James Islington now expects to finish The Justice of One in early 2027. He’d hoped to send the third Hierarchy novel to his publisher by the end of 2026, but other commitments and Scion’s launch have left him less time to write.
In his September update, he puts the second draft at just under 90,000 words. He calls early next year a “fairly safe bet” for finishing the manuscript, though changes during the rewrite could still affect that estimate.
Rewriting The Justice of One
That’s up from just over 30,000 words in June. He was happy with the story then, but work and life outside the book had made it difficult to find enough writing time.
Islington finished the first draft in March at 225,000 words and estimated then that the final book would be closer to 240,000. The current word count tracks how far he’s worked through the rewrite.
As he explained in March, some scenes can stay largely as they are. Others need to be rewritten or cut as he makes changes to the plot and characters. He says the drafts after this one usually go much faster.
Back to Hierarchy after the Scion tour
July was slower than he’d hoped, but August went well. Much of September went to the Scion tour and catching up afterward, and he wants the next three months to look more like August.
With one event left, he’s cleared his schedule wherever he can and plans to turn down extra commitments. By Christmas, he wants to be well on the way to finishing the second draft. He expects to have a better idea of when he can submit the book in his next update, due toward the end of December.
He’ll return to the Scion sequel after he’s sent The Justice of One to his publisher. You can read more about the first book in our Scion review.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
