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James Islington

Goodreads Author

Website

http://jamesislington.com/

Twitter

IslingtonJames

Genre

Fantasy, Young Adult

Influences

Brandon Sanderson
Patrick Rothfuss
Robert Jordan
Raymond E. Feist ...more

Member Since

July 2014

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James Islington was born and raised in southern Victoria, Australia. His influences growing up were the stories of Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan, but it wasn't until later, when he read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series - followed soon after by Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind - that he was finally inspired to sit down and write something of his own. He now lives with his wife and two children on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

I'm fascinated by the idea that you seem to have just decided to become an author one day because you were inspired by Brandon and Patrick. Could you provide us with a bit of a background/biography? How did you find the time to do it? Did you have a writing background before starting your first novel or did you just have a natural gift for telling an amazing story?

James Islington Sure! It wasn’t *quite* as abrupt as that – I absolutely loved creative writing as a teen, and the ambition to write a novel ‘one day’ was always ther…moreSure! It wasn’t *quite* as abrupt as that – I absolutely loved creative writing as a teen, and the ambition to write a novel ‘one day’ was always there. Most of my twenties, though, was spent running a startup with a friend of mine. It was pretty successful and a major learning experience, but also an insane amount of work and stress. I barely had time to read fiction, let alone write anything.

So when I finally got around to discovering Brandon’s and Patrick’s books, it wasn’t that they necessarily created my first ‘I want to be an author’ moment – I think everyone who enjoys writing has a little bit of that in them already anyway. It was more that they rekindled my *enthusiasm* for the idea, which to me is actually a much harder thing to inspire. Those books really got me excited about the genre again, and that in turn motivated me to give my own story a go.

In terms of finding the time, when I turned thirty I basically decided to scale back my involvement in the business so that it became a not-quite-full-time endeavour - less money, of course, but it allowed me both the opportunity and head space to write while still earning a paycheck. I'd already been working from home and on my own schedule for years, so self-discipline wasn't really an issue. From there it was just a case of being diligent about getting something down on the page every day. It took a couple of years and a fair amount of patience - a lot of drafts and a lot of edits based on feedback, especially early on - but eventually 'Shadow' got to the point where I was comfortable releasing it.

I think that about sums it up. Cheers for the question!(less)

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I just started reading the book, and honestly I am very impressed. Not very many books catch my attention and hold it as this one has. One of my favorite questions to ask authors is "What is the origin of this story you are telling?" I like to keep that in mind as I read a book. Do you mind answering that one for me?

James Islington Thanks! The origins of the story are actually a little tricky to explain, as they kind of give away the ending to 'The Shadow of What Was Lost'. So I'…moreThanks! The origins of the story are actually a little tricky to explain, as they kind of give away the ending to 'The Shadow of What Was Lost'. So I'm marking below as a spoiler - I'd advise holding off reading any further here until you've finished the book....

------SPOILER------

I've always loved stories about redemption, characters with dark pasts striving to change but struggling with who they've become. So I was interested in exploring the idea of an epic fantasy bad guy - the legendary enemy who everyone 'knows' is evil - in that situation. Looking at why he was on the wrong side in the first place, and then how he'd go about trying to make up for / escape the terrible things he'd done.

That led to me thinking about memories and how much they shape who a person is - how their past experiences, decisions and knowledge influence them and make them capable of things they might not be otherwise.

I also wanted to write a story where prophecies weren't so wishy-washy and open to interpretation ("and the seven eagles shall rise on wings of fire, and the crown of iron shall be shattered, and blah blah blah"). It's not that this never works in a story, but I think it's an area of fantasy that still tends to get away with little to no explanation of why it's like that. In most cases it seems to just fall into the 'because magic' category, which I'm personally not a big fan of.

Anyway, that line of thinking ultimately resulted in the Augurs, as well as (to some extent) the inclusion of time travel in the story.

------END SPOILER------

So, I guess I had a lot of disparate ideas/inspirations rattling around in my head over the years. Then when I started reading Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss a while back, I finally got inspired enough that I really knuckled down and gave writing a serious amount of my time. Thus, 'The Shadow of What Was Lost'.

Hope that answers your question!

Edit: Looks like spoiler tags don't work on answering questions, so I'm marking the whole thing as a spoiler.

Edit 2: Apparently I can't mark the whole thing as a spoiler after it's been submitted. I'll change the heading so it's nice and obvious instead. (less)

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Combine Editions
James Islington’s books

Average rating: 4.41 · 416,315 ratings · 56,065 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1) 4.59 avg rating — 197,503 ratings — published 2023 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shadow of What Was Lost (The Licanius Trilogy, #1) 4.14 avg rating — 88,086 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Echo of Things to Come (The Licanius Trilogy, #2) 4.21 avg rating — 51,334 ratings — published 2017 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2) 4.40 avg rating — 48,899 ratings — published 2025 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy, #3) 4.40 avg rating — 39,598 ratings — published 2019 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Licanius Trilogy (The Licanius Trilogy, #1-3) 4.51 avg rating — 940 ratings — published 2020 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Deep Magic - Winter 2018 by Jeff Wheeler (Goodreads Author) (Editor & Contributor), Steve DuBois (Goodreads Author), Paul R. Hardy (Goodreads Author) 4.35 avg rating — 72 ratings — published 2018	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Justice of One (Hierarchy, #3) 4.38 avg rating — 13 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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98 posts
James Islington's Blog

Hierarchy Update - December 2025

Hi everyone,

Final update for the year! There hasn't been a wild amount of progress (unsurprisingly) on Hierarchy #3 over the past three months, due to the launch of The Strength of the Few happening over that period - but everything's still in a good place and on track going into 2026. More detail over on the website.

Wishing you all a safe and happy break over this upcoming Christmas period!

- Jam Read more of this blog post »

120 likes · Like • 8 comments • flag

Published on December 18, 2025 21:14

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Series by James Islington

Hierarchy (3 books)
by

James Islington (Goodreads Author)

4.56 avg rating — 246,342 ratings

The Licanius Trilogy (3 books)
by

James Islington (Goodreads Author)

4.22 avg rating — 179,952 ratings

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

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James’s Recent Updates

James Islington is now friends with Trevor Grimm
Jan 14, 2026 02:15AM · like
James Islington voted for The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2) as Readers' Favorite Fantasy in the Final Round of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 26, 2025 02:19AM · 26 likes · like
James Islington answered James Lambariello's question: Hey James, while reading WOTM I couldn't help but get a video game feeling from the Will-sharing system, with higher ups in society basically becoming Bosses with the strength of hundreds of men behind them. If Hierarchy were adapted into a video game, what games would you want it to draw inspiration from? I gravitate towards immersive sims and RPGs (Dishonored, Deus Ex, Witcher 3, BG3, that sort of thing) - so in a dream, unlimited-budget type scenario, a story-rich game that settled into those genres would be my ideal. Something where you have to mak See Full Answer
Sep 07, 2025 04:44PM · 27 likes · like
James Islington made a comment on Paperback of THE WILL OF THE MANY releases today! " Paige wrote: "Will the second book - Strength of the Few - be available in a similar style paperback as the first one was in NZ/Aus? Utterly enamored ...more "
Jun 17, 2025 11:33PM · see blog post

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Quotes by James Islington (?)

“Silence is a statement, Diago. Inaction picks a side. And when those lead to personal benefit, they are complicity.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

199 likes

“Nervousness means there’s a fear to be faced ahead, Diago. The man who is never nervous, never does anything hard. The man who is never nervous, never grows.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

133 likes

“Death is only meaningless if it does not change us, Vis.”
― James Islington, The Will of the Many

tags: death, death-of-a-loved-one, grief, inspirational, meaning, mourning, wisdom

101 likes

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Polls

Preliminary Poll for Next Series (Fantasy, starting 8/15/23)

Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 10 books starting with Empire in Black and Gold

13 votes, 28.9%

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, 3 books starting with The Poppy War

12 votes, 26.7%

Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny, 10 books starting with Nine Princes in Amber

10 votes, 22.2%

Licanius Trilogy by James Islington, 3 books starting with The Shadow of What Was Lost

7 votes, 15.6%

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, 10 books starting with Lord Foul's Bane

2 votes, 4.4%

Thieves’ World by Robert Lynn Asprin, 12 books starting with Thieves' World

1 vote, 2.2%

45 total votes

5 comments

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SciFi and Fantasy...: The May 2015 Fantasy Open Nominations	19	111	Feb 10, 2015 12:08PM
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Grimdark Fantasy: Suggestion: 2016 Grimdark Fantasy Group Challenge	35	94	Mar 21, 2016 09:10AM
Rothfussians: Love/ hate relationship with fantasy: any authors as brilliant as Pat?	54	413	Feb 16, 2017 06:05PM
Sci-fi and Heroic...: What new SF&F Books are you Looking Forward to in 2017?	64	162	Feb 22, 2017 02:41PM

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James’s Friend Comments

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message 2: by James

Jul 19, 2015 07:31PM

Mike wrote: "Beta reader, right here! Lol. Great story man."

Cheers Mike! :-) If you're interested in beta reading AEoTTC, just shoot me an e-mail (james@jamesislington.com) or message via http://jamesislington.com/contact.aspx, so I can add your e-mail address to the list. I'll only be picking a few people at random off what's already a very long list though, so definitely no guarantees. Thanks again!

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message 1: by Mike

Jun 25, 2015 07:14PM