The Will of the Many started off feeling like a cross between the political setting of Red Rising and the magic system of The Fifth Season. The world felt big, but not particularly filled in — the author throws out place names and countries, and we meet characters from different corners of the now world-spanning Catenan Republic, but the places don’t feel particularly differentiated or deep. A map would have helped here, but maybe the author has a reason to hold one back.

While the worldbuilding wasn’t as deep as what I’m normally interested in, I ultimately found myself drawn in by the web of intrigue and competing political motications that the narrator/protagonist finds himself surrounded by. He has no “correct” choices. He’s unsure of his own goals beyond survival. And while he’s uncovering the secrets and motives of those around him as he goes, it doesn’t feel like the suspense is just the drip-drip-drip of information — no other character has all the pieces to the puzzle, either.

The plot is messy in such a satisfying way. I’m not sure if the focus of the second installment will continue to be on the same story or if it will shift its attention elsewhere. But I’ll be excited to dive back in when it comes out.