"Greed is by definition the moral ruler of the Hierarchy, Diago. All decisions are based upon it. It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it."

There is always a nervous feeling when I decide to tackle one of BookTok’s darlings that is popping up on my FYP pretty much every video. You can’t help but have your expectations set extremely high when people whose opinions you trust when it comes to books almost universally give something 5/5. Thankfully the nervous feeling with “The Will of the Many” was completely unfounded, leading me into an early contender for my favorite book for 2024. 

“The Will of the Many” follows Vis, a war orphan from the island nation of Suus, who was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps as the next in line to rule. That all changed when the Catan Hierarchy conquered and murdered his family. What follows his Vis’ journey of avenging what happened to his family while balancing the asks of his adoptive “family” to discover the mystery at the Hierarchy academy. 

Something that I think is the major standout from author James Islington is how amazing of a main character POV that Vis is. From his internal first person internal monologues to him working out and problem solving, he comes across as one of the most natural characters I have read. The fine line of making him not feel perfect but also not feel ignorant is walked perfectly. His interactions and intentions align incredibly well with his internal motivations. Vis really is one of the best written characters I have read in a long time. 

Islington does not waste all of his great writing on Vis, it is spread around to the supporting cast as well. There are some many great supporting characters that I am not going to name all of them, but once the story gets to the academy and becomes a “school” setting, they all really shine.

Another major tent pole in the start of this new serious is the political climate and maneuvering that serves as the looming backdrop to Vis’ narrative. As I have seen with other books that have similar narrative beats (Red Rising for example) sometimes world building that comes with establishing a new universe can sometimes take more than the first book to really establish itself. Islington does not need that, he really sets the tone early on with what has happened and the continued fallout of the Hierarchy’s conquest. He smartly uses the Hierarchy’s real world counterpart (The Roman Empire) to help establish his in-world history, so even as the reader it’s a new world, there still is a familiar feeling that helps you follow along. As a history minor, this really scratched a certain itch that fictional books rarely due. 

I also listened to the audiobook in different stages and it is solid listen. The narrator handles Vis and the others well and I actually found it to be helpful with the pronouncing of the really hard Roman-style naming conventions.

The story is broken up into three distinct parts, and while I found the first two parts to be stronger than the third, the ending of this story with a epilogue cliffhanger that had me wide-eyed at 1AM when I finally finished has me craving the follow up immediately. If you think you might be interested in this book, please don’t look up anything and just delve right in.