The Will of the Many (Part 4 - Plot)
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining me for this fourth and final part of our review of The Will of the Many (Many).
This portion of the review will analyze the Plot and provide my concluding thoughts on this book. If you want to get caught up or need a refresher, please see the previous parts.
Part 3: Characters, including a discussion of the Romance
If you’re all caught up (or don’t care about those previous sections), let’s dive right in.
STATS
Title: The Will of the Many
Series: Hierarchy (Book 1)
Author(s): James Islington
Genre: Fantasy (Epic)
First Printing: January 2025
Publisher: Saga Press (imprint of Simon & Schuster)
Rating: 10 / 10
SPOILER WARNING
Minor, unmarked spoilers for The Will of the Many will be provided throughout this review. I will keep the first paragraph of each section as spoiler-free as possible. Heavy spoilers will be confined to clearly labeled sections.
No spoilers will be provided for the sequel, The Strength of the Few. That book released four days ago. I may or may not have started reading it by the time this post is published. My plan is to do a short overview post once I’ve finished the book, and then we’ll do a deep-dive analysis series in February and March.
STRUCTURE
Before readings even a single page of narrative, readers are confronted with the fact that this book is broken down into parts. Each of them has names in Latin (which I’ve cycled through Google Translate, because a year of high school Latin is not nearly enough for me to read them). These are:
Part I: Imperium Sine Fine (“Empire Without End”). This is Act One of the story, covering everything from the beginning to when Vis officially enters the Academy as a student.
Part II: Deus Nolens Exituus (“God Unwilling to Die”). This part covers most, but not all, of Act Two, depicting Vis’s rise through the ranks of the Academy and his first two expeditions into the ruins that Veridius is investigating.
Part III: In Cauda Venenum (“In the Tail of Poison”). Covers events leading up to the Academy’s final competition, Vis’s final delve into the ruins, and the events that unfold during the competition.
There is also Synchronism: Ex Uno Plures (“From One to Many”), which serves as a multi-part epilogue.
I don’t like this breakdown. I think that Part I and Synchronism are appropriate, but the break between Part II and Part III is arbitrary, making it feel like the parts were included purely for epic vibes without any meaningful purpose planned out for them. This doesn’t damage the narrative. It just feels superficial, especially for a narrative that doesn’t need that boost.
PLOT THREADS
A Plot: Academy Infiltration
As discussed back in Characters, Vis is recruited by Ulciscor to infiltrate the Academy and gather evidence on what Veridius is doing in the ruins (plus anything to confirm Veridius’s guilt in Caeror’s death). He is trained by Lanistia and tasked with rising to the top ranks of the Academy to ensure maximum access to as much of the island as possible. Vis must push himself to him limits to both achieve is goal and avoid discovery and expulsion.
This is a plot that works very well. Vis has both a carrot and a stick to motivate him. When things are going well for him, his mind is on what he stands to gain, since a high ranking in the Academy and Ulciscor’s favor will allow him to flee to the fringes of the Hierarchy and live out his days safely without needing to cede or accept Will. When things go poorly, he faces the looming threat of Ulciscor condemning him to the Sapper if he fails. These situational motivations keep things fresh.
In addition to the ongoing struggle, this plot thread is also the one that exposes Vis to the deeper mysteries of the story, namely the mysteries of what’s going on in the ruins. He’s exposed to some unnerving and esoteric sights that will surely play a part in future books. I’ll get into this more in the spoiler-heavy twist section down below.
B Plot: The Anguis
Before Vis can even get back to Ulciscor’s estate to begin his tutoring, the Anguis are breathing down his neck, trying to twist him towards their own ends. They are aware of his true backstory, and they freely use this information to extort him into helping them, since they could get him killed or sent to a Sapper at any point by simply revealing his true identity. We also learn later on in the narrative that not all of the Anguis are aware that Vis is an asset they’re developing, and thus, he is also in danger of being assassinated by Anguis operatives on account of his actions at the end of Act One (which I don’t want to spoil in this review, as it’s a pretty intense sequence).
The Anguis plot thread should frustrate me. Vis is deprived of all agency here. From the first time the Anguis threaten him, he realizes he has nothing that he can hold over them. Every time they order him to be somewhere or do something, he does so, at most putting up token protests that he himself knows won’t do any good.
The reason why this plot ends up still being engaging is that, while Vis may lack agency, there is still tension and stakes. Following the orders the Anguis gives him, even if said orders are just to show up at a place to receive more specific orders, is always a calculated risk. He needs to showcase his wit and deception as he finds ways to obey without causing more trouble for himself. What’s more, while Vis doesn’t fight back against them, that’s not to say he stops looking for ways to turn the tables. He catalogs every bit of information they let slip. By the end of the book, he’s even able to use some of that information to decipher one of the major twists.
C Plot: School Drama
This plot thread is a collection of individual arcs, involving Vis’s relationships with teachers and fellow students at the Academy. His friendships with Callidus and Eidhin, as well as his romance with Emissa, fall into this category. What I like about this plot thread is that, while this arcs are small and only tangentially connected to the A Plot, Islington makes the most of them for character work. This isn’t mere background noise. It’s opportunities to learn more about Vis, to learn more about these other characters, and for dynamics to be forged that come into play in the climax of the A Plot.
Which brings us neatly to …
THE MAGIC SCHOOL
I was very jaded when the Premise revealed that this would be a Magic School story. Only my enjoyment of The Licanius Trilogy convinced me to press on regardless. I’m glad I did, because this book confirms that my experience with a certain other magical school does not need to be the norm.
My complaints about the use of the Magic School in The Empyrean can be boiled down into two core ideas.
The story has long since moved on from the Magic School. Time spent there no longer feels narratively relevant and delays events that will actually take the story forward.
The school drama - both in terms of classes and interpersonal relationships - doesn’t build plot or character. While it does sometimes build up the world, it does so in scenes that take far too long to deliver that information and end up turning into info dumps.
Many corrects both of these issues in spectacular fashion.
First, the Magic School is exceedingly relevant to the narrative. From the very beginning of the story, we understand that Vis needs to climb that ladder and get into Class Three, not to mention finding ways to sneak around and get into the ruins without getting caught. Vis needs to go to class, needs to interact with students and professors, and needs to excel in order for the A Plot to progress.
Second, Islington maximizes use of the drama to build character. Vis’s initial conflict with Eidhin, his growing attraction for Emissa, and his plan to help Callidus with a blackmail problem flesh out him and flesh out these other characters. I distinctly remember this one scene that Vis shares with both Eidhin and Emissa, where I was initially dumbfounded that Islington was halting the narrative to show us a seemingly irrelevant practice session, only to then be surprised when said scene ended up further developing all of the characters involved. Every petty rivalry, every calculated friendship, and every class that we are actually shown matters to this story.
Also, while this was more a worldbuilding issue for The Empyrean than an issue with the Magic School concept itself, I do like what classes Islington sets for these characters and how those subjects interact with the narrative. As mentioned back in Worldbuilding, Vis is taking a curriculum that was very clearly crafted for the children of the political elite of a Will-based society, rather than an American liberal arts school with Fantasy subjects stapled onto it. As for interactions, while Islington does give us details about the classes, it’s clear he’s only doing so to provide a sense of progression. He doesn’t tell us about the theoretical Will metaphysics that Vis now needs to worry about because he expects us to care what subjects Vis is or isn’t do that. The increased complexity of the subject matter is just a way of using worldbuilding to feed back into the idea that Vis is getting higher and higher up the ladder (and, thus, closer and closer to the ultimate goal of the A Plot).
THE BIG TWISTS (Heavy Spoilers)
This portion of the review will specifically focus upon the major twists revealed in the climax and falling action of the book, as well as an overview of the information buildup up to these twists. If you haven’t read the book, I seriously recommend that you stop reading now and go do so. These are good twists. I wouldn’t quite stretch to calling them great twists, but they are well-conceived and executed, and while I’m confident they’ll hold up on a reread, I don’t want to deprive anyone of that first-time experience.
…
Okay, that was the grace period. Let’s get to it.
Emissa
From the moment of her initial introduction, there was this nagging possibility that her interest in Vis was not innocent or romantic. Vis knew, going into this relationship, that there was every possibility that she had ulterior motives for spending time with him. It’s just that, as he found himself enjoying her company, he let his guard down. Emissa gave him no reason to think that this was the wrong call, either. All available evidence indicated that the initial suspicion that she was up to something was pure paranoia. Reasonable paranoia, given the circumstances, but paranoia all the same. When Vis and her finally kiss and become a couple, it is genuinely cathartic.
Then the climax happens.
In the climax of this book, the Anguis assault the Academy, sending in a strike team to slaughter the students participating in the final competition. Vis figures out what is going on using the information that he managed to glean while being forced to do the Anguis’s bidding and rallies the surviving students to try to save as many as possible. It’s at this moment, as he’s coordinating with one of his fellow Class Three students, that alarm bells start to ring.
“Wait.” I have to let him know. It may be my only chance. “Once all this is over, be careful of your father, Indol.”
“What?” Indol’s expression hardens, but he catches sight of the hand on the ground again. Swallows whatever angry retort he was planning. “Why would you say that?”
“I overheard something. At Suus.” I keep my gaze locked with his. “It sounded like he was assisting the Anguis with something. And if he’s heard that you’re planning to defect to Religion…”
Indol blanches. “How did you know about that?”
“Emissa told me.” I thought he’d already figured that out.
“How did she know?” My heart skips a beat as I process the question. “She said you told her.”
“She lied.”
For now, all this really tells us is that Emissa, like Vis, is keeping secrets and manipulating people … but then things get worse.
The climactic final fight of this book sees Vis try to save Emissa from a Will-using Anguis operative. This doesn’t go well for Vis. However, Emissa intervenes, slaughtering the operative with what’s implied to be a Razor (a Will-imbued weapon that the elite soldiers of the Hierarchy use). We then get confirmation that Emissa is, herself, using Will, which is banned for students in the Academy.
Okay, that’s certainly a twist. I’m sure Vis will have a lot of questions for -
Her chest heaves, and I realise that she’s sobbing.
I take a step forward, concerned as well as confused now. “Emissa—”
The dagger flies toward me. I flinch, but not enough.
It buries itself in my stomach.
Emissa straight-up tries to murder him. The reason she does this is implied to be her seeing Vis’s arm (which, as we covered in Worldbuilding, was marked up by Caeror in Obiteum to guide him to safety on Res). Later, she tries to explain her actions by claiming that she saw that Vis’s arm was gangrenous and wanted to spare him a horrible, slow death via infection.
The story ends with Vis enraged at Emissa, refusing to speak to her outside of vowing vengeance. (This part is implied to be less about her betraying him and more about how her betrayal keeps him from saving Callidus.) Her true intentions and her purpose for being at the Academy are left as a mystery.
Luceum, Obiteum, Res
We covered these alternative worlds in Worldbuilding, but it’s important to reflect on the impact that their reveal (or, rather, that Vis’s last visit to the ruins) has on the climax.
After passing through the gateway that copies him to the other worlds, Vis finds himself developing new extrasensory abilities (and possibly other powers, since him surviving Emissa stabbing him doesn’t seem entirely natural). This is key to his survival in the climax. He also runs into an Anguis operative who possesses his own unnatural gifts (teleportation or invisibility - it’s hard to gauge which with just the one scene) and who makes a cryptic reference to also being copied across the three worlds.
Once the climax resolves, Vis finally gets to speak with Veridius. Their exchange implies that Veridius really is completely innocent in Caeror’s death, and further hints that he might well have been the good guy the entire time.
Veridius glances around the otherwise empty room. Lowers his voice.
“Your blood’s been tainted, Vis. If the wrong people see it, they’ll kill you. So when I say I need you to be honest with me about what happened, I am not understating the situation.” He waits, checks that I understand. “You ran the Labyrinth in the ruins, didn’t you?”
I just nod. Too disoriented and in pain to come up with a good story, if there even is one to be had.
“The writing on your arm. Was that help getting back out?”
Another weak nod.
To my surprise a small, irrepressible smile flickers on Veridius’s face. “How did you know the Labyrinth was there?”
“Ulciscor.” My voice grinds; Veridius quickly holds a mug to my lips and I slurp greedily, water trickling down my chin. “He was convinced… it had something to do with you… murdering Caeror.”
“Gods’ graves, I wish that man would just listen.” Veridius sounds drained.
This builds upon a small detail that I’ve skimmed over before: Lanistia survived the events of Caeror’s death because Veridius brought her back to the Academy afterwards. The ruins are also filled with the living corpses of people who, like her, have had their eyes torn out. When coupled with this exchange, it really does seem like Veridius, Caeror, and Lanistia were investigating the ruins when Veridius disappeared, and he’s only kept the secret of everything that happened because of something greater at work.
And then, of course, the epilogue reveals that Caeror (or, at least, his Obiteum copy) is alive, feeding even more strongly into the idea that Veridius never killed him and is merely covering up where Caeror went.
This is a mystery I look forward to seeing play out in future books. Even Vis, as angry as he is at Veridius (because he learned that Veridius has been sending students to their deaths by convincing them to explore the ruins during the final competitions), agrees that they need to work together.
“You were supposed to be protecting us.” I interrupt, voice low and hard. Let him hear my anger. “But you’ve been using us. You’ve been sending students to their deaths. So I’ll listen to what you have to say at some point, Principalis—you have my word. But we are a long, long way from working together.”
I’m looking forward to where the pair’s dynamic goes in the future.
SERIES
Many is a case of a book within a series that functions as a standalone narrative. The A Plot wraps up by the end of the book; the information revealed by the A Plot effectively kicks off a new narrative.
In some ways, this book reads like a prequel. The reveal at the end, particularly once things are confirmed by the epilogue, whips this series in a very new direction. The end result is that Many feels like Vis’s origin story. He started off with a certain understanding of the world and then is thrust into something completely new.
According to Islington’s blog (which he sporadically updates), Hierarchy was originally intended as a trilogy, but Islington did not lock himself into that (probably learning his lesson after what happened with the end of the Licanius Trilogy). The last he spoke on this matter, in December 2022, he made it clear that the series’ Amazon listing as ‘The Hierarchy Trilogy’ was not intended as a hard commitment to do just three books. I think this is prudent. After the swerve at the end of Many, it feels like there needs to be a whole trilogy just to make the most of what’s been revealed. A trilogy might end up feeling a bit awkward if it swerves this much after the first book.
CLOSING THOUGHTS FOR THE WILL OF THE MANY
I picked this book up merely to have a little R&R. I didn’t anticipate to be so blown away. This book has earned its 10 / 10 rating, and it gives me a spark of hope that good Fantasy can still be found, even if it has to be pried away from established authors instead of gambled on new Romantasy talent.
As stated above, we will be doing a deep-dive into the sequel, The Strength of the Few, across February and March. However, I’ll be doing a shorter, high-level review post, to be released on a Sunday or Tuesday, as soon as I finish the book. Not sure exactly when that will be posted, but my goal is to have it up before the New Year.
Thank you all for joining me for this one. I hope to see you in the next.
LOST GODS (SOME CONFUSED, OTHERS MISPLACED)
On November 21st, we’ll discuss Chapters 50 through 52 of Onyx Storm. While there is the small matter of an all-out wyvern assault on Aretia to discuss, the more important element is what this assault reveals about the presence of the divine in Yarros’s setting. Thanks to this, we’ll be doing another Spotlight Analysis, this one to discuss the religious worldbuilding, on November 22nd.
Said analysis will include a comparison to the War of Souls - so, fittingly, we’ll be finishing off that series the week after. Join us on November 28th for Dragons of a Vanished Moon.
Whatever you’re here for, thanks for stopping by. Please be sure to subscribe for the newsletter if you’d like weekly e-mails with links to the latest posts. Please also share this review with others if you enjoyed it. Take care, everyone, and have a safe Thanksgiving.
