Will of the Many

joke tagline: a secret former prince struggles to move up the ladder at magic school for future senators in post-apocalyptic fantasy Rome

It's grippy. It's bloody and violent at times. The fantasy worldbuilding was fun. I wouldn't quite say it's YA, but it is also a young protagonist in a school setting where some moments resonate with the Hunger Games. It was enjoyable in a childhood need for fantasy book with a young protagonist in a capitalist-metaphor magic dystopia sort of way.

What this book does especially well for me is how many different directions it pulls the main character in. He's keeping his past a secret and trying to follow his own goals while simultaneously investigating a mystery, being suborned by rebels, and trying to succeed at school. There's a lot of lying and sneaking that's delicious. Being overconstrained by external forces helps balance out the plot elements of Vis being too capable across multiple disciplines.

It's also got some excellent plot twists (more like twist of the knife for Vis) as well as some wild worldbuilding at the end setting up for who knows what book two (or three or four) will look like.

I found the world very interesting. The core idea is that people have Will -- a life force -- that they can cede to others or use for other purposes like powering machinery. The use of Will is at the absolute core of the day-to-day functioning of the society and its political structure. The society is organized into pyramids, where the higher you are, the more people cede a part of their Will to you. Of course, the more Will you command, the more powerful you are (physically, politically) and the greater tasks you can accomplish on behalf of the society.

The main character is an interesting mix of underdog and privilege: he was a prince when he grew up but his society was conquered and now he is hiding in an orphanage. He has grit, and smarts, etc, but the knowledge and training he received in his early days give him a substantial edge. So it is another book where the main character is special through the accident of birth but at least this character is aware of of his privilege.

Even though the mechanics of the world are interesting and essential for the book, most of the story occurs at the Academy (an elite educational institution) where the use of Will is forbidden. So the plot depends on the protagonist's cleverness and character more than any of the special features of the world. Until...

This is book 1 of a planed trilogy. According to the author's home page (www.jamesislington.com/updates.html), the second book is already in the editing process and the third is being written.