The Strength of the Few cover art

The Strength of the Few

Hierarchy, Book 2

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Strength of the Few

By: James Islington
Narrated by: Euan Morton
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £29.99

Buy Now for £29.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

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

Omne trium perfectum

The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.

But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.

I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.

I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.

Above all, though, I need to find answers before it’s too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me and why.

I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.

©2025 James Islington (P)2025 Audible Inc. Action & Adventure Epic Fantasy Historical

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Will of the Many cover art
The Shadow of What Was Lost cover art
Free the Darkness cover art
Ironbound cover art
The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story cover art
Red Rising cover art
Tress of the Emerald Sea: A Cosmere Novel (Dramatized Adaptation) cover art
Dreams of Fire cover art
Edge of the Woods: An Epic Fantasy Adventure cover art
The Lions of Al-Rassan cover art
Jade Shards cover art
Academy of Outcasts cover art
Dungeon Crawler Carl cover art
All stars
Most relevant
the first book was one story with good pacing and now Islington has managed to do it three times over in one book

kept me wrapped the whole way through

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The way the author split the story is in a way a good and bad thing in my opinion cause I had moments where it felt good but others where it would get me really confused on what world we where .

SPOILERS !!!!!

The plot twists where great and entertaining for the most part but other ( like the one with the culling of the higher ups ) made it feel a bit force I though that those big events would be left for maybe a next book .
The other 2 Worlds where interesting but the Pyramid was by far the weakest in the plot especially with its ending meanwhile the other one was actually maybe my favourite even over the main one I feel like Diago actually got a life where he could mostly be himself and I loved that .
The one thing that threw me off was Aequa's death . I really liked her development but in the end I see why she had to go and i hope we are going to get a good revenge for her, HAIL!

I loved it .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sad and poignant, funny, exciting and fast paced. Perfect sequel in what is sure to become, a classic, epic fantasy.

Just awesome

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed the first book—the pacing, the historical depth, and the way the story unfolded all worked brilliantly. Unfortunately, this second instalment felt very different, and not in a good way. The narrative was messy and lacked the cohesion that made the first book so engaging.

Many of the technologies and concepts introduced earlier were barely referenced this time around, which made the world feel inconsistent. I also struggled to feel invested in the characters or their fates, as the emotional stakes never quite landed. The structure didn’t help either; at the start of each chapter, it was often difficult to tell which storyline or character arc we were jumping into, which made the overall plot harder to follow.

Spoiler: I can’t help but feel the series might have worked better if each book had focused on a single world, allowing for clearer storytelling and stronger character development.

Multiple story lines =. Giant mess

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
thought might get confusing with story going off in 3 directions and doesn't state when changes but made it so understood instantly and was always intrigued to what was happening with it being like 3 storys in one. probably best book he's written and in my top 10 for sure. only issue is waiting for 3rd as finished in 3 days lol.

brilliant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews