When I read James Islington’s The Will of the Many back in 2023, I loved it and immediately wanted to read the next book in the series (The Strength of the Few, released last month). That anticipation dropped somewhat when I read one of his other books The Shadow of What was Lost, earlier this year, and found it pretty mediocre. Had the author improved, or had my tastes just changed? I decided to re-read The Will of the Many a few weeks ago, just to check before buying the next book, and loved it just the same, so I was excited to start The Strength of the Few.
This one picks up almost immediately after the end of book one, but following three characters in three different worlds, instead of just Vis, the main character from the first book (if you’ve read the first book, you know who the other two characters are, but I’m keeping it vague to avoid spoiling too much). Vis, upon graduating from the academy in Res, is taking steps to enter into his place in society, but his main motivation is to find who is responsible for the attack on his friends during their final exam. Siamun, in what’s essentially a post-apocalyptic world called Obiteum, populated by undead automatons, plots to kill its ruler. And Deaglán, in Luceum, trains to be a warrior while trying to avoid being pursued by a rival king.
This wasn’t perfect, I didn’t enjoy it quite so much as will of the many, but it was a lot of fun. It was a little on the longer side, and the parts set in Obiteum were a drag at times. But the strength of this is the detail in the worldbuilding and the twistiness of the plot, and it keeps delivering. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger (again), but I’m anticipating the release of the next one.
