It took me a while to get through a lot of this book - I started it back in March but didn't end up getting through most of it until July. Honestly, the world building was pretty solid and interesting in this book. I loved the environment and the world the characters were in. The storyline was a bit confusing for me from the beginning and I felt a bit lost throughout the book. I think the chaos of the first bit of the story was what left me confused-felt like I couldn't keep up with the plot because there was so much happening.

For fans of:
- The Wheel of Time

This book follows several characters whose stories eventually merge through a series of conspiracies and power struggles. Ren is a talented elemental wielder who is excited to join his family as a mercenary as soon as he graduates from school. Despite his exceptional abilities, he remains mischievous and potentially hazardous to those around him. Seffin is Ren's uniquely powerful classmate and the estranged son of a powerful politician who realizes he wants more than the life that has been set out before him. Flicker is an assassin relentless in her pursuit of revenge. And Jessica is a ruthless Senator willing to cross any lines in her struggle to retain power.

This book includes:
- unique elemental magic
- a syndicate of assassins and mercenaries (but it's kind of wholesome somehow)
- found family and adopted family
- revenge, lots of revenge
- corrupt politics
- zombie-ish monsters that roam the forests
- stunning cover art
- autistic MMC
- so much political intrigue

I really liked the concept behind this book. I read the prequel, "The Eye," so I was already familiar with the story concept and interested in the social and political machinations of this world. Ren, despite his flaws, is such a likable protagonist, and I loved seeing his character develop through each of the tribulations he faced. I loved his relationship with his lovely little family (though Ka was a bit hard on him IMO) and I enjoyed watching his friendship with Seffin evolve from indifference to a true alliance. I also loved Seffin in his own right, I thought his POV was so important to readers getting a strong understanding of the "Will of the World" universe. Flicker and Jessica both have purposefully frustrating POVs that could be hard to read sometimes, but each of them added important context and content to the story. This book really comes off as a cozy collection of quests with a backdrop of insane political scheming happening in the background, and I felt like this created a great balance for the readers.

I would have given this book a 4 star, however, I found the explanations of the amalgamations and Koth at the end to be so disappointing. The last chapter changed my entire image of the world and left me feeling a bit disappointed. That said, I think this story will appeal to so many readers.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and M.J. Lindemann for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I finally came around to read this book and overall quite enjoyed it.
It wasn't a book I was burning through in one session, but I happily came back to it every day for some pages. There also weren't many things that annoyed me, so definitely a recommendation from me for a good, solid fantasy book. 😁

The world building is solid, while mostly simple. The magic system is described, however maybe a bit vague at times. The story is told from different point of views and I enjoyed the diversity and depth of the characters - they're the great asset of this book!
Sometimes, time jumps a bit weirdly without it really being mentioned which can be a bit confusing if one prefers to build a solid mental timeline and then gets thrown off by a sudden mention that months have gone by after the last events.

A good and interesting story

In a world where magical barriers are necessary to keep monsters away, four entirely different people will have to ally against the storm. What price will they have to pay in order to save humanity?

I had a good time reading this book. I enjoyed that all characters are very different from one another and how they work together. The relationships between the protagonists were intriguing and well-written. I especially loved how flawed the characters are and how the author managed to make us love and relate to them anyway. The plot in itself was a bit slow and confusing for me at times, because of the many POVs and the pacing, but I still had a good time reading this book. The world, however, was truly amazing and well-built. The writing was immersive and easy to follow, making the story all the more interesting. I look forward to see what happens next in the series because I'm really intrigued and I got attached to the protagonists.

I recommand if you like epic fantasy with several POVs.

For some reason I couldn't find it in me to enjoy this story, sometimes it felt like it was dragging on too much and in other places it felt like it skipped somethings what could have been important but the characters where well thought out but a couple of them didn't have much personality

Netgalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★☆☆

I might actually continue with this series and read #.5 that is also published. Not sure though. I have a lot of other things on my list that I might give a chance first.

Like always read it and decide for yourself!

I really couldn't get into this book. I enjoyed the dialogue, characters, and world building, but the story left me wanting to not finish it. I got about six chapters in and struggled with the rest. I think the author has great writing, but I was left pretty confused with this one.

Thank you Netgalley for the free arc.

Sadly I cannot say much about the book because I barely got into it. I think I read like 2 chapters and then put it down and didn't pick it up again. I didn't think about the fact that I still had to review it here until I saw the pub announcement.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and was really excited to dive in, but upon reading the prologue I knew I was in for a struggle. The writing at certain points felt very choppy, but I hoped that this would improve as the story went on, however it did not.

While I loved parts of the world building, I had a very difficult time with the plot, as it felt underdeveloped. There was a lack of build up and anticipation throughout the book, and this is the case for the conclusion of the book as well. I think the book would have benefitted from more of a climactic ending.

I did really enjoy a lot of the world building as mentioned previously, I thought there were really unique aspects to this story when it came to the magic system, husks being the zombie-esque entities, and different levels of engineers (mystics and wielders) that I thought were interesting. The fact that the magic in the book was referred to as ‘will’ I thought was really fascinating, as the will (or magic) is obviously controlled by the will of the individual wielding it.

As some of the other reviewers have mentioned, I felt that the level to which the characters went from a novice to an expert in mastering their ‘will’ felt extraordinarily quick to the point of being unbelievable. There could have been a bit more struggle as well, in my opinion.

The highlights of this book for me were Ren and Jessica’s points of view, I found both of their characters to be the most thought out and well written developed.

Overall I do think that the author, M.J., has a lot of potential but The Will of the World just missed the mark for me unfortunately.

The best thing about this book is how the multiple pov's was executed! Sometimes I feel like authors don't know where to go with that and leave the reader rather confused but I loved it in this book (even though I clinged onto some characters more than others).
The world building was done quite well and I liked how everything got presented and you got into it very easily.
I liked the characters of the book, some more, some less, but I guess that's normal.
Overall it was a read that sat right in the middle with me because I had some problems with finding my way into the story. I don't know if it was the writing style on how the plot went on or something else, I can't really figure it out.

# The Will of the World

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was a wild ride. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs that this book had. Sometimes multiple POVs can be lost, where you don’t really see the difference in character voices but this book did not have that issue. Each character had their own motivation, issues, and goals that were really well written. One thing that I loved was that not all the information about the character was spelled out during introduction and the progression of the information really pushed the storyline. The magic system was really interesting and had great variation in usage between characters. One thing that left me a little wanting was the ending, it is a bit anticlimactic but I can see this series progressing and making big splashes.

I would recommend this book to anyone that loves fantasy books, a unique magic system, and multiple POVs.

2.75 stars, rounded up to 3. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC

Since the blurb up here doesn't really tell you much, I'll try to summarize. This book is set in a world overrun by husks (zombies). There are magic users called mystics or engineers (different subtypes) with the abilities to fight these husks. The book is set in Egal and primarily follows Ren and Seffin, who both start out nearly finished with their magic education. Ren is an orphan after his mother died fighting an amalgetion, a special type of husk, that invaded their town, and is raised by Poppy, a magic merchant who makes a living fighting husks and protecting people while journeying. Ren intends to follow in his footsteps. Seffin is a mystic in training from a powerful family and is expected to join the Guild like his father, but due to ethical issues with the Guild he doesn't want to, and instead wants to become a magic merchant like Ren.
Other POV characters are assassin Flicker who is killing people for revenge and Jessica, who is running for president on a progressive platform but really sucks as a person.

I think the world building was interesting and well done, I like the inclusion of a dysfunctional democracy in fantasy, which is something different from the typical monarchies, and I liked the magic system.

The characters were charming, I especially liked Ren and Seffin, these two were well developed. Flicker and Jessica both kind of sucked but they were supposed to and I think Jessica in particular was well done though I really hated her. Flicker I'm less sure about.

I think this is supposed to be first in a series? It doesn't really stand on its own, and unfortunately the plot doesn't feel resolved in any way. Even in a series, there needs to be some sort of resolution at the end even if it opens the door to solve even bigger problems next.
The plot was this book's biggest issue, and while for the most part I was interested in the world and characters enough to keep reading, the plot was not good. There was barely any forward momentum, for most of the book I had no idea where this was supposed to be going, or what the main conflict here was going to be. There were the husks, but that is a chronic problem, and Jessica's scheming and Flicker's murdering etc, but those were also not the main plots, and it was more a collection of different things and sidequests. There isn't really a buildup to anything nor is there a climax. Instead, the book ends on the MCs getting a lot of new world building information, that they didn't fight to earn or anything, that sets up where the story is going next, but this in itself doesn't feel like a finished product.

I love learning halfway through a book that a character you thought was 20 is actually in her 40s.

The Will of the World is a fantasy novel set in a world where amalgamations (basically zombies) roam the world and can only be warded off by magic crystals. It is reminiscent of older fantasy adventures with bands of mercenaries and old-fashioned assassins.
This story reminded me a lot of classic adventures where there isn't necessarily a clear goal in mind but the characters go off on the occasional journey to save the world. I really liked the beginning, especially with the set-up for Ren's trauma given the prologue. Some of the first few chapters had an academia kind of vibe, which I liked but it was quickly replaced with adventure vibes. Admittedly, I did find the ending to be a bit disappointing because there wasn't really a climax and there were just a handful of fights scattered throughout. The lack of a clear goal and two specific slower POVs also were struggles for me.
There are four POV characters in this book, and I really liked two of them. Ren and Seffin are arguably the most "main" of the main characters. They're both young men in their final years of magic school, and there's a bit of ...tension between them. I liked their dynamic a lot and I thought they both had some unique qualities. I thought Flicker was neat as an assassin, but her POVs were a bit confusing until her identity was revealed. The same goes for Jessica. I understood her importance, but her chapters were sort of boring compared to the rest.
If you're looking for a classic fantasy adventure with a new zombie twist, The Will of the World is a fast-paced book with the beginnings of a found family.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!
3.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

I’m a huge fantasy nerd, so any time I see something that has magic, world building, and gays in it I practically jump as the chance to read it.

The good news? This book as all of it!

I was hooked from the beginning, from the prologue that throws you into an unfamiliar world on the brink and gives you just enough detail to know what’s going on while laying the foundation for things that will be explained as the story goes along.

The world building is great, and the magic system is unique to me and easy to understand. I saw someone say the magic reminds them of The Wheel of Time but I haven’t read that series myself so I can’t say for sure one way or the other.

The characters are wonderful, especially the one who is call the “main” character. I always enjoyed the chapters from his pov, and the relationship that he develops.

My biggest complaint, which I also saw echoed in another review, was how powerful the characters become by the end of the book. It’s as if they jump from level 5 to level 15 which does take a bit of the tension out of the last quarter of the book, but it’s not enough for me to write off the entire thing. I’m sure there will be rising stakes as rhe series goes along.

Overall, I totally and completely recommend this one for you all!

I loved the first 60% of the book. It was phenomenal: an amazing world, magic system and a set of diverse complex characters. I loved how we get to see the bad, the ugly and all the suffering. If the book had ended somewhere around 60%, my rating would be much higher. I was confused why no one was jumping and talking about this book when it had everything to be a great fantasy masterpiece. The plot was amazing.

The problem for me was the rest of the book. The characters became all too powerful to be believable. Some of them are going in their first missions but they are so powerful and struggle with nothing that it just gets… uninteresting. The political plot gets very predictable and the pacing was off. The characters become less relatable and uninteresting. It was even hard for me to finish this book and I was so sad because at some point I could not put it down.

"May the will of the world guide your path."Plagued by the relentless husk, the populace must seek refuge behind barriers powered by crystal pylons provided by the Guild. But maintaining these safe havens comes at an extortionate price. As settlements are lost to greed, the tide of abominations surge, threatening to sweep humanity away.Four lives intersect amidst the mercenary with a penchant for thievery and a hunger for glory.An assassin on a path of vengeance for her lost life.A senator with machinations to save the world from inevitable collapse.A mystic with immense potential and little control.All four possess the power to save the world. Will their efforts avoid the coming calamity? Or incite catastrophe?If you enjoy the magic and intrigue from books and series such as The Sword of Kaigen, The Wheel of Time, and Shadow and Bone, you should check out The Will of the World.

This is a good, quick read of a fantasy book that has a lot of fun and adventure. Reminds me of a much shorter, somewhat simplified Wheel of Time. That may sound like a bad thing, but really it isn't. I enjoyed this very much and will be looking to read more from this author in the future :)