The Will of the Many Review

Caitlyn, Jones

September 9, 2024

“Hate is its own violence, my prince. Your only choice is whether to let it hurt them, or you.” – The Will of the Many

The Will of the Many by James Islington is a story we have heard many times before. A boy suffering a great loss must infiltrate the institution that trained those who caused his pain. Learning along the way that situations and people are not as black and white as they first appear. This story has been told well, poorly, and somewhere in the middle. Islington’s reimagining of this classic tale is both comforting and refreshing, perfecting the elements we find so enjoyable and adding new elements that make it worth picking up.

Synopsis

Vis, an orphan within the Hierarchy, has a secret. He is the victim of colonization, losing his family to the might of the Hierarchy, forced to give up his name and his identity to survive. Though he does not have grand aspirations to destroy the institution that destroyed his life, he only wants to find one place in the world where he can escape its broad influences. Though one day he encounters a man who encapsulates everything Vis despises, a Hierarchy elite, who also has Vis’s golden ticket out of there. All he must do is accept his adoption offer and attend the Hierarchy’s elite Academy. Though his mission isn’t to be the best student, it’s to try to solve a death from years ago, a death that may break the Hierarchy apart if the truth gets out.

Where Cliché Meets Innovation

I feel that in today’s media cycle, we as consumers are growing tired of the same stories being told with different characters and locations. With remakes, sequels, and reboots making up a majority of visual media right now, I understand why the book community is coming down so hard on books that seem ‘derivative.’ Though The Will of the Many is not just a simple retelling or reimagining of the classic coming-of-age fantasy story. For those of you who have already read this book, you already know what I mean, the trajectory of this series is far from what most would consider stereotypical. Though for those of you who haven’t, I will try to explain it the best I can.

This book never felt like something I had read previously. Not to say that this is revolutionizing the concept of an elite school and a boy with a vengeance, but while I was reading it I never felt the need to compare it to books before it. It incorporated enough original content that it still felt fresh. Islington included memorable plot twists that never let me feel like I had a firm grasp on the plot. The world was also a huge selling point for me, a combination of the past and future, creating a beautifully awful society. For such a large novel, it never felt very long as I was eager to see how the plot unfolded. Even without the twists and unique story elements, the classic parts of this novel were charming and fun. It almost felt nostalgic to read those sections, reminding me of the elements of stories that made me fall in love with reading in the first place. So, while I believe this series’ potential lies in its future installments, this was still a highly enjoyable reading experience.

The Potential (Spoiler Warning!)

Warning – If you have any interest in this book at all, it is my recommendation that you just read it, this isn’t something you will want spoiled if you want the full experience.

The ending of this book really did shock me, even though I knew it would end with a plot twist. I assumed the plot twist would be an event or a character, like ones previously, I never would have guessed the twist would be a break in format. Having a character split between dimensions is such a fun concept that I hope its not just for shock factor. I spent a while after I finished the book staring at a wall while contemplating what this could mean for future installments. While I am excited to see how this is going to play our narratively and structurally, I am a little nervous about how well something like this can be executed in the long term. If this isn’t perfectly planned out, I can see a lot of narrative and pacing issues that could occur. Though I also think that James Islington deserves the benefit of the doubt with the way that he structured and executed The Will of the Many. While the twist was shocking, it didn’t appear out of thin air, the more I thought about it the more I understood the framework leading up to it. So, I am really hoping we see a similar execution in the pay off, and with a projected 2025 release date, hopefully we won’t have too long of a wait to see how it all unfolds.