Ambitious & insightful, James Islington’s The Will of the Many is a dark academia book with a lot of heart and a lot of rage. Cutthroat characters, an intense setting, and a very cool magic system, The Will of the Many is the best school setting since Name of the Wind and threatens to be a classic series. 

“There comes a point in every man’s life where he can rail against the unfairness of the world until he loses, or he can do his best in it. Remain a victim, or become a survivor.”

The primary plot of the novel is about Vis, our main character who is an ousted prince of one of the empire’s takeovers, and the mission his adoptive father gives him. He’s to go to the country’s most prestigious school and pretend to be one of them, but really he’s there to investigate the murder of his adoptive father’s brother. To do that, he’ll need to rise in the ranks of the school and secure allies, but he can never let the mask slip.

The Will of the Many takes place in a setting where people participate in pyramid structures of “will ceding”, a system where lower ranked people give their “will” to people above them. It comes with numerous physical benefits to those who receive their payments, but it places a large strain on the population and a critical vulnerability on the society. 

What I find most delightful about The Will of the Many is the sheer ambition that Islington has in telling this. Topics range from colonialism, capitalism, ambition, loyalty, nepotism, utilitarianism, and revenge. Islington covers these with a deft, natural touch, never outright preaching but instead showing and having honest dialogues. If a weaker author had tried this, it would have fallen flat on its face. Instead, The Will of the Many is a book that delivers on its promise of having a lot to say. 

Another thing that I love from The Will of the Many is that every single character in the novel has agency, and none more so than Vis. Vis is a fantastic protagonist: a bitter past, well-defined traits, and a moral complexity. He’s angry at the world and the empire, he’s carrying scars, and he’s trying to do the right thing despite it all. As mentioned, the side characters have their own goals, moral lines, and plans as well. In a society as cutthroat as the one Islington has made, these characters frequently backstab—or demand Vis to backstab—each other. The tension is palpable throughout the entire length of the novel and the pages fly by, but what I found most impressive is just how real everyone felt. When one character fucks over another, you understand why. There’s a certain moral grayness that colors the world and makes you question whether the characters are vicious because of the setting or if it’s simply their nature. 

The school setting is both familiar and unique. We see a lot of the expected tropes like the pedantic/aggressive teacher, the bullies, the cliques, the misunderstood victim, the training montages, the love interest, so on and so on. Despite that, there’s a breath of fresh air in the novel. Maybe it’s just Islington’s talent—combined with a few absolutely great and gut-wrenching expectation subversions—but the tropes in The Will of the Many just work in an excellent way. 

Islington’s prose and dialogue are significantly improved from his earlier works. The Will of the Many was a book I was clearing through hundreds of pages at a time, and that’s because Islington’s prose is clean and Vis’ discussions sing.

Finally, I have to shout out the ending. It’s batshit insane and if I had the sequel in-front of me upon finishing I would have dove right into it. Islington’s greatest strength used to be his plotting, and assuming that skill hasn’t diminished since Licanius, this series is going to be bonkers in the best way. 

“They know the system is wrong, but they choose not to think or speak up or act because they ultimately hope that in their silence, they will gain. Or at the very least not have to give more than they have already given.”

Honestly, I don’t really have any complaints about this book, but I do have a few warnings. If you’re someone who doesn’t like school settings, this is not the book for you. If you’re someone who doesn’t like training montages, this is not the book for you. If you’re someone who doesn’t like philosophizing in their stories, this is not the book for you. 

However, if you’re someone who does like school settings, someone who wants a cutthroat society with a lot of twists, someone who wants to go into deeper themes of life, then pick up The Will of the Many.

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