The Wisdom of Crowds
Chapters - Joe Abercrombie
Part 7
Chapter 1: Like a King
Orso rides triumphant towards Adua after his victory at Stoffenbeck, with Leo imprisoned in a wagon and Savine in a guarded carriage behind him. Their column is attacked by Breaker rioters in the streets, forcing Gorst and Sulfur to cut a bloody path to the Agriont. Upon reaching the White Chamber, Orso learns that Valbeck has fallen again, Pike is missing, and a People's Army is converging on the capital - the sense of triumph evaporating into dread.
POV: Orso dan Luthar·On page: Leo dan Brock, Savine dan Glokta, Bremer dan Gorst, Yoru Sulfur, Corporal Tunny, Hildi, Zuri·Mentioned: Pike, Bayaz, Sand dan Glokta, Colonel Forest, Finree dan Brock
Chapter 2: Change
Vick rides alongside Pike at the head of the People's Army as it marches on Adua - a vast, ragged column of tens of thousands of workers, soldiers and dreamers. She watches Judge ride boldly to the gates and demand the garrison choose a side. The soldiers on the walls open the gates without a fight, tearing down the Union's banner, and the People's Army marches into the capital, trampling the flag of the old order into the mud.
POV: Vick dan Teufel·On page: Pike, Judge·Mentioned: Bayaz, Leo dan Brock, Orso dan Luthar, Sand dan Glokta
Chapter 3: The Little People
A kaleidoscope chapter told through the eyes of ordinary citizens caught up in the Great Change as the People's Army storms Adua. A shoemaker rushes out with his grandfather's sword, a young officer's company is routed, a petty criminal settles old scores with an axe, a bride-to-be flees her murdered father, a laundrywoman leads a charge across a bridge, a soldier defies orders to shoot civilians, and the crowd pours into the Agriont. Judge leads the charge through the city gates while the mob carries its revolution to the Lords' Round, rechristened the Commons' Round.
POV: Judge·Mentioned: Orso dan Luthar, Bremer dan Gorst
Chapter 4: No More Trouble
Broad is freed from his cell in the House of Questions by Breakers who have stormed the Agriont. He finds Savine and the crippled Leo hobbling through the chaos and helps them escape into the streets, where the crowd seizes Leo and hoists him onto their shoulders as a hero of the people. Broad punches down a man who challenges Leo's credentials, winning the mob back to cheering, and former Lord Marshal Brint suggests the Union will need men like Broad in the days to come.
POV: Gunnar Broad·On page: Savine dan Glokta, Leo dan Brock·Mentioned: Sand dan Glokta, Judge
Chapter 5: Bring Out the King
Orso watches helplessly from the palace gatehouse as the horde of Breakers floods the Agriont, noting that Sulfur has quietly vanished. He tells Hildi to melt into the crowd and releases Gorst from his oaths, then walks out alone to surrender himself. He is met by Pike, who reveals himself as the Weaver and leader of the revolution, and Orso yields the palace to the people.
POV: Orso dan Luthar·On page: Hildi, Bremer dan Gorst, Pike, Vick dan Teufel·Mentioned: Yoru Sulfur, Bayaz, Corporal Tunny
Chapter 6: All the Cards
Rikke holds court in Skarling's Hall as warriors drag in the broken Stour Nightfall, hamstrung and beaten beyond recognition. Shivers and Clover present their captive, and Rikke has him caged rather than killed, despite Clover's warnings. She sends Shivers to deal with holdouts in the valleys and Clover to secure the Redwater border against Calder's probing raids, then seduces the Nail in Skarling's Chair with the caged king listening.
POV: Rikke·On page: Isern-i-Phail, Stour Nightfall, Caul Shivers, Jonas Clover·Mentioned: Calder, Orso dan Luthar, Leo dan Brock, Savine dan Glokta
Chapter 7: Questions
Vick, now Chief Inspector in Pike's renamed People's Inspectorate, threatens her way into the Adua headquarters of the Banking House of Valint and Balk with a cannon that has no gunpowder. She finds a vast iron vault door she cannot open and arrests the staff, carrying out Pike's orders to shut down every branch of the bank. Reunited with Tallow, she reflects on how the Great Change has produced the same people doing the same job under different names.
POV: Vick dan Teufel·Mentioned: Pike, Sand dan Glokta, Bayaz, Leo dan Brock
Chapter 8: Citizens
Orso observes the chaotic Assembly of Representatives from an absurd gilded enclosure, watching Risinau and the elected delegates argue endlessly over terminology while the nation crumbles. Leo, in constant agony, forces himself to stand and delivers a rousing speech renouncing his noble title, earning cheers as a champion of equality. Broad, now Captain Broad, watches from the sidelines as Sulfur arrives to deliver a warning from Bayaz and is contemptuously dismissed.
POV: Orso dan Luthar·On page: Leo dan Brock, Gunnar Broad, Yoru Sulfur, Hildi, Corporal Tunny, Judge·Mentioned: Bayaz, Savine dan Glokta, Finree dan Brock
Chapter 9: Miracles
Savine endures a brutal labour with Zuri at her side, delivering a son while Breakers' marching songs echo outside. When Leo hobbles in on his crutch to meet his child, Savine is seized by fresh contractions - it is twins. Despite the agony and terror, she is overwhelmed by an unexpected flood of love for her babies, finding them astonishingly, breathtakingly beautiful.
POV: Savine dan Glokta·On page: Zuri, Leo dan Brock·Mentioned: Ardee West
Chapter 10: A Little Public Hanging
Orso is forced to watch from his enclosure as the five members of his Closed Council are publicly hanged on a grotesque new mechanical gallows designed by Sworbreck and Curnsbick. Judge snaps her fingers to trigger each execution while Risinau presides with satisfaction. Broad, now a captain in the People's Army, gently restrains the distraught king. Orso realises this nightmare may simply be how the world is now.
POV: Orso dan Luthar·On page: Hildi, Gunnar Broad, Judge, Pike
Chapter 11: Nest of Vipers
Rikke and Isern follow Corleth through the streets of Carleon, suspecting treachery, only to discover she has been secretly visiting her elderly grandmother and bringing her scraps for soup. Isern bursts in with a dagger drawn, creating an embarrassing scene that reveals nothing but a harmless family connection. Rikke dismisses Isern's continued suspicions, though Isern insists the girl smells wrong and warns Rikke not to let her guard down with Calder's spies potentially anywhere.
POV: Rikke·On page: Isern-i-Phail·Mentioned: Calder, Stour Nightfall, Savine dan Glokta
Chapter 12: Lines of Communication
Clover ambushes a patrol of Calder's men at a farm near the border, using a hidden archer to force their surrender. His man Downside kills three of the prisoners for making threats, despite Clover's preference for keeping bloodshed to a minimum. He extracts intelligence that Calder is gathering strength and has allied with a savage from beyond the Crinna called Stand-i'-the-Barrows, then sends the survivors back with an offer to talk - keeping the lines of communication open while privately wondering which side he should be on.
POV: Jonas Clover·Mentioned: Calder, Rikke, Stour Nightfall
Chapter 13: The Politician
Leo tries on a mechanical iron leg and plots his political future with Savine, the two of them coolly cataloguing their past mistakes and former allies' betrayals. Leo meets Chairman Risinau among the dumped statues of the old regime and talks his way into being sent as an emissary to Angland, appealing to the Chairman's vanity and his own popularity. He has reinvented himself as a politician - patient, calculating and willing to use any method to win, modelling himself on Savine's father Glokta.
POV: Leo dan Brock·On page: Savine dan Glokta·Mentioned: Sand dan Glokta, Rikke, Vick dan Teufel, Stour Nightfall, Gunnar Broad, Jurand, Glaward, Finree dan Brock, Queen Terez, Bayaz
Chapter 14: Anger
Vick and Broad face down an angry mob on a bridge, Vick delivering an impassioned speech before the riot erupts and her Constables beat the crowd back. Afterwards, she confronts Pike in his bare office, arguing that Risinau must go and that the Great Change is producing chaos rather than progress. Pike asks her for solutions rather than complaints, and when she suggests he take power himself, he insists he never wanted to be in charge - only to build a better world.
POV: Vick dan Teufel·On page: Gunnar Broad, Pike·Mentioned: Sand dan Glokta, Orso dan Luthar, Colonel Forest
Chapter 15: Opportunities
Savine hides at home with her twins, paralysed by fear and pearl dust withdrawal, naming her daughter Ardee after her mother. Zuri's brothers Haroon and Rabik return, bringing a measure of comfort, and the businessman Kort visits to tempt her with speculation opportunities. Savine refuses, warning that profiteers will be the next targets, but Kort's visit shames her into action - she resolves to buy food and give it away in the poorest districts, rebuilding her reputation through charity rather than commerce.
POV: Savine dan Glokta·On page: Zuri·Mentioned: Ardee West, Leo dan Brock, Orso dan Luthar, Colonel Forest, Pike
Chapter 16: An Exhibit
Orso endures his daily humiliation as a public exhibit in the palace attics, where tours of gawking citizens file past him while he eats miserable food with Hildi. Tunny arrives among the visitors and stages a public confrontation, shoving Hildi - but secretly slips Orso a note revealing that he has been working as a loyal agent all along. Lord Marshal Forest, Princess Carlot, Gorst and others still stand ready to fight for the king, and for the first time, Orso remembers what it feels like to have hope.
POV: Orso dan Luthar·On page: Hildi, Corporal Tunny·Mentioned: Colonel Forest, Bremer dan Gorst
Chapter 17: Different This Time
Leo and Savine prepare to receive Jurand, sent by Finree from Angland, in their deliberately modest new house. The reunion is bitter - Jurand is angry and unforgiving over the deaths of their friends and Leo's rejection. When the tension threatens to boil over, Savine sweeps in with the twins and breaks the ice, and together they persuade Jurand to join their cause, promising seats in the Assembly for him and Glaward as they begin plotting to fill the power vacuum left by Risinau's failing leadership.
POV: Leo dan Brock·On page: Savine dan Glokta, Jurand·Mentioned: Finree dan Brock, Glaward, Antaup
Chapter 18: Quarrels
Rikke has a furious row with the Nail, who storms out of Carleon with his West Valley men, leaving her short-handed against Calder. Isern and Shivers warn her that cockiness is leading her to ruin. Rikke sends Clover to Calder with an offer to trade peace for Stour's return.
POV: Rikke·On page: Isern-i-Phail, Caul Shivers, Jonas Clover, Stour Nightfall·Mentioned: Calder
Chapter 19: Too Many Principles
Leo manoeuvres through the chaotic Commons' Round with Jurand and Glaward, performing empty patriotic speeches to win the crowd. Judge storms in with Burners, arrests Chairman Risinau, and seizes control. Broad is drawn into her orbit and herds the prisoners up the Tower of Chains for the first executions by falling, while Vick watches in horror alongside Pike.
POV: Leo dan Brock·On page: Jurand, Glaward, Orso dan Luthar, Hildi, Judge, Gunnar Broad, Vick dan Teufel, Pike·Mentioned: Savine dan Glokta