My life was forever changed last December when I read The Will of the Many by James Islington. This mysterious, Roman Empire–inspired, Harry Potter–for-grown-ups epic took a place in my mind and has been living there rent-free ever since.
No, seriously—I’ve been thinking about Vis for months now. It’s a little problematic. I’ve spent hours spiraling over what the hell happened at the end there and have been dying to find out what’s next.
Well, turns out we won’t have to wait much longer.
The Strength of the Few—the second installment in the Hierarchy series by James Islington—is set to grace us with its presence on November 11, 2025, just in time to warm our brains as the winter chill sets in.
🏛️🔥 Pre-order The Strength of the Few so you can scream “WHAT IS THE CATACLYSM?!” in real time with the rest of us. 🧠💥
What do we know about The Strength of the Few?
Pretty much nothing—aside from what we can glean from the cover and the blurb.
Let’s start with the blurb:
The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.
Okay, so this is clearly a nod to him being Diego. I am still SHAKEN that we’ve still got the lost prince plot line simmering quietly in the background—in addition to all of *waves hand* this. It sounds like Vis’s identity as Diego is hidden well beyond the end of book one.
But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.
WHAT DID YOU SEE, VIS?!
I’m convinced there’s a timelines angle now, because no self-respecting parallel universe storyline leaves the space-time continuum untouched. We don’t know if Obiteum and Luceum are operating on the same timelines. Did he see the future? DID HE SEE THE PAST?! Is it a loop?!
Then we continue:
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.
IT WAS THREE REALITIES AFTER ALL.
We were right. The thing we argued about for months? Confirmed—just in the blurb. But don’t be upset about that. That just means we’re going to have to wrap our heads around new mysteries that’ll make (or break) our brains.
For example: Belli totally completed the maze too, right? With the finger and all. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s totally fine—the news has given me fresh inspiration to make a new The Will of the Many post: Ending Explained Edition. Sign up for our newsletter if you want to be the first to know when that drops.
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.
Okay, that part’s pretty straightforward. Vis is juggling three realities, three versions of himself, and the book will do what it does best: weave political intrigue into hard-core science fiction, while we try to keep up with the evolving rules of the world—now times three.
I’m such a nerd about this stuff. I might cry.
I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.
Poor thing. I can fix you.
His girlfriend betrayed him—for what reason though?! We still don’t know. What about his, erm, surrogate father? How’s he going to deal with the fact that his brother is alive and well… just in a different universe?
TOO. MANY. QUESTIONS.
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.
One of my favorite things about Vis is how deeply committed he is to self-preservation. Something I can relate to. It gives us a unique lens to experience this wild, twisting story through—especially when everything else is so confusing and chaotic.
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.
A classic “end of the world” moment—concerning, yes, but also expected.
It’s not surprising that the events in this universe (universes?) are cyclical, and that Vis’s actions—and those of everyone else—from the last book might’ve turbo-charged the timeline.
Either way… I cannot wait.
What does The Strength of the Few cover tell us?
That ominous obsidian pyramid rising from the sand dunes, being approached (attacked?) by floating white figures with blades that remind me of teeth or bones—remember the cage at the end of the maze? It’s… unsettling.
In my opinion, this is the Black Pyramid Gaius showed Vis in the illustrations—but it’s probably also what Vis saw when he touched Melior:
“The purple-and-orange bruise of smoky, lightning-cracked sky. Some sort of impossibly vast pyramid, surface smooth and black and mirrored, its base stretching for miles. The harbour with a vast, lit bridge dividing it, lined by statues that must stand a hundred feet high. Waves, monstrous curling whitecaps, towering over them. Exploding against them.”
The Will of the Many, p. 188
Since we’re dealing with three alternate realities, my gut says there’s a Pyramid in each—and they might serve as some kind of anchor or convergence point between the worlds.
“A night sky, the silhouettes of what look like people eerily hovering in front of a full moon. A desolate alien landscape, dunes half covering a city’s worth of broken buildings, shattered glass pillars rising from the sand between them like jagged knives. A massive hall with an equally enormous triangular opening at its end, writing in a language I don’t recognise inscribed on the walls all around.”
The Will of the Many, p. 207
This vision in particular? The sand makes me think it’s the same world we see on the cover.
So that leaves us with five separate scenes Vis glimpses:
- the harbor
- the statues
- the waves
- the stars
- and the triangular hall with the eerie inscriptions
Then there are the floaty figures.
Consensus seems to be that these are the Remnants—and while they’re made of obsidian in Res (where we are now), maybe this is how they appear in one of the other realities. Another thing that caught my eye: the two figures walking toward the pyramid are leaving no tracks.
So… did they fly in, like the floaty sword guys?
Were they already there?
Or are they projections?
Is there going to be a version of The Strength of the Few that matches the original blue cover design of The Will of the Many?
NO😭. It was fun while it lasted but we’re stuck with new more animated covers. I too am devastated. Especially because now I have to either purchase the other The Will of the Many style or sit with an unmatching set.
That’s… everything. We don’t know much but enough to make me want to go back and reread The Will of the Many. I’ll be posting some crack pot theories on here, so make sure to subscribe to the newsletter or follow us on the regular social media channels to get notified when we do!
Until then… see you at the labyrinth!
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