The Strength of the Few

Listening Length 31 hours and 8 minutes

Published 2019 by Audible Studios.

This highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and best-selling fantasy novels—follows Vis as he grapples with a dangerous secret that could unravel history across alternate dimensions.

Omne trium perfectum

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.

But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.

I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.

…

This highly anticipated follow-up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and best-selling fantasy novels—follows Vis as he grapples with a dangerous secret that could unravel history across alternate dimensions.

Omne trium perfectum

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.

But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.

I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.

I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.

Above all, though, I need to find answers before it’s too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me and why.

I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.

3 editions

enne📚 reviewed The Strength of the Few by James Islington (Hierarchy, #2)

3 stars

The biggest feeling I come away from James Islington's Hierarchy series is that it seems like it should appeal to fans of Brandon Sanderson. If the first book was an introduction to the world and young protagonist, this second book is much happier to dish out worldbuilding details about what's going on in the larger world(s). It's a grippy action book, and the way the worldbuilding is slowly revealed is my favorite part of this book. The second book also manages to pull out its own big ending surprises to drive who knows what will happen in the next one.

My biggest complaint is that this is primarily a plot-driven book and the protagonist is a bit too special. If there is a competition or challenge of any sort, Vis is going to overcome it every single time, no matter the odds, and no matter if he's never fought …

The biggest feeling I come away from James Islington's Hierarchy series is that it seems like it should appeal to fans of Brandon Sanderson. If the first book was an introduction to the world and young protagonist, this second book is much happier to dish out worldbuilding details about what's going on in the larger world(s). It's a grippy action book, and the way the worldbuilding is slowly revealed is my favorite part of this book. The second book also manages to pull out its own big ending surprises to drive who knows what will happen in the next one.

My biggest complaint is that this is primarily a plot-driven book and the protagonist is a bit too special. If there is a competition or challenge of any sort, Vis is going to overcome it every single time, no matter the odds, and no matter if he's never fought in magic armor or snuck into a pyramid or driven in a magic chariot race or trained to be a dancer or whatever. The book doesn't leave that much room for characterization, and secondary characters are pretty heavy-handed about their one-note thematic opinions.

Overall, I just wish the characters were a bit less flat. I feel like this is the kind of book I would have devoured when I was younger, but cool worldbuilding isn't quite enough sustenance these days.

kgajos

rated it

December 6

Michael

rated it

January 6