The Strength of the Few, A Review
By: Oliver
The Strength of the Few, the second book in the Hierarchy series by James Islington, has been a huge hit following the Will of the Many. It has surpassed my expectations, blowing me away with the huge reveals, sharp twists, and heart-wrenching sacrifices.
The magic mechanics introduced in the first book were heavily expanded upon, adding two brand new elements to it—as well as two brand new settings—giving it another layer of depth. Vis, the protagonist, after having been split into three versions of himself, undergoes shocking amounts of unexpected development, resulting in a completely different character by the end of the book. One of my favorite things about this book is being able to look at how much Vis has changed by the end of the second book and seeing the stark contrast between the different versions of him and how they have each evolved very differently. The new settings added more variety to the story, including the original ancient Rome-inspired world, one that is inspired by ancient Egypt, and the last one by ancient Caledonia. Each one felt rich and deep, and even the background characters in each one felt real and tangible. Political intrigue and coups in the wider worlds and difficult internal struggles for Vis give the plot constant ways to evolve and move forward, adding more and more layers of complexity and depth. Throughout the worlds of Res, Obitieum, and Luceum, I found myself unable to part myself from Vis’s story, adding onto the high stakes carried over from the first book and revealing secrets that only spawn more questions in their places, introducing more questions than answers.
An absolutely thrilling follow-up to The Will of the Many, this book captivated me in a way that no other book has. For anyone looking for something new to read, this series is the best thing that I can possibly recommend. The third and final book of the trilogy, The Justice of One, will come out some time in the next two years, but in the meantime, check out the first two books—I cannot recommend them enough.
Art by Isiah
Anchored, Part One
By: Ben
April 7, 2036. 40 million miles from Earth.
That’s the situation Cricket woke up in. They were on an expedition to an asteroid passing by the solar system with a group of other astronauts.
NASA had detected moving objects under the asteroid’s icy crust, and had rushed a mission to explore it before it left Earth and the other seven planets in about a year. The increased budget in the last decade made it possible to not only send a rocket ship out this quickly, but to have the rocket ship, named Poseidon One, be able to catch up with the asteroid. Technically, it was a planet that got flung out of its solar system, not an asteroid, but everyone still called it one.
Some of the scientists named this asteroid “33 Keto” after the goddess of sea monsters, which Cricket hoped wouldn’t be too accurate.
Their job there would be to make a report on whatever was on Keto, which was either a lot of boring water and ice or aliens. Cricket was hoping for water and ice, but most of the other astronauts thought otherwise. If it was Aliens, they would find out in about a day. The asteroid was approaching.
April 8, 2036. 41 million miles from Earth.
Yesterday, Cricket and the rest of the crew had drilled through Keto’s icy crust and sank to the floor of the asteroid. It had only taken about 15 minutes, which suggested they had landed on a section higher up. The water was a brilliant light-teal color, and they could see the ice crust from their camp, or habitat. The habitat looked like the bottom of a sailboat, and seemed to be made of plastic. Everything was working well, or at least looked good to the engineer.
Cricket was the first to spot an alien. He had been looking out the windows for about a minute when he saw a school of fish-like creatures swimming. They looked slightly smaller than Earth’s manta rays, but spiked, in the shape of a diamond, and with a brilliant scarlet hue. Cricket made a note, and reported to the captain.
“Captain, I see something!”
Most of the crew rushed over to the foot wide window cricket was looking out.
“Move out of the way,” ordered Nisha, the captain.
Nisha was a very capable and decorated commander, having served in a top-secret 20-year station in the arctic circle. She led the team that saved the anti-nuclear missile stations north of Nunavut from being sabotaged. After the mission, she returned to America, and retired at 50. NASA re-instated her for this mission.
Everyone quickly moved away from the window as Nisha approached. She looked at the Diamond-shaped rays, and seemed to decide something.
Cricket thought that Nisha, just like them, didn’t think that aliens were really going to be on Keto. She was a very cautious and skeptical person.
“Everyone, get back to work. Those creatures aren’t big enough to be the thing NASA detected, even in a bigger school. Cricket, get to work on your report,” Nisha ordered.
“Yes ma’am.”
Once the habitat was set up on the seafloor, Nisha reported their findings to NASA, and the scientists tested the water to make sure it was safe. Cricket and two other crew members were the first ones to swim on a world that wasn’t earth.
It was beautiful. There were aquatic plants growing on the ice crust that produced huge amounts of oxygen in the water, massive groups of small “fish” swimming in schools, huge tree-like coral on the seafloor, dog-sized creatures that looked remarkably like swimming carpets hunting the “fish”, and large cliffs on either sides of the habitat. They had never expected this much life on an asteroid floating through space. Cricket wasn’t sure they had packed enough to document all of the unique species here. The other two crew members Cricket had with them were equally in awe.
As the three astronauts headed back to the habitat, Cricket admired the contrast between their boat-like home, and the beautiful, pristine sea all around the little encampment, far away from home.
“Cricket, we should start heading back to camp,” one of the researchers, Hannah, suggested. “Nisha will have our heads if we’re late.”
“Fine.” Cricket quickly drew an outline of a huge six foot long creature with appendages that reminded them of wings.
Nisha wasn’t the least of their worries. The two guards that were supposed to be stationed outside the habitat were absent from their posts. Later, Cricket was told that they had rushed inside to help the rest of the crew. A group of three-foot long spider-like aliens had snuck in, and killed an engineer. The guards made it just in time to fend off the attack.
When Cricket spotted a corpse of the spider creatures, they couldn’t help but feel grief. It was unfortunate that the creatures decided to attack, but they had no idea how many of the creatures lived here. This could be one of only dozens. The ocean was huge, about the size of an earth ocean, but it was still just an asteroid.
Nisha had already ordered an extra guard to patrol around the habitat, which would hopefully discourage more attacks.
“Alright, tomorrow NASA wants us to descend down the cliffs, and observe the aliens lower down. We will head out at 07:30, so everyone on that mission should get some sleep. I don’t want anyone messing up because they were too tired to think,” Nisha ordered.
That sounded like a great idea to Cricket. They were exhausted after the extremely eventful day.
Continued in the next issue of The TABloids…
The Teen Advisory Board of the Library is made up of a variety of teens aged 12-18 that meet once a month to discuss all things library. They develop events and curate different displays for the teen lounge. To learn more about TAB information and an application form can be found on the Library website. Visit the Teen Advisory Board application page.
