AngelKerrie
asked
James Islington:
Hi James! I'm halfway through the Licanius Triology and am desperately awaiting the Strength of the Few! What is your favorite book of yours, and what was the hardest book for you to write?
James Islington
Favourite book is a hard question! I think my best book, in terms of concept-to-execution, is probably going to be The Strength of the Few – but to be fair, that’s only natural, as I (hopefully!) am continuing to improve with experience. And of the already-published ones, I’d say it would be The Will of the Many.
But (unsurprisingly) I love all the Licanius books for various reasons, too. Shadow, being my first one, obviously holds a pretty special place for me. Echo I’m almost most proud of, because it was my first ‘professional’ book, and getting it to where I wanted it to be was a massive learning experience that I still draw a lot of lessons from. And Light because I was kind of able to prove to myself that I could wrap up an entire epic story in (at least what I felt was) a really satisfying way.
Hardest book? An Echo of Things to Come – partly because middle books are always hard, partly because it was a step up in complexity from Shadow, but mostly because it was by far the one that I felt the most pressure for. Shadow came from a no-pressure, zero-income hobby; Echo was a book that suddenly felt like might make or break me being able to make a dream career out of writing. Add in figuring out being a new parent into that equation, and it was… a stressful time! Looking back, it was excellent experience that’s held me in very good stead ever since... but I’m definitely grateful I don’t have to tackle anything quite like it again, too.
But (unsurprisingly) I love all the Licanius books for various reasons, too. Shadow, being my first one, obviously holds a pretty special place for me. Echo I’m almost most proud of, because it was my first ‘professional’ book, and getting it to where I wanted it to be was a massive learning experience that I still draw a lot of lessons from. And Light because I was kind of able to prove to myself that I could wrap up an entire epic story in (at least what I felt was) a really satisfying way.
Hardest book? An Echo of Things to Come – partly because middle books are always hard, partly because it was a step up in complexity from Shadow, but mostly because it was by far the one that I felt the most pressure for. Shadow came from a no-pressure, zero-income hobby; Echo was a book that suddenly felt like might make or break me being able to make a dream career out of writing. Add in figuring out being a new parent into that equation, and it was… a stressful time! Looking back, it was excellent experience that’s held me in very good stead ever since... but I’m definitely grateful I don’t have to tackle anything quite like it again, too.
More Answered Questions
ShandyT
asked
James Islington:
Hi James! My question pertains to Ashalia from Licanius. Without getting into any specific spoilers, I wanted to say that I greatly enjoyed that she always seemed to do the cleverest thing in every scenario, finding smart, efficient solutions to her problems—basically, everything I as the reader was rooting for her to do. How did you go about balancing that competency with keeping her character grounded?
Mandy Eaton
asked
James Islington:
Hi James! I LOVED The Will of the Many, which I buddy-read with a friend... and we have since shared it with countless others who have read it too! We are all excited for Book 2... Will you and your publishing team be releasing any eARCs on NetGalley for Book 2? AND, will you be doing a book tour for The Strength of the Few? If so, we'd love for you to come to Texas!
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