The Will of the Many

For a couple of years now, any time I've asked people online what fantasy book I should read, James Islington's The Will of the Many dominates the answers more often than not. I'll admit I'm somewhat biased against overly hyped books I see pushed on TikTok or other social media, since it often feels like disguised marketing for the book itself. And recently I've noticed that hype can go either way, sometimes the book turns out overhyped, like Katabasis by R.F. Kuang was for me, and sometimes it's genuinely earned, like Alchemised by SenLinYu. So going into this one, I actually started with a bit of a negative bias, partly because the book I read right before this was Katabasis. And when I found out it was inspired by ancient Roman culture, I got even more skeptical, since it feels like the genre is already flooded with books drawing from Roman culture. On top of that, this was the first book I've read by James Islington, and, to my shame, he was an author I'd genuinely never heard of before this.

That being said, this book exceeded my expectations by a mile, and might genuinely be the best book I've read in 2026 so far, as of writing this, it's August 2026.

Although the book is inspired by ancient Roman culture, its worldbuilding and magic system are genuinely distinct, nothing about it feels like a copy-paste of Rome with the names filed off. From the very first chapter, this book grabs you and just doesn't let go, it genuinely wrecked my sleep schedule more than once. There were multiple nights where I told myself I'd read just one more chapter, and somehow ended up finishing fifty pages later at two in the morning. It's rare for a book to hook me that hard that early, and Islington manages it almost immediately.

The main character, Vis, is incredibly relatable and well written, with a genuinely great backstory behind him. He's a character of real principle, refusing to take part in the magic system that every citizen of the Catenan Republic is essentially forced into, and he gets remarkably creative in finding ways around it without exposing himself. What makes him even more compelling is the position that puts him in, in a world where this magic system grants significant, often decisive advantages to those who use it, refusing to participate means Vis is constantly at a disadvantage against people who have that extra edge built into everything they do. Rather than resenting that or looking for shortcuts, he just works harder to make up the difference, through sheer discipline, intelligence, and sheer stubbornness. That choice alone makes him stand out as a character, he's not the chosen one with the biggest power set in the room, he's the guy compensating for not having it, and watching him do that is genuinely one of the most compelling parts of the book.

The side characters are just as great. Every single one of them comes from a different walk of life within the world Islington has built, which makes them feel more intriguing and distinct from one another, and it also does a ton of quiet work for the worldbuilding itself, since you get glimpses of totally different corners of Catenan society just through who these people are and where they came from.

Vis's friendship with Eidhin in particular is a masterful bit of writing, a genuinely well-earned enemies-to-friends arc that never feels rushed or convenient. His friendship with Callidus was also beautifully written, a pure, uncomplicated friendship in a book full of political maneuvering and hidden agendas, I don't want to spoil anything so I'll stay vague here, but Callidus's backstory ends up tying directly into Vis's own rise through the Academy and gives the reader a completely different perspective on events unfolding around them.

Vis's relationship with Emissa was also great, though I'll note for anyone who's bothered by this sort of thing that the book never gets smutty or overly explicit, it stays grounded and character-driven rather than leaning on that. And Aequa is another excellently written character, another masterful example of an enemies-to-friends dynamic done right, distinct enough from the Eidhin arc that it never feels repetitive, even though on paper they're a similar type of relationship.

The world itself feels genuinely rich and lived-in. The secret history our main character uncovers as the book goes on is exceptionally well written, Islington doles it out in careful, deliberate pieces, just enough to keep you constantly theorizing without ever feeling like he's withholding information just to be coy. Every revelation feels earned rather than dropped in for shock value, and by the time the bigger picture starts coming together, you realize just how much groundwork was quietly laid from the very first chapters.

The book itself is just very well written on a craft level. It's a masterful work of plot and pacing, nearly 700 pages, but it never drags, there's no bloated middle section where you're waiting for the story to pick back up. Political intrigue, personal character moments, and the slow unraveling of the world's history are all balanced so well against each other that the length actually works in the book's favor rather than against it.

I particularly enjoyed the academia sections more than the secret-history-uncovering parts, but that's really just a personal preference rather than a flaw in the book. There's something about watching Vis navigate the social and political minefield of the Academy, the rivalries, the alliances, the constant performance of fitting in while hiding who he really is, that I found more compelling moment to moment than the broader conspiracy plot. That's not to say the mystery elements are weak, they're genuinely well done, I just found myself more invested in the day-to-day stakes of Vis surviving and rising through the Academy's ranks than in the larger secrets he was slowly uncovering. Other readers who lean more toward political intrigue and hidden history over character-driven school dynamics might find the balance lands the opposite way for them, which speaks well of how evenly Islington balances both sides of the story.

The book has some genuinely great twists throughout, moments where I audibly went "no way" while reading. Without spoiling anything, that final chapter twist in particular is amazing, it recontextualizes a lot of what came before and sets up the next book in the series perfectly. It's the kind of ending that makes you immediately want to pick up book two, not because it leaves things unresolved in a frustrating way, but because it opens up so much new potential for where the story can go.

5 out of 5 stars, by far the best book I've read so far this year.