Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to James Islington’s Hierarchy series just as the second book in the series The Strength of the Few rocketed to the top of the Amazon charts after releasing earlier this month.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit announced the news stating, “Sony Pictures has made one of the biggest book acquisitions of 2025, landing film adaptation rights to James Islington’s Hierarchy series.”
Islington’s Hierarchy series currently features two novels. The first, The Will of the Many, was released in May 2023 and has been a consistent top seller on Amazon. Currently, the book is ranked #724 out of all books and #1 in Fantasy Action & Adventure and 5th in Epic Fantasy (Books).
The second, The Strength of the Few, was released earlier this month and is ranked 280th on Amazon’s best sellers ranks for all books. It is ranked #1 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Books), #1 in Epic Fantasy (Books), and #2 in Fantasy Action & Adventure.
The series is set in The Catenan Republic, a fictionalized Roman Empire with modern technology and magic that maintains its power by feeding off the Will of the people.
It follows a young man named Vis Telimus who is sent to the Republic’s elite Academy to investigate a murder, locate an ancient weapon, and discover secrets that could undermine the Republic. However, Vis is concealing his real identity and pretends to be like all the other kids who will give his Will to the elites of the society, the Hierarchy. In reality he is the son of parents who were executed by the empire and if they discover his real identity he will be executed just like his parents.
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Second book was confusing. I hated the why it was written. I get the idea behind it but was a big miss. First book was awesome.
Second book was good but hated the structure.
Yep. It was bound to happen. For anyone who wants a deep dive on the series so far before the film messes up our vision of it, there's a good article on The Enthusiast:
https://open.substack.com/pub/theenthusiast2024/p/riddles-of-the-empire-james-islingtons?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web