Review of The Will of the Many by James Islington

Here we go again, into the ocean of contemporary mainstream fantasy where finding a piece of solid ground isn't easy. Most novels seem content sticking to float away. Does James Islington's The Will of the Many (2023) offer a foothold?

The Will of the Many is a few story types rolled into one. It is a revenge story; An orphaned teen attempts to punish the unjust execution of his regal parents. A deeply held secret those around him do not know about, he bides his time. It is also a mystery; Shady things are happening at the highest levels of Senate, and our orphan seems to continually find himself in the right place at the wrong time—or perhaps right time—to learn more. And he may just become part of the mystery. And perhaps most predominantly, it is a boarding school drama; The orphan attempts to navigate the waters of teen drama in a school for potential magic wielders. Cue the emo.

At the fantastical core of The Will of the Many is the hand-wavy—if ever there were a hand-wavy—concept of “will”. Characters in the novel cede will to their superior, and through this their superiors wield magical powers and infuse inanimate objects with the ability to perform magical feats (moving, flying, working, etc.) There is a social hierarchy to ceding will, with some characters both taking and ceding will.

Ceding will is done one of two ways. First is involuntarily: characters are strapped to a device called a 'sapper' and will is sucked from them. Fair enough. We can imagine some aetheric substance called “will” and a tubed device extracting it. The second is where the hands start to wave—as if Islington couldn't think of an explanation and so just ignored explaining it. It is: people voluntarily agree to give will. That's it. Like asking Jesus into your heart, or a man saying he's now a woman, everything magically changes. There is nothing beyond the words—no device, no method, not even ritual obeisance. You just say the words and it's true. This may be less of a struggle for you than for me, just be aware the concept of will can be abstract.

No review would be complete without mentioning the novel's parallels to Roman culture and society. The naming convention for characters and places leans toward Latin, and then falls into the Mediterranean by the power hierarchy, senate governance, gladiator arenas, and how they all echo Roman stereotypes. Islington doesn't try to hide his inspirations, rather he deploys to them to solid effect. If anything, it makes for a break from the classic medieval swords & sorcery motif.

The Will of the Many is similar to books like Chris Wooding's The Ember Blade or Justin Travis Call's Master of Sorrows—books which feature young male protagonists discovering special powers in a PG-13 world. I've read that Islington is/was partially inspired by Brandon Sanderson. And indeed The Will of the Many has a certain Sanderson feel (but so do a lot of books on the market). I would say Islington is a readable version of Sanderson. His style does depend on telling as much as showing, but his syntax is not as repetitive as Sanderson's, i.e. he gives the reader an iota of credit for intelligence.

In the end, The Will of the Many is a pseudo-adult fantasy that keeps readers guessing for the underpinning realities of plot and setting. Characters barely achieve 2D (it's easy to confuse dramatis personae), and the main character is more archetype than human. But the setting is colorful, pace is strong, and the action sequences are sure to keep readers interested in pomp and circumstance, engaged. If you're looking for a piece of decently written, wholly mainstream fantasy, this is 100% it.