The Will of the Many (2023) The Strength of the Few (2025)
⚡ Pace: medium · 🎭 Emotions: epic, intense · 🚪 Entry threshold: medium · ⭐ Why read: complex worldbuilding, strategic intrigue
The first book in James Islington’s Hierarchy duology opens in a world that believes it has already survived its own ending – a civilisation rebuilt on order, layers of power, and the quiet terror of what lies beneath. The past is spoken of like a wound that never healed, and every rule sounds less like law than a warning. Into this structure steps a man who never asked to matter, yet finds himself pulled toward the fault line where obedience fractures and truth begins to burn. The question is not whether the world can be saved – but whether it deserves to be.
What makes the story magnetic isn’t the magic system or the scope of history, but the collision between fate and agency. Characters move through prophecies that feel more like chains, through hierarchies built to keep some people safe and others silent. Loyalty is a currency with interest, knowledge is a weapon that wounds its wielder, and every answer opens a deeper, darker door. Power here is not a gift – it is a test of who you become when nothing is left to trust but yourself.
And yet, beneath the political weight and temporal puzzles, the heart of the duology beats softer: friendship that endures past betrayal, hope that refuses extinction, the stubborn belief that even in a world ruled by causes and consequences, a single choice can still tilt the future. The story doesn’t ask who will win – it asks who will still recognise themselves when the final rule breaks.
📚 Did you know 📖
The book was released in 2023 and launched a new series following the success of the Licanius trilogy.
Its world is inspired both by ancient Rome and by the philosophy of the “power of collective will.”
The novel quickly rose to the top of Amazon and Goodreads charts among epic fantasy readers.
Critics described it as “a mix of Harry Potter, the Roman Empire, and a political thriller.”
Legend has it: fans coined the meme “Roman Hogwarts” to capture the book’s atmosphere.