The Will of the Many

The Will of the Many is an epic fantasy novel written by Australian author James Islington and published by Saga Press in 2023. It is the first book in The Hierarchy series, with a second book, The Strength of the Few, published on November 11, 2025. The book takes place in Caten, a fictional society with similarities to the Golden Age of the Roman Republic. In Caten, the lower classes must cede a portion of their mental and physical energy (known as Will) to the classes above them. The story follows the orphaned Vis Telimus as he is recruited for the prestigious Catenan Academy and tasked with rising through the cutthroat competition to uncover the secret behind a mysterious accident. But Vis has his own shadowed past, and it threatens to follow him even into the heart of the Republic.