The Will of the Many, by James Islington (Saga)
The Will of the Many sets a heroic coming-of-age tale
in a richly imagined, magically imbued empire. The Catenan Republic has many
echoes of our own Roman Empire in names, language, conquests, politics and
rivalries, and powerful families, but with a crucial difference. Its
operational principle is the Hierarchy, in which masses cede their “Will,”
their strength, drive, and focus, to those above them, with each successively
higher rank accumulating more power. This kind of moral and physical slavery is
an engraved invitation to abuse.
Within this cauldron of oppression, a young man calling
himself Vis ekes out a living working by day in the orphanage that houses him
and at night in the underground of street fighting. Vis has a secret: he’s
never ceded his Will, and the whip scars on his back show the price of his
defiance. But he harbors an even deeper secret, one that means his death if it
were discovered.
Vis's life takes an abrupt turn when a Senator, very high in
the Hierarchical ranks, recruits him into his aristocratic family to solve a
murder and ferret out a secret in the elite Academy, one that can tear the
Republic apart. It’s an all but impossible task and the price of failure is
worse than death.
Vis is an engaging character, at once courageous, beset by
the overwhelming nature of his task, desperate to protect his identity, and
touchingly fallible. He’s perfect for bringing the reader into the
often-bizarre, often-familiar world of the Academy. His friends, allies, and
enemies within the school, as well as his patrician adopted father, are all
beautifully drawn. Best of all, the dramatic tension and action scenes are
hands-down some of the best I’ve read.
Beware, though, the book is addictive. And just when you
think it’s got to wrap up, you find out it’s the first of a trilogy.
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