The Strength of the Few

The Strength of the Few by James Islington

At a Glance: Three Books in One

The Strength of the Few is an absolute monster of a book two, and with it we get something truly incredible, this book feels like three complete stories in one place with the way Islington has split the realities into three, with each getting as much care, focus, and development as the other. It’s full of emotional weight, suspense, and finally a showcase of the magic system that we only scratched the surface of in The Will of the Many. We also get an overarching plot and this is where Islington really shines, the ability to plot weave this way was an absolutely incredible thing to get to read, and seeing 3 different growth paths for Vis Telimus and the divergence forced by different circumstances was something I have not experienced before in reading.

The Strength of the Few picks up right where The Will of the Many left off after it’s wild epilouge, after the version of Vis we are familiar with has won the Iudicium and completed the Labyrinth, but that has left him with copies of himself in all three of the different realities. In each world Vis has to determine how to navigate the cultural, political, and threats that are unique and shape the way Vis develops as a character.

This gives us a much deeper look into the use of Will—the hierarchy magic system—and even that has some unique properties depending on the world it is being used in, but it becomes much more clear in this how the Will is used and the rules around the system and it’s limitations.

🏛️

Looking for our review on the first book?

This is book 2 of the series. Find other books in the series and more like it:

The Will of The Many

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4.50

•

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

1/5

Epic Fantasy • Dark Academia

Red City

›

4.25

•

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

3/5

Urban Fantasy • Mystery

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Diverging Worlds: Three Distinct Realities

The Strength of the Few takes place across three different realities essentially, Res, our familiar Catenan Republic setting from The Strength of the Few, Obiteum, and Luceum which in the interest of this remaining spoiler free I will refrain from talking about specifics of the worlds that are new, but will not that each is unique, doesn’t resemble what we know of Res, and Islington manages to world build for each of them in a spectacular way similar to how he did with Res in the first book.

The politicking is still top tier in the second Hierarchy book, with each world having it’s own version of a caste system, giving each it’s own level of scheming that shockingly isn’t hard to keep track of even though each worlds politicking is fully fleshed out.

The Pre-Cataclysm technology takes more of a focus and has a much larger influence in this one vs the footnote it had in the previous, and as the full arc unfolds we learn so much more about it while creating even more questions which leaves room for the series to continue to expand.

A society cannot make a man a monster, Diago. But it can give him the excuse to become one.

Character Divergence: Three POVs, One Protagonist

Vis Telimus was already an interesting character, with the secret of him being the former prince in hiding, rising through the ranks at the academy, and setting himself up to play the political game of Catenan through his acts and help of those around him.

We get three different versions of Vis to follow, but all start from that singular point at the end of the labyrinth in The Will of the Many, but as each navigate their current reality the paths start to diverge giving us an amazing look at how Islington uses circumstances to change the trajectory of a character. The further they diverge, the more we see that world’s version of Vis start to become his own standalone character different from the others.

In Res we get the familiar characters from the first book, which for me initially drew me more to those chapters than the others because of the familiarity of it, but that feeling didn’t last long, as each new version and it’s support cast developed, I never found myself in a POV wishing i was reading a different one. Islington also does a great job of making the POV transitions feel seamless in The Strength of the Few.

Mysterious Paths: Suspense and Tension

The Strength of the Few feels a much more consistent pace throughout in comparison to the first now that the major world-building and setup is out of the way, which allows this story to be told in a much smoother fashion, even with the additions of the new worlds. There are some more intimate character moments and slower scenes where discoveries unfold or lore is laid out, but even during those it’s done in a way that makes it feel natural and has a sense of tension that will keep you engaged even as the lore is woven into the unfolding scene.

At the end of almost every chapter I was itching to get to the next page because I wanted to know what happens next, and sometimes we would get the same POV for a handful of chapters, others we would jump POVs often. While this sounds like it can get frustrating, the plot weaving Islington does throughout this book makes this work because even if I was at the edge of my seat during a Res chapter, as the POV transitioned to a different Vis, there was something from the last time I was there that became clear and left me feeling satisfied regardless of which reality I was currently in.

Even the slower parts felt like they held a heavy weight of consequence which kept them from feelings “slow” in the sense of dragging, and more that the slow scene was poignant and needed to convey the weight of the moment or decisions being made during it.

Between the Sheets: Standard Epic Fantasy

The Strength of the Few certainly doesn’t break the mold in the spice department, which works totally fine for this tale as the focus is the deep emotional connections between Vis and his found family, and that is just multiplied with the different realities, which earns this one a 🌶️(1) on our spice scale.

The addition of 2 new Vis’ means that we also get 2 new found families, which leads to some amazing character work and giving you a whole cast of characters to connect with, each with distinct voices and motivations, where I found myself pulling for them even though they weren’t included in The Will of the Many.

People value only one thing now, and it is the same thing they have always valued. What is it they say, again? The needs of the many will always be loud… But in the end, it is only the strength of the few that matters.

Bro Reading Comfort: Park Bench Certified

The Strength of the Few doesn’t ever get spicy, but does get a little dark emotionally and with depictions of the underbelly and cost of the caste systems, but overall this one is totally fine for most to read in the park on a bench, earning this one a 😳 (1.5) on our comfort scale.

The cover art has caused a bit of a stir in the community, but not due to anything being scandalous, but just more the change from the minimalist cover of the first book to the newer cover that has much more story forward design. So much so that the Broken Binding editions will come with a reversible dust jacket to match the original books minimalist covers.

Darkness Factor: Three Worlds, More Evil

The Strength of the Few doesn’t shy away from the darkness and evils of each world, each with it’s own horrors from torture to slavery, each world uses the darker themes to further the plot and serve to show the reader the true evil that is the will system that is part of all the realities, earning this one a 💀💀💀 (3.5) on our darkness scale.

Islington does this in a way to convey the gravity of the situation at hand and never for shock value, the scenes that do play out on the page never feel like they cross a line but certainly can be grim in some moments. Themes of grief, loss, and isolation play big parts in the development of Vis in each reality, and without them I think his growth wouldn’t make sense.

Book Battlefield: Epic Fantasy With a Sci-Fi Twist

The Strength of the Few diverges from the typical portal fantasy creating what feels almost like “alien” technology that is used to create the copies of Vis across the different realities. It adds an interesting element to the series as a whole, but the risk pays off adding such an amazing dynamic to this series, even the magic system comes into more full light and is unlike anything I’ve seen in the genre. There is enough mystery around the technology that it doesn’t feel like sci-fi being shoved into fantasy.

I think this book and series are truly doing something that sets it far apart and makes it hard to give comparisons, but I will highlight again that Islington’s ability to weave plots and play the long game are on the levels of A Song of Ice and Fire, I know I use that comparison often when talking about political setups and plot weaving, but that is because I consider that the bar for the best of both of those things.

Should You Bother?

Yes, you should, without a doubt you should.

For Fans of Bold Writing Choices: This series and book takes huge risks blending things that aren’t normally done, and taking a single POV story and splitting it into 3 POVs, but all from the same character in different realities.

For Fans of Unique Magic Systems: One of the my biggest gripes with The Will of the Many was how little we got to see or understand the magic system, The Strength of the Few puts it on full display in all it’s glory, it’s so unique and interesting, and there is still more to learn about it as it behaves differently across the realities.

For Epic Fantasy Fans: The Hierarchy series and this book in particular have all the favorite aspects of a good Epic Fantasy while introducing enough things new to keep it feeling fresh.

The power to protect is the highest responsibility.

Final BroMantasy Verdict

I’m going to say this upfront, this is hands down the best book two in a series I have ever read, it builds upon the strong foundation that Islington created in The Will of the Many while answering the burning questions from the first book and introducing so many more that already have me checking for release news around book three weekly. The Strength of the Few has deep character work, amazing political maneuvering, the magic system using Will coming into focus and showcased in absolutely jaw dropping action scenes, and some of the best plot weaving I’ve ever read earning this entry a 5/5.

Islington has delivered here in a big way, but not only did he give us an epic book two following the success of The Will of the Many, but he basically gives us three books in one with each getting equal focus of the almost 250k word count. They each introduce new concepts and expand on the Will system from book one. On top of that, The Strength of the Few uses different cultural inspirations in each of the three worlds, while two felt similar, one is distinctly unique, and adds to some incredible character scenes.

This book doesn’t miss a beat, and even though some POVs have a lot more action than others, each serves it’s purpose and doesn’t feel like a drag on the story. The action scenes and twists in this are so well crafted, and had be on the edge of my seat feverishly flipping the pages to find out how things would play out, ultimately leaving my jaw on the floor more times than I can count. This series has the makings of being something truly great and timeless, and I think depending on how Islington decides to move it forward could put it up there with the greats and will inspire future generations of fantasy authors to come.

I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on this in November so I can actually talk to people about it and theory craft at how everything is going to play out, because the end has left me obsessive and I’ve been thinking about this book at least a few times a week since I finished it.