimination by Isabel J. Kim

 Here's the customary plot: 

 Doppelgängers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border: Sublimation is a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life from award-winning author Isabel J. Kim.

The border cuts you in two.

When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home.

Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral.

She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life.

How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?

 

My review:  

This is an eARC that I was approved for from Netgalley.

I have never read anything that was in the genre of Speculative fiction. So, all this is new to me. This is a good thing to read a slightly different genre.

With my first sit down to read this book, I ended up reading to 19%. So far, it was holding my attention. The concept was pretty good.  

This book is a bit weird. Not in a bad way. Just weird. It's still holding my attention at the 56% mark. Now, I'm at the point that I want to know what happens with the characters. 

There's a little bit of mystery in this book. That's a reason why to keep reading. You want to know what will or will not happen.

After 80%, the story really picked up and got more of a faster pace. You really wanted to know what and how things were going to happen. The ending was a nice surprise. I didn't see that happening. 

Now, this world was well thought out. The way that people split or instanced was well done. The characters were well thought out too. You felt like you knew them personally. 

If this book was a standalone or if there's a part 2, I'd definitely want to read it. If it remains a standalone, that's fine too, as the ending was satisfying. 

I'll give this book a solid 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐. The only reason why I didn't give it 5, was because of the little bit of extra story in each chapter. I understand why it was given. It gave you some explanation as to why this world had instancing. 

All in all, I do recommend you to read this book. I really did enjoy it.