[BWF] The Will of Many by James Islington- 5 stars

[Jen K]

The Catenan Republic has turned into an empire taking over smaller nations to support the Hierarchy and a world run by Will. People are sorted into ranks with 8s at the bottom giving up their will at the expense of their own living to those of higher numbers in a type of pyramid scheme. Vis lost his family and previous life to the Hierarchy nursing hates but needing to just survive. When he is adopted by a higher ranked senator to investigate inside the elite academy, Vis sees an opportunity to exact his own plan to never be part of a system that takes another man's will. Vis isn't the only one noting the opportunity. Soon Vis is navigating several schemes, trying to be the best at the academy, understand ancient technology and mostly to stay alive.

There is lots going on in this story and I'm not sure that I'm a hundred percent on the world building but I thoroughly enjoyed the finagling all the schemes and routing for Vis to come out on top. The book really picked up once he reached the academy and hard to put down. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger and I'm anxious to see how the story continues.

BWF Tenacious Trailblazers: Letter I bonus