The Will of the Many is a good novel and a great start to a series that I think mostly lives up to the massive hype around it.

People have been hyping this one up as the Next Big Thing and one of the best fantasy novels they've read, and while I really enjoyed my time with it I'm not sure I'm as high on it as everyone else. The premise and world are interesting, if a bit derivative; an orphaned prince out for revenge has been done before, but it's done well here. Caten is an obvious Roman analogue, but the structure of the society and the magic system are pretty unique and not over-explained.

The bulk of the novel revolves around Vis's time at the Academy, which is a pretty standard school/competition setting like you see in The Hunger Games and the first Red Rising book. It was interesting, and there's a bunch of side plots to keep the story feeling fresh, but it felt at times like it dragged on a bit long. This is a really long novel, and I think 10-15% of it could have been cut down. 

The real plot, and what the entire novel builds up to, is what's really going on at the Academy. Throughout the book there are a bunch of questions raised that don't really get answered. It really sets up the next book in the series, which feels like it's going to be a completely different thing from this one.

I really enjoyed this one despite it being a bit slow in parts. Excited to see where the story goes from here.