The Will of the Many by James Islington - Review

[@creepingdoubt]

Ramshackle? This was one of your very best reviews, personal, passionate and pointed. You were specific and clear. And so relaxed I felt like we were having a conversation over our favorite drinks. Your regular demeanor and procedure are fun, watchable, informative and well worth thinking about. That's why I follow you. But when you're looser and more freewheeling you're sublime. I think to myself: What a terrific person, I'd really like to know this guy. More reviews like this one, whenever you feel like it, please.

[@rororeads]

Thank you!! Normally due to workload I only have 1h to film and edit a review. But now the semesters finished for Xmas I have a bit more time…this video is a result of that haha.

[@YaFeya13]

Yep yep yep, you are so right on all points….is it because we are adults and here the setting is a school? I don’t know, I absolutely adored the Red rising. So that’s not it, I think you’re right when you said it all has been done before 🤷‍♀️

[@Tensytheneedlesmith]

I share your aggravation with the deritive nature of the plot which seems to be prevalent in fantasy, Red Rising meets Hunger Games meets Harry Potter, and is why I often avoid YA fantasy. I am 1/3 into the book, which was recommended by my adult son, and the solid writing (thank god, no info dumps) and plot twists are keeping me engaged. I agree with there being review "star" inflation. I always give 3 stars to books I like but didn't love or admire the writing.

[@drawyourbook876]

That is why I don’t share my rating on my videos…

[@awebofstories]

Ah, the 3 star conundrum! People know what 1, 2, 4, and 5 stars, but people vary widely on what 3 stars mean for them. I'm with you, 3 stars is good. However, I have a friend who rates on a 3 to 5 scale: 5 is great, 4 is good, and 3 is bad!

[@arif-3924]

very nice speech 👌💜

[@altanava]

I don’t read fantasy, could you suggest one that might be good for a first timer thanks

[@rororeads]

I think Neverwhere or American gods by Neil Gaiman are good entry point fantasy novels :)

[@1book1review]

REcently discovered your reviews and really enjoying them. Been quiet so far, but this just sparked a desire to comment. Never heard of this. The tropes are really offputting just from listneing you listing them I am not interested. So thanks for bringing it to my attention and also thanks for your great review.

[@NerdishlyActive]

Oh dang! Sorry to hear you didn’t like this book :( Lol😜😂

[@rororeads]

😂

[@judoshrew]

Three stars is too good for this book. 1 star. Its atrocious. Man, that nice little argument about "can you say these people are innocent if they enable the atrocities made by the people at the top", yeah thats great, HE SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT THAT. Instead we get a story about a secret prince mary sue with a million backstory points who was already the smartestest and bestest student before he even joined the school proving that in one year he can be the best (also one year school? What?) no matter the circumstances. This is a bad case of the story informing you on how to interpret things, like they want you to think this character is so smart and so capable, but his strategy against somebody who has 10 times his strength is "what if I punch them in the same place multiple times". This story has a really hard time with what kind of commentary it wants to play with, like it has this "hierarchy and capitalism bad" theme which is fine, a little boilerplate, but it comes with a side serving of "Monarchy good?" which is like... no, wtf fantasy we've talked to you about this before. These are rose tinted glasses. Also their weird magic system stolen from Hobbes Leviathan without any real exploration of said magic system or the critiques of hobbes leviathan... like come on man, play the game. Not to mention some of the weird shenanigans involving making up an entirely unnecessary magic sword fighting puppet game where like... they are just fighting on the side, but with the puppets being in contact, and the sword fighters don't have anything sensory showing them what the puppet would see, this would be so useless for sword training, especially in light of "you could just use practice swords" which is both more practical and less expensive. And while you say that this book isn't adult because it doesn't involve sex or drugs or murder as much as it should, I think the bigger more egregious part that makes it unable to be adult fantasy is that it does not have a concept of subtext. It explains every little thing, with a huge amount of interiority explaining every thought and plan of the protagonist, and this robs the story of any way of engaging with subtextual play that defines more mature stories. What people think of as a very confusing ending was probably my favorite part, because there was a short period of time where the author trusted me to interpret things in the story, though it was cut short as it then explained itself rather thoroughly to the point where I found it strange that anybody found it confusing. Fantasy is about originality and the strange and our relationship with the unknown, and this felt very safe and unwilling to explore new ideas. This is what a negative review looks like. Take heed. It was bad, all of you have bad taste and I'll devour every last one of you.

[@juneclifford8377]

It was good then? 🤣