I want to re-read the Strength of The Few but this time around read each POV separately. I'm having trouble deciding the order so I'll leave it to this subreddit to decide. The top voted will obviously be first, followed by the second most, and of course the least voted. :)
Heavy Spoilers ahead!
With the three way split between our guy, what are some theories anyone has about what might happen in the next couple of books. With one version of him seeming to kill Ka, and Res Vis cooperating with Ka, those two are on separate sides. Personality I kind of hope it plays out with a conflict between Vis personalities at some point, where they either physically fight or at least have heavy dialogue between them. I have no idea if that’s even possible but if anyone has theories about that with logic I would love to hear. There’s also the theory that he will merge into one another, which makes sense, especially when you consider that the Vis’s in different worlds seem to be leaning offsetting different skills, that if combined would be very all rounding for him. If anyone has theories about that too please share.
Thank you!!
I saw someone suggest to read each of the 3 worlds separately - so I would organize the chapters out to read all of one world at once, then the 2nd world, then the 3rd.
I'm going to read the 2nd book for the first time (been a while since I finished TWOTM). Anyone who has done it, is it a better read this way? I don't see myself rereading the book unless maybe right before the 3rd book releases.
Also, for his Licanius series, I loved that Islington had recaps of the precious books to start off each book. Does TSOTF do that?
Drawings by UnaTalmeh
I think by the end of TSOTF R-Vis at least is no longer a cinnamon roll :(
The title says it all… I’m exactly 50% of the Strength of the Few and I’m super bored. I’m struggling to read it. None of the worlds or storylines have me engaged at all right now, really. I’m usually not afraid to DNF a book but somehow don’t want to DNF this one. I was bored of the Will of the Many until about 30% in then I couldn’t put it down but I’m definitely struggling staying engaged with the 2nd book. If it gets better, when? How? Why?
Does it get more engaging??!!
Hi guys,
I'll start by apologising off the rip as obviously this sub exists because the series is beloved by you, and so my request may seem distasteful thus.
With that being said, I read Will of the Many and didn't love it. I don't want to go into the details of my issues with it as I have no desire to convince anyone not to like it, but equally I am fairly firm in my opinion. The thing that I did like about the book - enough to keep me reading through till the end - was the intrigue around the various mysteries. As such, I have decided not to continue reading the series, but I would like to know what happens in the second book.
I have searched for explanations of the Strength of the Few story fairly extensively, but have only been able to find AI summaries (surprisingly many!) or discussions about it which assume that you've already read it. These have not been satisfactory.
So, is there a resource where I can read or listen to an explanation of the story? Something like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iba6CUSNxMI - but for Strength of the Few.
Failing that, would anyone be willing to answer the following questions for me:
- How did Caeror and Veridius know about the multiverse?
- What happened to Lanistia?
- What's the deal with Emissa? Why she tried to kill Vis, but also if she was using Will how was she fated to death from a riptide were it not for Vis' saving? How did she know about Indol's defecting? What did she see in/on Vis' arm?
- Who's teleporting man?
- Is the Alupi just a normal animal (i.e. like other Alupi/forest creatures) or is he some sort of magical?
I'm aware that there's some multiverse stuff going on that may render some of these plot points from Res not that important, but what I don't know can't intrigue me further :P
Thanks!
What did you guys think of Vis' decision to leave Relucia in the sapper? I didn't sit right with me and I felt it was cruel and out of character for him. I get that Aquea was just killed and that Relucia been exploiting him for their whole relationship but I thought that Vis would still show some mercy. Given his past, and hatred of sappers I thought he wouldn't even wish it on his worst enemies. Are we seeing Vis change (is he crossing his "lines") or do you think it was justified?
**\*\*there are some spoilers below, so please don’t keep reading if you plan to read this one!**\*\*
After 700 and some odd pages, I finally finished this and I have questions… but really just looking for discussion on this one.
For those unaware, this is the second of a 2 part series- the first being The Will of the Many. Loved it, swallowed it up, was excited for part two.
I’ll be honest and say that I have difficulty explaining the premise of the book to people because it feels very complicated, but there’s a world called Caten and it functions like a literal hierarchy in which the elite of the world siphon, or imbue, the will (strength, vitality,) of those lower on the rung. That’s as much as I can say about part 1 w/o giving out too many spoilers.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Now part 2 continues the intense story/journey of the main character, Vis, as he discovers that there are three realities… and man there’s just too much to explain.
My questions to discuss aside from who liked it, are:
Did anyone else feel like things were building to some kind of showdown or confrontation with the “bad guy” or villain you learn about? I sure did, and even though it kind of happened, it was both underwhelming to me and also confusing because I thought something big was going to happen. I could be confused and welcome any insight.
Even though I think the book sagged at times flipping between realities, I didn’t mind it as much as I found it really hard to keep up with all the names Vis would throw out as he was narrating events to us, particularly while in Caten. I’m like, princeps who? Tellimus who? Like so confused.
The whole angius showdown seemed to the background…
I have a personal beef with the way Aequa’s storyline ended. Was super disappointed with that.
Can someone explain to me like I’m 5 how or if Vis was even able to solve the whole cataclysm from happening? The way the stories ended in the 3 worlds left super confused. I felt like it had been explained at one point that with Vis being synchronous, he was the only one able to stop the bad guy and the system from repeating…? Is that right? If so, then I was confused how that happened in older ancient world or even in Caten. It ends so abruptly to me- and this is after 700 pages of buildup that I was like, huh?
Ok I’ll stop there because I could go on. Thanks in advance- didn’t know there was a subreddit for this series!
Aequa should not have died. I honestly think it should've been Lanistia's time to go, and it would sync up with the Concurrence reveal so well as Vis realizes his mentor is gone no matter what he does. Hoping the connection L-Vis has with the afterlife at least means Aequa comes back in some form.
Callidus and the other half of Vis' family being back on Res was a nice surprise, though I think Justice of One will have Vis come to terms with letting them go as even past the danger of the Concurrence network, the dead being brought back is shown to be a unnatural act. O-Vis unintentionally working against his counterparts, with L-Caeror seeming to have cut himself off from O-Caeror who is either being manipulated himself or with the Concurrence, sets up a killer sequel.
I have a weird feeling only L-Vis is going to survive in the end out of his counterparts. O-Vis I think is doomed no matter what. R-Vis I'd like to see gain some peace but he keeps making steadily ruthless decisions and giving up who he was that it might be better he sacrifice himself to die as the man he started the series as.
Biggest problem with the book was the supporting cast were given next to no time to develop. Many moments didn't hit as hard because I wasn't as attached to everybody as I was in WOTM. Enjoyable book, but not on the level of the first. Hope the third makes some improvements.
>As at 06/2026
>I'll get the bad news out of the way first - the second draft of The Justice of One is currently sitting at just over 30k words. That's progress, certainly, but nowhere near as much as I had hoped or expected a few months ago. In fact, this has probably been one of the most disruptive three-month periods I can remember experiencing as a writer: some of that been professional obligation, some has been general life stuff, but it's all combined at once to make everything move far more slowly than I anticipated.
>The (relatively) good news is that the pace was nothing to do with any difficulties with the story itself, which is feeling great: when I've found the hours in my day to work on it, I've been enjoying it, and remain very confident with how it's shaping up.
>Looking forward, the next few months are a bit of an unknown, as they encompass both the September 1 launch of Scion, and my US tour around the same time (details to be announced soon - I'll post details here as soon as they're confirmed!). My hope is still to make up some lost ground by the end of September, and then get a big three months in at the end of the year to have a draft suitable for submission by Christmas. But we'll see.
>As usual, I'll update again at the end of September. Very much looking forward to seeing some of you in the US in a couple of months!
https://www.jamesislington.com/updates.html
I doubt we’ll get Book 3 in 2027, TBH. Early to mid 2028 seems the most likely release date.
Let me start by saying I thoroughly enjoy this series, but I never miss a chance to gripe and nitpick.
I think its widely accepted that>!Res = Rome, Obiteum = Celtic, and Luceum = Egypt. !<So all of the unique "biomes/dimensions" are simply commodified renditions of real world, ancient cultures. Somebody please correct me if that is not the case.
To me, in fantasy, world-building a unique realm with its own culture, history, values, religiosity, peoples, etc, is what makes it so engaging. And is integral to the genre of fantasy. It's a chance to explore themes in a brand new world full of infinite, imaginative possibilities. Tolkien coined it "subcreation" I believe. (According to his Christian beliefs, only God can perform an act of "pure creation"). But Tolkien devised a fairly holistic, internally consistent, new and unique world that simultaneously felt real but was fantastical and captured all of our imaginations. I do concede that much of the mythology and lore was influenced by Christian theology but I argue that has little bearing on the work as a whole.
However, in the Hierarchy series... each new world we explore is, pardon my French, a magical bastardization of well known real world ancient civilizations. To me, this sort of ruins the "suspension of disbelief", the sense of wonderment and curiosity. These are prebuilt, fully fleshed out societies, landscapes and imagery that have been only slightly "re-skinned" and shoehorned into a fantasy universe.
It's like in cheap fantasy shows where a "magical, self-driving wagon" is very obviously a Toyota Corolla with wood nailed to it. If that makes sense.
Loved the first book! Want to get the second book with the same cover design as the first, but can't find any.
Why does James Islington have to be so mean with the characters we like? What the hell dude, seriously. I marked it for spoilers bcuz >!killing our favourite 2 characters was a but much!<. Im buying book 3 so fast when it gets to my local bookshop istg
I’m currently reading the strength of the few for the first time. I was quite shocked and I gasped out loud when I saw these two symbols together. usually they represent what world I’m reading, but seeing these two symbols together means something about to change really dramatically! quite shocking!
I'm writing this after finishing the book and hence have a couple of questions:
The relationship of blood with mutalis is shown but Caeror also says that only "synchronous" can be unaffected by mutalis but during the naumachia, vis was not yet synchronous, so how did his blood due to that stylus (or on the stylus) even save him?
If princeps were ceding to Ka, it shows they respected and obeyed him but then why did he even allow the civil war to take place, he could have asked the princeps of governance or religion to simply find this Carnifex and can himself just choose a Princep for Military as he himself hates civil war?
How did Vis deduce that Ka hates the civil war? For all he knew, he wanted to cause the cataclysm, so civil war is easy deaths less effort, isn't it?
The book starts with everyone thinking Ka and Concurrence are one( to my understanding) but at the end Vis is revealed that they are not the same and that infact Ka is on their side, is there any proof that Ka shows to Vis to placate him?
I know some of these questions aren't answered yet but I just want to know if I missed any details, also your theories on this are welcome too
Thanks>!​!<
i have read both books so you won’t spoil anything here for me, but what are your thoughts on what was happening at the Naumachia when Vis touched Melior??
Am I Crazy or does it feel like there is more of a natural romance plot between Vis and Callidus compared to Vis and Emissa? the only issue I had with the series is that the romance with Emissa feels very forced IMO, and thinking about how easy it was for Vis and Callidus to become friends, and how much chemistry they have just feels stronger as a romance, especially given the ending of SOTF (unconfirmed but like we all know). I feel like if Callidus is the Voice at the end of SOTF, then it would be such a strong tragic romance, because he is on borrowed time and stuff. IDK but this is just what ive been thinking about for the past couple days.
Just saw today is the last day of an Amazon Prime Deal for the ebook of Strength of the Few. I was still reading my hardcover, but $5 seems worth it for portability.
Anyone else with stringy arms and/or a long commute might appreciate.