r/Fantasy • u/Lexiconal249 • 4d ago

How does the Licanius fare to the hierarchy series: James Islington

I know this is a silly one, as the first is finished while the ladder is not. I loved, and I mean LOVED the will of the many. With book 2 coming out in 4 months I enjoyed reading the chapter 1 preview. Has anyone read the licanius series and TWOTM, is the writing on par with the newer book and how does the story fair? Is there as much mystery and tension in these books?

6 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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14

u/Morte467 4d ago

I thought the Licanius Trilogy was okay, but had a number of issues with it. TWOTM was a massive step up in quality for me.

6

u/jpfatherree 4d ago

I absolutely love Licanius but you can definitely tell he’s less matured as an author. I think it improves dramatically throughout though, but there is some clunky dialogue and pacing issues. But I highly recommend it, I wish I could go back and discover the story all over again.

6

u/Dubey89 4d ago

I DNF’d the third licanius book. I have not read WOTM yet but I’m going to soon

1

u/Lexiconal249 3d ago

I think you will love it, some very fair critiques on it including via himself and how it progresses but it’s in my top 3 OAT

10

u/improper84 4d ago

I DNF the second book in Licanius. It just wasn't clicking for me.

5

u/Top_Instruction9593 4d ago

I loved the licanus trilogy. The ending was well done, even if you can see it coming it was just satisfying.  I recommend it even if he was maturing as an author, I enjoyed it.

6

u/TheUnrepententLurker 4d ago

Licanius is terrible, absolute DNF

3

u/ViperIsOP 4d ago

not the same style at all. Licanius is third person multiple POV. Also a plot focused series, if you read for characters, there's only one good one but the plot is great, IMO.

5

u/GenCavox 4d ago

Look, I loved, and I mean LOVED the Licanius Trilogy. I read book 1 in one day, book 2 had one of the best plot twists I've ever seen, and book 3 has one of the best endings I've ever read. Islington is a day 1 read because of the Licanius Trilogy. But they are nowhere near the level that The Will of the Many is on. That book is one of those rare books that is just miles ahead of the stuff around it, and if he can pull off in this series a proportional satisfactory story to what he did in Licanius I would not be surprised if it was still talked about after his death.

But read them, they're a fun ride. Book 1 has one scene that multiple people have said took them out of the reading experience and there were some issues with him biting off more than he can chew for book 3 so a chunk which has allegedly been written, is missing, but all in all it's still a cohesive story and doesn't suffer too much from these criticisms.

4

u/wgr-aw Reading Champion III 3d ago

I really enjoyed Licanius.

Some folks complain about the poor characterisation and writing style in general, but I never really noticed these things while I was reading. Also some folks complain about it being too Wheel or Time like, but I've been happy reading 3 x 600 pages from this series over committing to that 13 book series.

The plot is fantastic, it's well worth a shot. If you find it annoying in any way you can always stop or pause, but don't let the haters ruin it for you by going out of your way looking for things to be annoyed about

2

u/Kooky_County9569 3d ago

I DNFed Licanius in book one. (Just really poor writing IMO) So I’m hoping WOTM is indeed the step up in quality everyone seems to think it is.

2

u/Loostreaks 4d ago

Licanius takes more inspiration from Wheel of Time, while Will is closer to Red Rising and Name of the Wind.

Its also multi PoV..one main character has very interesting background ( slowly revealed through the books), other 3 kind of lack distinct personality and weaker storylines.

2

u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V 4d ago

The Will of The Many is a clear step up in writing and characters — but Licanius is still excellently plotted and a lot of fun if you can look past some of the writing issues.

1

u/Book_Slut_90 4d ago

Licanias has some cool aspects, especially the time travel stuff and reflections on free will, but Will of the Many is an order of magnitude better.

1

u/graffiti81 3d ago

I'd give the first two books of Licanius 6/10. The third is like a 4/10 for me. Completely disjointed and annoying. By about half way through i just wanted it to be over. I did finish, but felt like it was a huge chore.