Out of My Comfort Zone: A Guest Post by James Islington

By James Islington / November 14, 2025 at 12:01 am

Vis’s evolution fuels this much-awaited second installment where epic world-building meets dark secrets and scheming politics… and everything is at stake. Read on for an exclusive essay from author James Islington on writing The Strength of the Few.

Hardcover $29.00 ~~$34.00~~

The Strength of the Few

By James Islington

In Stock Online

Hardcover $29.00 ~~$34.00~~

This highly anticipated follow—up to The Will of the Many—one of 2023’s most lauded and bestselling fantasy novels—follows Vis as he grapples with a dangerous secret that could unravel history across alternate dimensions.

OMNE TRIUM PERFECTUM

I’m nervous about the upcoming release of The Strength of the Few.

That’s not, I’m happy to say, because I’m worried about the book itself. I spent almost two and a half years getting this second volume of Hierarchy right, and though it’s probably the most difficult story I’ve had to put together – let’s just say that it presented some unique structural challenges! – I’m incredibly pleased with how it’s turned out. In fact, out of all my books, I think it may be the one I’m most proud of.

So why the nervousness?

A lot of it, funnily enough, is due to the amazing reception The Will of the Many has had over the past couple of years. To say I’ve been blown away by readers’ response to this world would be an understatement: the enthusiasm for this series and these characters has comfortably eclipsed anything I could possibly have hoped for.

But of course, for an author, when a book connects with readers like that, it also becomes a real temptation to try to do the same thing for the sequel. Repeat the winning formula. Play it safe. And, for all my confidence in The Strength of the Few, I don’t think it’s a sequel that plays it safe.

So as excited as I am for the launch, and as happy as I am with the work? Nervous.

There’s a line in The Will of the Many which, if I’m being honest, I wrote very much for myself: The man who is never nervous, never does anything hard. The man who is never nervous, never grows. In a lot of ways that’s representative of this series as a whole, to me. As much as I was inspired to write it by a plethora of things – literary influences, real-world history, even the state of our world now – a large part of its genesis was simply me wanting to create something genuinely different from what I’d already done. To grow and push myself as a writer. And as a result, I was equally as anxious about The Will of the Many around its launch.

So in the end, I think it’s a good thing that I’m nervous about this release. It means I’ve tried to do something out of my comfort zone. Something different. Something new, even though it was hard to pull off.

And hopefully, I’ll be just as nervous about the next book, too.