A Conversation with James Islington (Author of The Licanius Trilogy and The Will of the Many)

Hi everyone! Today's video will be a conversation with one of my favorite authors, James Islington. A few days ago, I chatted with James Islington about his soon-to-be-released novel, The Will of the Many. I will assume some of you know how much I loved The Licanius Trilogy and The Will of the Many.
Not gonna lie, The Will of the Many is still my favorite book of the year! You can check out my spoiler-free review of the novel on my channel. In the meantime, in today's video, Islington will discuss some aspects, inspirations, and the differences in writing The Will of the Many compared to The Licanius trilogy. We also discuss the benefits of self-publishing vs traditional publishing, and how much we love The Kingkiller Chronicle and Red Rising Saga.
My review of The Will of the Many: • The Will of the Many b...
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[@BooksRebound]

I'm dying to know how long it'll be before book 2 comes out. Will of the Many was sooo mindblowingly incredible.

[@PetrikLeo]

I'm dying for the sequel, too! James said 2024 will be when Strength of the Few comes out! 😁

[@Antonio-wd3ok]

@@PetrikLeo Do you know if early, mid or late 2024?

[@migg201204]

​@@Antonio-wd3okBook 1 was May 23 and he has confirmed recently that book 2 is done and sent to publish so I would imagine a release date will be coming soon. My guess would be between Nov 24 - Jan 25

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

Same. I’ve never been so excited for a sequel in a series.

[@JARHuygebaert]

I just finished The Will of the Many and it's gonna be my favorite book of the year, no doubt

[@PetrikLeo]

Yessss! It will be hard to find a new release to top this one this year!

[@ferraghost]

The Will of the Many is definitely the book of the year for me and the year had just begun, can't imagine anything topping it. I will "patiently" wait for book 2 while I dive into The Licanius Trilogy for the first time. Thank you for doing this interview! had a blast watching it.

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! Well, book 2 is slated to come out this year, so it might end up topping The Will of the Many. So exciting! :)

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

It’s incredible that the Licanius Trilogy were literally his first three novels!

[@PetrikLeo]

@@Nathan-vt1jz i know right!?? And The Will of the Many is even better!

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

@@PetrikLeo agreed!

[@teddited9682]

Loved, loved, loved The Will of the Many!!!

[@PetrikLeo]

Such an AMAZING book!!

[@Syko1985]

That story about Patrick Rothfuss giving James a ton of help on his book before he even got published was brilliant, Patrick is such a great guy and that fact he dedicated so much of his own time to help a guy out with his first book is very heart warming and awesome. I am an even bigger fan of the man now after hearing that story.

[@PetrikLeo]

I am surprised to hear that, too. A wonderful story! :)

[@book_scent]

Ooooh, watching this immediately!! The Licanius Trilogy is one of my absolute favorites and The Light of All That Falls is also one of the (if not THE) best endings to a series I've ever read! I can't wait to get to The Will of the Many this year 🤩

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you, Karin! The Light of All That Falls is amazing. And The Will of the Many is as good or maybe even better! :)

[@book_scent]

@@PetrikLeo I have a feeling I will love The Will of the Many as well! 👀 Your review and this author interview certainly have me hyped even more!! 😁 Thank you for this very interesting & insightful content 😃

[@StannisBaratheonOTK]

Thanks for the conversation. Was great to hear from James and get his perspective. I very, very often think back to the Licanius Trilogy. It was perhaps my favorite fantasy trilogy. Started at the perfect time, not long after Light of All That Falls came out and finished the trilogy in a few weeks. Just finished The Will of the Many, and it was somehow even better.

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! Like you, I'm a fan of a Licanius trilogy. I was so amazed by how good The Will of the Many was. It definitely was better than The Shadow of What was Lost!

[@craiglooney8220]

The Licanius Trilogy is one of my favorite trilogies of all time (right up there with Mistborn), and The Will of the Many is my #1 most anticipated book of 2023. Can't wait to dive in. Thanks for the interview!!

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! Thank you so much for checking out the interview. Like you, I'm a fan of The Licanius Trilogy, and now that I've read The Will of the Many, I'm confident you'll love it, too! :)

[@jaceygaither2581]

His prose is incredible. I read a lot of fantasy, and I'm generally more focused on plot and character. Love Sanderson despite the more basic prose and vocabulary. But the way Will of the Many is written so beautifully and has some amazing story beats to boot. His vocabulary is phenomenal. I'm only about halfway through and so far my only minor complaint is that the characters don't feel terribly fleshed out, but hopefully that will change as the series progresses.

[@PetrikLeo]

There's something about Islington's prose that is capable of pulling me into the narrative quickly. And don't worry, the characters will get more fleshed out in the second half of the book. I already want to do a second read of it! :)

[@MaxFidler]

I am about 100 pages into The Will of the Many- and between what I have read so far and the Licanius Trilogy Mr. Islington is an auto-buy author for me.

[@PetrikLeo]

As it should be. Enjoy! The Will of the Many is WILD! :D

[@safinan8008]

Wow 😯 what fantastic video! I liked his books! Happy reading to you!! 😊📖

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you! I love his books, too! 😄

[@alexfrederick3404]

I haven't read anything by this guy, but I will now. Sounds like something I will love. Thanks for doing this interview.

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! His books are must try, imo. :)

[@andreabknight]

I am a newbie fantasy author and it is great to hear James's story and how all those challenges arise and how you get through them writing-wise. Thanks Petrik and James!

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! Good luck with your book, too. And thanks for all the support you gave me! :)

[@ronaldwatson3862]

Islington seems like a real one - 'fessing to challenges and fears when writing his first books. Great interview, Petrik! Happy coincidence - I recently ordered The Shadow of What Was Lost and it's on my TBR for June.

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you so much! I like how genuine James is regarding his work. It seems meant to be that you got The Shadow of What Was Lost! :D

[@esmayrosalyne]

This was a wonderful chat, thanks so much for sharing!! I am so so so excited for The Will of the Many, because I have a feeling it might just become an instant new favourite. Licanius was such a unique fantasy story, so I can't wait to see what Islington has cooked up for us this time around 🤩

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome, Esmay! Thank you for watching. I hope you'll love The Will of the Many as much as I did! :)

[@thepussycat66]

OMG, I am so excited to watch this interview. I love his books.😍 I am so happy to see him on your channel, Petrik!

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you so much, Kari! It was an honor to have James on the channel! :)

[@thepussycat66]

@@PetrikLeo You did so well! I am so excited that his new book is out today. 😍

[@cipriansirbu3699]

Wow,this is quite a surprise,never seen James in a interview before,he seems such a nice guy.I loved The Licanius trilogy,it only took halfway through The Shadow of What Was Lost to decide that everything he writes is a instant buy for me.I have pre-ordered The will of the Many last month,both the kindle and hardcover edition and even if the last will arrive on a later date,I'm very eager to start tomorrow the eBook,thank you Petrik for this awesome interview.

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome, and thank you so much! Yeah, it took me some time get the schedule down with James, but I'm happy we managed to do it. The Shadow of What was Lost is arguably his weakest work, you're going to have a blast reading his books! :D

[@talkamardesh7562]

Love James Islington, got his book delivering in the mail for tomorrow’s release!!

[@PetrikLeo]

Hell yeah! Enjoy it. It's my book of the year so far! :)

[@talkamardesh7562]

@@PetrikLeo starting tonight 😈

[@jordendarrett1725]

As a writer, this is extremely interesting and also useful to listen to. I enjoy hearing authors sharing their struggles the same as my own, and James seems like an awesome person

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you! Glad you found the chat useful, Jorden! :)

[@bwazi24]

Just finished the will of the Many . Loved it so much..waiting on book 2

[@PetrikLeo]

Heck yeahh! Glad to hear you loved The Will of the Many! 😃

[@Kaiju_Roo45]

I am just about to start The Will of the Many - this was great to hype me up even more :)

[@PetrikLeo]

Haha that's awesome! I hope you'll enjoy reading the book! 😄

[@liamdegnan5949]

Petrik! I started reading your goodreads reviews probably 7 years ago. I’m rarely on there anymore, but I actually looked up an interview with James this morning to get some context on the new book, and was so pleasantly surprised to find you on here. Congratulations on the growth of your channel on here. You always have great reviews and great content.

[@PetrikLeo]

Aww thank you so much, Liam! Very kind of you to say that. I hope you'll love The Will of the Many! :)

[@jcmberne]

This was a great interview, Petrik! Great questions.

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you so much, Joe! :D

[@hungryberry2754]

James Islington is such a great guy, and quite a good author too! I finished 'The Light of All That Falls' just this morning, loved the series, especially the first two books, can't wait to see what he comes up with for Dezia's story! I am curious to see his take on the fantasy academia genre. Keep up the great work Petrik!

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you! I will do my best. And glad to hear you enjoyed The Licanius trilogy. James said it's possible he will return to writing Dezia's story once he's done with Hierarchy! :)

[@irishknight6893]

I have never read any of his books but thanks to you I plan to read Will of The Many, so awesome to hear he is a big Red Rising and KingKiller Chronicles fan! Love how Pat Rothfuss personally helped him out with his first book!

[@PetrikLeo]

That's great! I truly hope you'll love The Will of the Many, too! :)

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

If only Pat would finish his own book!

[@TylerTMiles]

Listening to this on my run later. Hoping to have my upcoming self-publishing debut included in one of your videos too! 🤞🏽

[@PetrikLeo]

Enjoy! For your book, I can't promise anything. I have a LOT of spotlights to put into each episode already.

[@fcsolis]

OK, this is the impetus to get started reading the Red Rising series. Thank you.

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome. Red Rising Saga is awesome. :)

[@detlef3000]

James Islington is such a good author. "Will of the Many" was my favorite book of 2024. Way better than Red Rising. Licanius Trilogy was very cool too.

[@PetrikLeo]

@@detlef3000 Yup. I completely agree. It's inspired by Red Rising but it's even better!

[@molybdenum1441]

Огромное спасибо за интервью с любимым автором!💙 Надеюсь, у нас когда-нибудь издадут "The Will of the Many".

[@PetrikLeo]

You're welcome! :)

[@GrapplingBook]

The Will of the Many is the best book I read since Empire of the Vampire. Amazing through and through

[@PetrikLeo]

It's much better than EotV, imo, and I highly enjoyed that book!

[@TheRealMrWolf]

One of my absolute favorite trilogies

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you! The Will of the Many is amazing!

[@TheRealMrWolf]

@@PetrikLeo I really need to order it soon, but no idea where from since Book Depository closed down :S

[@NutsForBooks]

James seems like such a nice guy. Have had The will of the many preordered for quite some time(will be my first Islington book). Im scared that im hyping the book too much in my mind :P

[@PetrikLeo]

Hahaha! I absolutely loved the book. And I truly hope you and many readers will as well! :)

[@NutsForBooks]

@@PetrikLeo Just coming back here after finishing the book. You didnt steer me wrong Petrik! 5 star read, easily. Too bad its going to be another year for the follow up :P Very interesting ending too.

[@PetrikLeo]

@@NutsForBooks yeah, it will be a pain waiting for the next book after that ending! 😂 Glad you loved it!

[@aden.e]

HELL YEAH 🙌🙌🙌

[@aden.e]

only a few minutes in and this is so fantastic petrik! i havnt seen any interviews with james so this is amazing

[@PetrikLeo]

This took some time to arrange! I'm glad I got to chat with him. Hopefully, you and other viewers will enjoy watching it! :)

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

The Runelords is the first series I bought myself, and I bought it just based on the cover. lol. It was a good series, but unfortunately the final book was never finished.

[@PetrikLeo]

I heard the author passed away before he got the chance to finish the series. :(

[@misomiso8228]

I read somewhere that James worked in Tech before hand. Does he now live off writing or does he still do tech work to pay the bills? ty

[@PetrikLeo]

@@misomiso8228 live off writing!

[@lordinquisitordunn336]

Hello, Mr. Leo! I am a very big fan as well as a self published author. I was wondering what would you need to read and review a book by a particular author or even have an interview. I don’t have much of a fanbase admittedly but I would love to chat with you sometime. I know you read a lot but I was just curious

[@PetrikLeo]

Thank you for the kind words. Hmm, I don't do an interview with authors whose books I haven't read yet. If you want, you can send me an email for a review request. Do know that I can't promise anything, though. I get review requests every day. :)

[@lordinquisitordunn336]

@@PetrikLeo of course! I’ll send the email and I’m totally fine with waiting to get put in a queue

[@lordinquisitordunn336]

@@PetrikLeo where might i send that email by the way?

[@sgtslick7]

I haven't read the will of the many yet but the magic system definitely reminds me of Asha from licanius and the shadows. Its funny hearing him talk about the magic system and how it couldn't be applied to the licanius world. At first glance however, it sounds very similar to the shadows being sucked of power to be given to 'higher ups' and to an extend how the venerate are drained to supply the boundary too. On a sidenote the system as its described definitely gives me Marxist vibes maybe its just me and having studied cultural studies at uni so I maybe see this everywhere 😄 What I mean is the oppressed majority who are sucked of their power; will or won't rise up but its more about how this inequity exists. Marxist theory is all about how cultural works produce or represent this inequity or situation even if the creator or writer in this case, isn't necessarily even conscious of the fact.

[@PetrikLeo]

There are other reasons why it couldn't be applied to The Licanius world, but I think they will be marked as spoilers. If you do read this one, let me know what you think. :)

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

It fits perfectly in the Roman fantasy setting.

[@LimeymanZero]

Started this today, not even finished the first chapter and I'm already fascinated! This is good world building, some kid running round a castle and not really listening to a history lecture isn't! Going to have to come back to this video when I'm done. The audiobook narrator is really bad though, sounds like he is trying to cover up an acent and is over pronouncing things so it sounds like half the lines are written with air quotes.

[@PetrikLeo]

Urgh too bad about the audiobook narrator. Here's hoping it doesn't ruin your experience of the story!

[@LimeymanZero]

@@PetrikLeo His voice work is pretty good and that's the main thing but his mic is really terrible and it does seem like some of these lines are the 5th take and he's mispronounced the word a few times and is maybe overcompensating, I don't know but it isn't a dealbreaker now I'm a few hours in and used to it. I got my book today though so I have the option to switch to that if I really need to. Renia is next up though in a few days when I'm done with a book a friend lent me called The Innocent Mage.

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

@@PetrikLeo I thought the audiobook reader did a good job. He’s not in my top tier readers, but still decent.

[@mlouis7]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnfJnmqPoLSWnas this is magical to read with Petrik

[@PetrikLeo]

Hahaha nice! 😁

[@guruthosamarthruin4459]

I'm near the end of Book 1 of Licanius right now. I'm liking it, and I already preordered Will of the Many. I have to say, though, that I am NOT a fan of the cover of Will of the Many. I find the cover...boring... I don't like the minimalist/icon style of covers. I vastly prefer full cover art.

[@PetrikLeo]

Yeahh, I LOVE The Will of the Many, but the cover art is a miss for me. I wish it's as good as Licanius trilogy! :')