The Will of the Many is a 2023 high fantasy novel and the fourth novel by Australian author James Islington. It is the first book in The Hierarchy series, with a second book, The Strength of the Few, planned to release in 2024 or 2025. Islington is also the author of The Licanius Trilogy.

The book takes place in a fictional world with similarities to the Roman Empire, where the lower classes, called Octavii, must cede a portion of their Will (their mental and physical energy) to the classes above them. The story follows the fugitive orphan Vis Telimus as he is recruited for the prestigious Catenan Academy, where he must uncover the secrets behind a tragic accident at the Academy, contend with the other students to join the ranks of the elite, and grapple with the questions and responsibilities of his own shadowed past.

Premise

Three hundred years ago, an unknown Cataclysm nearly destroyed the world, leaving less than one person in twenty alive and decimating the technological advances of the era.

Now, the Catenan Republic, also known as the Hierarchy, has conquered the known world. The Republic resembles the Golden Age of the Roman Empire, and it sustains its control though a class system that uses remnants of Pre-Cataclysm technology to force the lowest classes cede their mental and physical energy to the classes above them. The system results in a handful of elites who can wield the strength of thousands of Octavii to imbue objects, allowing the Hierarchy to undertake enormous construction projects, travel vast distances, and expand its empire.

But with no more territory to conquer, tensions have heightened and the three senatorial pyramids of Governance, Religion, and Military have started to jockey for power. One of the most crucial arenas for this burgeoning power struggle is the elite Catenan Academy, where the sons and daughters of the Republic's most powerful families compete to earn placements in the Hierarchy's structure.

Plot

By day, Vis Telimus works in the brutal Catenan prisons, helping to drain inmates of their Will through the use of Sappers, a technology adapted from a time before the Cataclysm. By night, he participates in the underground fighting circuit, hoping to earn money that will help him to one day escape the Hierarchy altogether. Through it all, he must hide his true identity as a prince of Suus, the last kingdom to fall to the Hierarchy. But when Vis is adopted by Magnus Quintus Ulciscor, one of the most important men in the Hierarchy, he sees another way out. In exchange for his adoption, Vis agrees to train for the Catenan Academy and investigate the death of Ulciscor's brother. While traveling to Deditia, Catenan's capital, Vis and Ulciscor are ambushed by the Anguis, a rebel group resisting the power of the Hierarchy, but escape the attack. At Ulciscor's estate, Vis is prepared for the Academy by Lanitsia, a Sextii who was blinded during the same mysterious accident that killed Ulciscor's brother.

During the Festival of Jovan, Vis meets again with the Anguis, though he still refuses to join them because of their brutal methods. At the festival, Vis attends a mock sea battle in a Catenan version of the Colosseum with Aequa, another student at the academy. During the mock battle, the leader of the Anguis appears and lays waste to the crowd with a mysterious weapon, killing tens of thousands of people in attendance. Vis helps Aequa to escape, then returns to confront the Anguis leader, who commits suicide while making it appear as if Vis killed him.

At the Catenan Academy, Vis befriends Callidus, the son of one of the most powerful men in the Catenan Republic, and Eidhin, a foreign student with limited knowledge of the language but extensive fighting skills. Vis also meets Emissa and Indol, two of the top-ranked students at the school, who take an interest in Vis because of his supposed origins as an orphan and his exploits at the Festival of Jovan. The school is overseen by Principalis Veridius, who was a close friend to Lanistia and Ulciscor's brother, and whom Ulciscor believes is responsible for the strange accident.

Along with the challenges of the Academy, Vis faces constant pressure from Ulciscor to discover the secrets of his brother's death, which Ulciscor believes have to do with the mysterious ruins of a Pre-Cataclysm society on the island. While searching the ruins, Vis discovers a chamber filled with script in an unknown language and, disturbingly, hundreds of bodies skewered with obsidian stakes with eyes that are blinded in the same way as Lanistia's. At another ruin, Vis encounters a labyrinth that is identical to one used by the Academy to train students. While experimenting with the labyrinth, Vis interacts with strange figures who warn him about the dangers of something called "Synchronicity." When these figures enter the labyrinth, they are torn apart by wraiths of swirling obsidian glass.

As he rises to the top ranks of the Academy, Vis is invited by Indol and Emissa to train with them during the semester break at Indol's home, which Vis realizes is in his former kingdom of Suus. During the trip Vis grows closer with Emissa, and they kiss after Vis rescues her from drowning.

At the end of the year, Vis is ordered by Ulciscor to run the labyrinth in the ruins or face imprisonment in a Sapper, while the Anguis pressure him through blackmail to graduate at the top of the class, which will guarantee that he can choose a position within the Hierarchy. During the final competition to determine class placements, Vis returns to the ruins and run the labyrinth. Upon making it through, he enters a chamber that claims to be a pathway to Obiteum and Luceum. He falls unconscious and awakes in a seemingly unchanged room, though now surrounded by indistinct hovering figures. He escapes the chamber, though he is bitten on the arm by one of the figures as he makes his way out of the ruins.

Vis returns to the competition, but realizes that the Academy's safety teams have been killed and replaced by members of the Anguis, who are now hunting the remaining students. Vis helps other students to escape, but his wounds from the labyrinth continue to worsen. When nearing the end of the competition, Vis encounters Emissa, who sees the distinctive wound on Vis's arm. Distraught, she attempts to kill Vis. He survives the attempt, though it delays his rescue of Callidus from the Anguis saboteurs, causing Callidus's death. Vis returns to the Academy and is declared the winner of the competition. Principalis Veridius, showing knowledge of the labyrinth, promises to explain everything and claims to be trying to prevent a second Catalysm. Though he begs Vis to choose a position under him, Vis refuses, choosing instead to gather more information by joining Governance and working under Callidus's father.

In the epilogue, called "Synchronism," an alternate version of Vis awakens in the chamber after the labyrinth in the ruins. The chamber is different however, and symbols around him suggest he is in Luceum. A third version of Vis wakes up in Obiteum, where he is greeted by Ulciscor's brother, who is still alive and warns him of a larger conflict.

Main characters

• Vis Telimus – A fugitive orphan adopted by Ulciscor Telimus. Previously known as Diago.
• Ulciscor Telimus – Magnus Quintus member of the Military Senate. Adoptive father of Vis Telimus.
• Lanistia Scipio – Sextus residing in Ulciscor's family estate. Tutor to Vis. Previous classmate of the deceased Caeror Telimus (brother to Ulciscor).
• Sedotia – Member of the Anguis rebel group resisting the Hierarchy. Also known as Relucia
• Relucia Telimus – Sextus wife to Ulciscor Telimus.
• Veridius Julii – The Principalis, in charge of the Academy.
• Callidus Ericius – Class seven student at the Academy. Friend to Vis.
• Eidhin Breac – Class six student at the Academy. Fought with Vis during his first day attending the Academy.
• Aequa Claudius – Class four student at the Academy. Attended the naumachia with Vis.
• Emissa Corenius – Class three student at the Academy. Spent time with Vis mucking out the Academy stables.

Reception

The novel received positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews praised the novel's magic system and exploration of themes of complicity and complacency,^[1] while a review on Tor.com noted the "expansive, intricate, layered world."^[2] The novel holds an average of 4.65/5 stars on Goodreads.com, with more than 10,000 ratings.^[3] A review from Publishers Weekly stated that "Islington’s worldbuilding is exceptionally detailed and thoughtful, making suspending disbelief effortless. Perfectly balancing character development and plot momentum, this will have fantasy fans clamoring for more."^[4]

References