I’m going to try something new and post some book recommendations here. I won’t be giving ratings or reviews, but brief summaries along with pointing out similarities between other existing books. All the books posted here will be books I strongly recommend and I don’t want to nitpick over rating scales.

I recently finished The Will of the Many by James Islington and I’m now suffering from the biggest book hangover I’ve experienced in a while.

The book follows Vis, an orphaned prince from a conquered kingdom as he lives in hiding in the empire of his psuedo-Roman conquerorerers. As things progress, he is enrolled in an academy for the elite children of the empire to unearth a secret.

On its surface this book is very similar to both Red Rising and The Codex Already series. All three take place in a fantastical (or space fairing) Roman society and follow the main character as they enroll in a prestigiousn prestigious academy for the empire’sres noble youth.

Red Rising and The Will both have the main character enter the academy under a false identity. In both series, the MC also works alongside a resistance organization.

Codex and The Will both have the main character that refuses or cannot partake in the world’s magic system.

James Islington also wrote the Licanius trilogy (which I also recommend to any time travel fans.) While on the surface this book seems a departure from the mind bender nature of that series, it doesn’t and I can’t say more without giving it away.

Progression Scale Rating: 1

If you enjoy character power progression, Vis’ training will scratch that itch a little, but it is not the focus of the story. The gathering of friends and allies is progression adjacent in the vein of Endor’s Game, but that series focuses on the topic more than this one.

Magic system:

There is a hard magic system in the story, but the main character is adamantly against being a part of it. We get to see glimpses of its uses and the classes give us a view into its workings. I expect we will see a lot more of it in book 2. On the topic of magic, the book seems to have 2 magic systems in a way similar to King Killer Chronicles. There’s the mechanically explained magic system (which are very similar in both series) and then a seemingly more ‘magical’ magic system that’s in the the background.

Other books mentioned

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