The Will of the Many
core novel 2023 The Hierarchy
Record
| First published | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.57 (278,781 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781982141172 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Will of the Many is a 2023 epic fantasy novel by the Australian author James Islington. It opens in Catena, a republic modeled on the Roman Republic and rebuilt after a great catastrophe known as the Cataclysm. Vis Telimus survives under a false identity, the last member of the royal line of Suus, a small kingdom the Republic conquered. Working as a prison guard and fighter, he draws the attention of Magnus Ulciscor, a Catenan senator who offers to adopt him in exchange for enrolling at the Catenan Academy and quietly investigating the death of Ulciscor's own brother, once a student there. Vis accepts, entering a school defined by fierce competition for rank while concealing his heritage from the very Hierarchy that destroyed his homeland. He is also approached by the Anguis, an underground movement that knows his true identity and wants him to join its cause.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Hierarchy
- Series: The Hierarchy core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: James Islington
Notes
- From the series record (The Hierarchy): Planned trilogy; book 3 (The Justice of One, 2027) not yet published.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Hierarchy: position 1 of 2: next The Strength of the Few (2025)
Sources
← The Hierarchy dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.