One of the Best Fantasy Series in Years Is Getting a Big Screen Adaptation

Fantasy is everywhere right now, on screens both large and small. From blockbuster films like Wicked and Dune to television series like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, House of the Dragon, and even Outlander, fans who love sprawling fictional universes, complicated main characters, and a dash of magic are truly living their best lives. And now Sony Pictures is currently set to adapt a feature film version of one of the best fantasy books that far too many people haven’t read yet: James Islington’s Hierarchy series. 

The announcement comes immediately following the successful November release of its second installment, titled The Strength of the Few, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and there’s at least one more book in this saga on the way. Though Islington himself seems uncertain about just how long this series may go, so we should all probably stay flexible on that score. (Given the hefty page count of both books released so far, banking on at least four is beginning to look like the smart man’s bet.) 

The sort of sprawling, complicated epic fantasy that seems far too rare in our current market of short attention spans and quick-hit sequels, the Hierarchy series kicks off with The Will of the Many, a 700-page doorstopper that more than takes its sweet time getting started. (Buckle up for several hundred pages worth of dense worldbuilding and character introductions, is what I’m saying.) But the end result is more than worth it. A high-tension dark academia story that mixes politics, philosophy, magic, and no small amount of rage, the book will feel fairly familiar to many fantasy readers (particularly if you’ve read Pierce Brown’s Red Rising or virtually anything involving the magical boarding school trope. But Islington’s gift for twisty, deftly-plotted storytelling makes beats we’ve seen before feel brand new as his tale wrestles with everything from colonialism and capitalism to revenge and loyalty. 

Set in a sort of post-apocalyptic fantasy take on Ancient Rome, The Will of the Many is full of difficult, morally gray characters and a unique magical system in which people cede a portion of their “Will” (or life force) to bolster the abilities of those who rank above them in the authoritarian social ranking hierarchy. (Thereby, ensuring that those in power are the only ones with the strength to stay there.) The story follows Vis, a student at the elite Catenan Academy and the sort of annoyingly hyper-competent protagonist who is good at virtually everything, who often pops up in stories like this. (If you’ve heard this book referred to as “dudebro” fantasy, this is why, but you won’t care after the first couple hundred pages.)

Vis is also hiding a life-threatening secret from everyone around him. As he works to investigate a death and infiltrate the regime, he uncovers many secrets, lies to almost everyone he meets to some degree or other, and finds himself swept into a rebellion that could upend the world as he knows it. 

The project is in its very early days and, as yet, has no producer or filmmaker currently attached. But the Hierarchy series is an excellent example of the sort of ambitious original fantasy that belongs in theaters, rather than another unasked-for sequel or puzzling live-action IP reboot. Fingers crossed it lives up to the world Islington created on the page.