Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Will of the Many by James Islington

17 reviews

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Murder, War, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

jdasilva's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s Stuart Little meets Divergent meets Hunger Games. I was holding my breath most of the book having no idea what was going to happen next. The world building was effective, the attention to detail, background, and side characters help build it all out. I almost took off 0.25 stars because I just want to know MORE but that’s the sign of a great book. I’ll be frozen and pondering until the next one comes out. Don’t read any spoilers or even the description, just buckle up and enjoy the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Death of parent, Child death, Gore, Body horror, War, Blood, Death, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Torture and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide, Physical abuse, and Grief

gaby_readsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved every moment of this book, it kept me so invested. I loved Vis as a main character, he was so smart and capable. He had so much to overcome and he is such a strong character to follow. There are so many layers to this story and so many different plots to follow that I am very much looking forward to continuing this series, I hope the next book comes out soon!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Grief, and Death

badbadwolf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Medical trauma, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Slavery, Vomit, War, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Murder, Blood, Classism, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

jalexpulliamkepler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Amazing! The best fantasy book I’ve read in a long time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Torture, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, War, Slavery, Classism, Suicide, and Sexism

Minor: Animal death

horizonous's review against another edition

It's mostly the setting / the world that didn't really appeal to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Excrement

jennanaps's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Murder, Death, Body horror, Medical content, War, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Holy shit.

I am a different person. 

It’s the truly insane and audible ‘what the actual fuck’ moment I experienced reading the final chapter for me. 

Truly, holy shit and what the fuck. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Suicide, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Vomit

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Bullying

saltycoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Classism, and Grief

cody_crumley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"Greed is by definition the moral ruler of the Hierarchy, Diago. All decisions are based upon it. It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it."

There is always a nervous feeling when I decide to tackle one of BookTok’s darlings that is popping up on my FYP pretty much every video. You can’t help but have your expectations set extremely high when people whose opinions you trust when it comes to books almost universally give something 5/5. Thankfully the nervous feeling with “The Will of the Many” was completely unfounded, leading me into an early contender for my favorite book for 2024. 

“The Will of the Many” follows Vis, a war orphan from the island nation of Suus, who was supposed to follow in his father’s footsteps as the next in line to rule. That all changed when the Catan Hierarchy conquered and murdered his family. What follows his Vis’ journey of avenging what happened to his family while balancing the asks of his adoptive “family” to discover the mystery at the Hierarchy academy. 

Something that I think is the major standout from author James Islington is how amazing of a main character POV that Vis is. From his internal first person internal monologues to him working out and problem solving, he comes across as one of the most natural characters I have read. The fine line of making him not feel perfect but also not feel ignorant is walked perfectly. His interactions and intentions align incredibly well with his internal motivations. Vis really is one of the best written characters I have read in a long time. 

Islington does not waste all of his great writing on Vis, it is spread around to the supporting cast as well. There are some many great supporting characters that I am not going to name all of them, but once the story gets to the academy and becomes a “school” setting, they all really shine.

Another major tent pole in the start of this new serious is the political climate and maneuvering that serves as the looming backdrop to Vis’ narrative. As I have seen with other books that have similar narrative beats (Red Rising for example) sometimes world building that comes with establishing a new universe can sometimes take more than the first book to really establish itself. Islington does not need that, he really sets the tone early on with what has happened and the continued fallout of the Hierarchy’s conquest. He smartly uses the Hierarchy’s real world counterpart (The Roman Empire) to help establish his in-world history, so even as the reader it’s a new world, there still is a familiar feeling that helps you follow along. As a history minor, this really scratched a certain itch that fictional books rarely due. 

I also listened to the audiobook in different stages and it is solid listen. The narrator handles Vis and the others well and I actually found it to be helpful with the pronouncing of the really hard Roman-style naming conventions.

The story is broken up into three distinct parts, and while I found the first two parts to be stronger than the third, the ending of this story with a epilogue cliffhanger that had me wide-eyed at 1AM when I finally finished has me craving the follow up immediately. If you think you might be interested in this book, please don’t look up anything and just delve right in. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Classism, War, Torture, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent