The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy 1): shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award 2018

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The Ninth Rain is remarkably written book in which Jen Williams was determined to freshen up a bit fantasy worlbuilding as we know it, combining history, archeology, botany and Sci Fi elements, all while playing with - or completely dismissing - usual and existing tropes in this genre.

Lady Vincenza, popularly known as Vintage, is an eccentric scholar that will go to great lengths to understand what made the Jurelia(the invaders) invade Sarn(their world). To me, this book is all of those things – all of those comparisons. To me ‘the Ninth Rain is the 21st century Lord of the Rings’. The Ninth Rain was an amazing and captivating start to a trilogy; simple as that. I have a really good feeling that The Winnowing Flame Trilogy will become a new and long-awaited addition to my list of favorite trilogies of all time ' Upon Eight Rain Tree-God Ygseril died, sacrificing itself by killing invader’s queen and finally defeating this ancient foe. Normally I’m not fond of multiple Povs but here all the characters are so interesting that I didn’t mind the change of perspective.THE NINTH RAIN by Jen Williams is the first book in The Winnowing Flame Trilogy - and while it is also the first book I've read by this author, it most assuredly will not be the last! I am very happy to report that this is a finished trilogy and Jen Williams has another trilogy printed that I will be acquiring. Eborans are on the verge of extinction following the death of their tree-like god Ysegril but Hestillion is doing all she can to keep him alive. In fact she'll go to any lengths to save him… any lengths at all. Hest's brother Tormalin can't sit around and wait for the end. So he's engaged by Lady Vincenza (Vintage) de Grazon to be her factotum and hired sword during her quest for knowledge. It's turning into more of an adventure than they'd planned, even before Fell witch and fugitive Noon joins them. Now the trio must work together, putting prejudices and passions aside (others' as well as their own). The Ninth Rain is coming and more than Ebora is in danger. Each of them are seeking for answers for that from which they are running from, dreading that answers will hurt much more than blissful ignorance.

Have you ever read a book where you love so much about it, you don’t even know where to begin explaining? Where you simply want to endlessly gush? If so, then you’ll know exactly how I feel right now. So, bear with me whilst I try to be coherent, and not keep on repeating, ‘I loved this book, now go read it, folks!!’, which basically sums up this entire review. And the moral of this reread is: any villainous villain who says stuff like “ we do not make agreements with food” when talking to puny humans is Slightly Very Awesome (SVA™), if you ask me. The author took her time to describe it so well; some places in the world look like a dystopian world while some are your typical epic fantasy. The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now it’s streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces - talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the living, where there are taverns full of women and wine. Playing with Fire: The ability of all fell-witches of Sarn - sapping a living being's energy, taking it into themselves, and releasing it as a magical fire.The Winnowing Flame is a trilogy of novels written by Jennifer Williams: The Ninth Rain, The Bitter Twins, and The Poison Song. One-Winged Angel: After being destroyed by Noon and Vostok in The Poison Song, the queen of the Jure'lia reforms herself from the bodies of her subjects, and keeps going - absorbing more and more of them into her until she becomes a full-blown Eldritch Abomination and marches towards Ebora, swearing revenge for the destruction of her eggs.

Characterization was mostly decent, and I was personally pretty intrigued by the more intense and controversial characters like Hestillion and Lin. Tormalin wasn't really someone I cared too much for, and his character was romanticized as some version of a vampire who's really good with women in bed, which isn't wrong but I didn't see much more depth to his character, just a hedonist who tends to escape from his problems. Noon was fun to read because of her impressive powers, but I felt disconnected from her and didn't feel that same investment I felt while reading about Hestillion and Lin, though her hate/love dynamic with Tormalin was amusing, although some developments felt a bit rushed. Vintage, their leader, felt inaccessible for most of the book and I was left questioning her motives, which was what I assume the author's intention. Interestingly enough, the characters who had a lot of action and plot going on, with all their questing, felt the least interesting to me character wise, while the ones who didn't have much action, felt really well developed and interesting as characters. A positive spin on this would be the fact that where there is no character depth that intrigues me, the plot would captivate me, and where there isn't much active plot, the characters are interesting to read about regardless. The Atoner: Hestillion survives the events of the series, but it's implied that she will spend the rest of her long life making up for the irreperable damage she caused to Sarn and its people. In The Bitter Twins, he discovers that his race, the Eborans, are little more than an experiment created by a higher race of aliens.

The continent of Sarn where our story is set, has suffered from many alien invasions from an enemy known as the Jure’lia, the worm people. The Eboran empire, a once wealthy and prosperous place, for centuries has been the central defence against this formidable foe. Their tree-god, Ygersil, would deliver various war beasts that would aid the valiant Eboran warriors during the battles, and each time the Jure’lia were defeated. However, in the last assault, known as the eighth rain, a final climax between Ygersil and the Jure’lia caused the death of the sacred tree-god. Now, Ebora is in ruin, the race is slowly dying, and Sarn faces the ever terrifying prospect of another invasion, but this time without their defenders. World Tree: Ygseril - root-mother and tree-father of Ebora, and the source of the sap that gave its people long lives of near-endless youth. Ygseril is the centre of Ebora, both literally and metaphorically, and its death spelled the end of the once-great nation. Ygseril's seed was planted by a space-faring race known as the Aborans, who traversed the stars in a vessel called the Seed Carrier and travelled to numerous worlds, planting similar seeds in each one. The first book in the award-winning Winnowing Flame trilogy . Epic fantasy for fans of Robin Hobb and Jay Kristoff.