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saltycoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Slavery, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
kagedbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8gTyLWK/
This was so good! I bought the book on day one yet have been putting it off because I was worried it wouldn't live up to The Licanius Trilogy... I shouldn't have worried.
Islington gives us a complex Roman inspired political intrigue story with a fantasy setting. He delivers on his history of strong character development, and provides a world with a history that feels rich and fleshed out.
This is a longer book but I never felt bogged down in it, in fact I just wanted to keep reading chapter after chapter. There was a mix of things you could see coming and surprises along the way to keep you engaged in the story.
I'm truly looking forward to book 2 in this series!
This was so good! I bought the book on day one yet have been putting it off because I was worried it wouldn't live up to The Licanius Trilogy... I shouldn't have worried.
Islington gives us a complex Roman inspired political intrigue story with a fantasy setting. He delivers on his history of strong character development, and provides a world with a history that feels rich and fleshed out.
This is a longer book but I never felt bogged down in it, in fact I just wanted to keep reading chapter after chapter. There was a mix of things you could see coming and surprises along the way to keep you engaged in the story.
I'm truly looking forward to book 2 in this series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Suicide
karenreadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I really enjoyed this book and am eagerly awaiting the sequel, especially since this book opened up so many questions and possibilities at the end.
This book was a single first person POV throughout, which I found refreshing so as not to have to keep up with so many POVs. That meant we really got to know Vis on a deep level, which I enjoyed. I had lots of highlighting and annotations throughout, and I can definitely see a reread at some point (probably before the next book comes out).
The book had my attention from the opening scene and kept it the entire time. We have Vis who is in hiding after his family was killed; he ends up in an elite school and has to work his way to the top and discover some of the secrets being hidden. In this world, the magic system is a pyramid-like structure with those on the lower levels ceding Will to those above, so the higher up in the pyramid you are, the more powerful, while those at the bottom are drained of energy all the time.
The motto of the Hierarchy is "Stronger Together" which seems to promise inclusion, protection, and belonging. But, as Vis points out, "you never have to look far to see its hypocrisy laid bare." At another point: "A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved....which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved." So much of what was wrong with the Hierarchy also feels like a commentary on our own society and the problems within it.
I cried a couple of times toward the end. And I'm so intrigued by what happened right at the end. I wrote a big WHAT?! on the final page. Excited to see where this goes.
This book was a single first person POV throughout, which I found refreshing so as not to have to keep up with so many POVs. That meant we really got to know Vis on a deep level, which I enjoyed. I had lots of highlighting and annotations throughout, and I can definitely see a reread at some point (probably before the next book comes out).
The book had my attention from the opening scene and kept it the entire time. We have Vis who is in hiding after his family was killed; he ends up in an elite school and has to work his way to the top and discover some of the secrets being hidden. In this world, the magic system is a pyramid-like structure with those on the lower levels ceding Will to those above, so the higher up in the pyramid you are, the more powerful, while those at the bottom are drained of energy all the time.
The motto of the Hierarchy is "Stronger Together" which seems to promise inclusion, protection, and belonging. But, as Vis points out, "you never have to look far to see its hypocrisy laid bare." At another point: "A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved....which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved." So much of what was wrong with the Hierarchy also feels like a commentary on our own society and the problems within it.
I cried a couple of times toward the end. And I'm so intrigued by what happened right at the end. I wrote a big WHAT?! on the final page. Excited to see where this goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
daniparvu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying and Grief
Minor: Suicide
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Suicide, Medical content, Grief, and War
tymgabriel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
iono's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Vomit
booksthatburn's review against another edition
I found myself struggling to get through THE WILL OF THE MANY, and I ultimately did not finish reading it. I enjoy doorstoppers and I like long books, the length is not the issue. I can like a slow burn story when I have an idea of what the slow burn is building to, but while I mostly understand why Ulciscor is doing what he's doing, I don't understand what Vis (the protagonist) is doing or what his goals are.
The character's background is conveyed mostly through his thoughts, and at first I thought it was going to be gradually revealed in bits and pieces. Having made it a quarter of the way through the book before stopping, it doesn't really seem like more is forthcoming (at least not in time for it to feel meaningful).
The Will system is interesting, it's well-described and has some fascinating implications for the world. I appreciate how the exploitative nature of this power is combined with a colonialist empire. It's a synergy between the political and magical in a way that makes sense as to why things are as bad as they are for almost everyone in the system, with the magic and the exploitation feeding into each other in a horrible self-reinforcing loop.
Ultimately the pace was slow enough that it broke any sense of momentum that I had while reading, and I'm just not interested in finishing it.
The character's background is conveyed mostly through his thoughts, and at first I thought it was going to be gradually revealed in bits and pieces. Having made it a quarter of the way through the book before stopping, it doesn't really seem like more is forthcoming (at least not in time for it to feel meaningful).
The Will system is interesting, it's well-described and has some fascinating implications for the world. I appreciate how the exploitative nature of this power is combined with a colonialist empire. It's a synergy between the political and magical in a way that makes sense as to why things are as bad as they are for almost everyone in the system, with the magic and the exploitation feeding into each other in a horrible self-reinforcing loop.
Ultimately the pace was slow enough that it broke any sense of momentum that I had while reading, and I'm just not interested in finishing it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Slavery
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder