I talked earlier this year about my love for The Ninth Rain the first book in a fantasy series by Jen Williams (as well as my trouble getting my hands on the other two) well done, done and happy to report it’s a 5 Star Series all the way through!
So The Winnowing Flame Trilogy, as it’s known, is about a world whose been at war with alien creatures for more generations than they can remember. They beat them back, the creatures disappear or go dormant but always eventually they return.
The best hope of Sarn was always the Eboran’s (elf/vampire like creatures) and their war beasts.
But they are dead and dying off at the beginning of the series so not much hope on that end.
The cast of characters is fantastic overall. We meet a witch with firepowers, a pushy explorer (who okay she does get on my nerves a little), the carefree Eboran who just wants to live it up before the end and his sister whose a whole thing on her own…
Dragons!
One thing I always appreciate done right in war and battle epics is not just a sense of stakes and loss (which this has) but a sense of shifting tides and the effect it has both on enemies and allies. Which isn’t necessarily making sense because I’m trying to avoid spoilers so I’ll just say I thought the Jure’lia threat was increasingly more interesting as the books went on.
Although I admit overall The Bitter Twins dragged a bit.
The Poison Song ended the series strong with a good mix of the promised action and a conclusion for all the characters whether you like it or not.
It was a fun, entertaining, melancholy ride overall and I’ll miss the world and definitely read more from the author in the future.
Recommend: Yes. Especially for fans of fantasy and genre mixing.
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