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The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #2
The Bitter Twins
The Ninth Rain has fallen, the Jure'lia have returned, and with Ebora a shadow of its former self, the old enemy are closer to conquering Sarn than ever.
Tormalin the Oathless and the Fell-Witch Noon have their hands full dealing with the first war-beasts to be born in Ebora for nearly three hundred years. But these are not the great mythological warriors of old; hatched too early and with no link to their past lives, the war-beasts have no memory of the many battles they have fought and won, and no concept of how they can possibly do it again. The key to uniting them, according to the scholar Vintage, may lie in a part of Sarn no one really believes exists, but finding it will mean a dangerous journey at a time of war...
Meanwhile, Hestillion is trapped on board the corpse moon, forced into a strange and uneasy alliance with the Jure'lia queen. Something terrifying is growing up there, in the heart of the Behemoth, and the people of Sarn will have no defence against these new monsters.
Tormalin the Oathless and the Fell-Witch Noon have their hands full dealing with the first war-beasts to be born in Ebora for nearly three hundred years. But these are not the great mythological warriors of old; hatched too early and with no link to their past lives, the war-beasts have no memory of the many battles they have fought and won, and no concept of how they can possibly do it again. The key to uniting them, according to the scholar Vintage, may lie in a part of Sarn no one really believes exists, but finding it will mean a dangerous journey at a time of war...
Meanwhile, Hestillion is trapped on board the corpse moon, forced into a strange and uneasy alliance with the Jure'lia queen. Something terrifying is growing up there, in the heart of the Behemoth, and the people of Sarn will have no defence against these new monsters.
633 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2018
527 people are currently reading
7130 people want to read
About the author
Jen Williams
38 books1,635 followersJen Williams lives in London with her partner and their small ridiculous cat. Having been a fan of grisly fairy tales from a young age, these days Jen writes dark unsettling thrillers with strong female leads, as well as character-driven fantasy novels with plenty of adventure and magic. Her debut novel, The Copper Promise, kicked off the Copper Cat trilogy in 2014, and since then she has twice won the British Fantasy Award for her second trilogy, the Winnowing Flame. Her first thriller, Dog Rose Dirt, was published with HarperCollins in July 2021. Jen has two upcoming releases in 2023: Games for Dead Girls with Harpercollins, and Talonsister with Titan. When she’s not writing books she enjoys messing about with video games and embroidery, and also works as a part-time bookseller and a freelance copywriter.
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June 8, 2019
I think it’s insane that Jen Williams still doesn’t have a US publisher.
The Bitter Twins is the second book in The Winnowing Flame Trilogy. I enjoyed the first book, The Ninth Rain, very much, and although admittedly I loved the first book more, The Bitter Twins didn’t disappoint in delivering another great installment with high focus on characterizations, discovery, explorations, and revelations. The story picks up immediately from where The Ninth Rain left off. I’ve mentioned that in the first book it took me 25% to find myself fully engaged with the book, this one—unfortunately—took me even longer because the pacing felt even slower. The first half of the book was mostly setup sections as Williams introduced new characters and establish their distinctive voices. This new setup was necessary in order to expand the scope of the world and to have more variety of casts to the series, and the first half pays off wonderfully in the second half. Connections, family, and bonds were some of the many important themes that can be found in this installment.
Diversity and in-depth characterizations once again became the strongest aspects of this series. I loved reading the distinctive voices that Williams gave towards her characters. Almost the entirety of the first book was told from the perspective of the main trio, I’m happy to say that their roles are still evident and important here. Additionally, we have many more new side characters to enhance the characterizations for the main trio and the new POV characters. I can’t emphasize highly enough how much I enjoyed reading about the characters building a new relationship with their new companions; Vostok, Kirune, Sharrik, Helcate, and Celaphon were simply brilliant characters. I always love when a character has a unique manner of speech or attitudes that could tell readers loudly whose POV they’re reading. Take these two quotes for example:
And this
See? These short dialogues don’t have any names mentioned but if you’ve read just half of the first book, you’ll know which respective characters are talking; it’s simple and yet so personality defining, something of a necessity in character-driven stories.
Okay maybe not this quote but I had to share that one so everyone will know that this book doesn’t shy away from gross moments and you’ll most likely still have a great time with it as I did.
There was plenty of new revelations that serve to expand the world-building of the series. Sci-fi and fantasy once again continue to be almost equally dominant in their role to make the world fully believable. The Eborans history was explained, questions from the first book were answered and Williams was able to include more questions and problems to be solved in the final book of the trilogy. I also want to add that the concluding battles—last 15 percents—of this book were immensely entertaining to read; the battles were exciting, engaging, vivid, and full of tension.
I seem to have better luck with reading underrated books rather than popular fantasy series—like The Wheel of Time or Raven’s Shadow #2 and #3—lately. Although I had my doubts in the first half of the book, and there were a few moments where I did feel bored, the second half and characterizations compensate wonderfully. The Bitter Twins provides intriguing quest-based adventure fantasy with heart. I’m sure that readers of the first book will have a good time with this one and will find themselves looking forward to the next after that ending. I’m going to start reading the next book immediately and see how it all concludes.
You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions
The Bitter Twins is the second book in The Winnowing Flame Trilogy. I enjoyed the first book, The Ninth Rain, very much, and although admittedly I loved the first book more, The Bitter Twins didn’t disappoint in delivering another great installment with high focus on characterizations, discovery, explorations, and revelations. The story picks up immediately from where The Ninth Rain left off. I’ve mentioned that in the first book it took me 25% to find myself fully engaged with the book, this one—unfortunately—took me even longer because the pacing felt even slower. The first half of the book was mostly setup sections as Williams introduced new characters and establish their distinctive voices. This new setup was necessary in order to expand the scope of the world and to have more variety of casts to the series, and the first half pays off wonderfully in the second half. Connections, family, and bonds were some of the many important themes that can be found in this installment.
Diversity and in-depth characterizations once again became the strongest aspects of this series. I loved reading the distinctive voices that Williams gave towards her characters. Almost the entirety of the first book was told from the perspective of the main trio, I’m happy to say that their roles are still evident and important here. Additionally, we have many more new side characters to enhance the characterizations for the main trio and the new POV characters. I can’t emphasize highly enough how much I enjoyed reading about the characters building a new relationship with their new companions; Vostok, Kirune, Sharrik, Helcate, and Celaphon were simply brilliant characters. I always love when a character has a unique manner of speech or attitudes that could tell readers loudly whose POV they’re reading. Take these two quotes for example:
“Best Eboran silk, this was. I have ruined so many good shirts with you, do you realize that?”
And this
“Get ready, my darlings. We are going to fuck them up.”
See? These short dialogues don’t have any names mentioned but if you’ve read just half of the first book, you’ll know which respective characters are talking; it’s simple and yet so personality defining, something of a necessity in character-driven stories.
“Just between you and me, I've never crawled up a monster's arse before. It's quite exciting.”
Okay maybe not this quote but I had to share that one so everyone will know that this book doesn’t shy away from gross moments and you’ll most likely still have a great time with it as I did.
There was plenty of new revelations that serve to expand the world-building of the series. Sci-fi and fantasy once again continue to be almost equally dominant in their role to make the world fully believable. The Eborans history was explained, questions from the first book were answered and Williams was able to include more questions and problems to be solved in the final book of the trilogy. I also want to add that the concluding battles—last 15 percents—of this book were immensely entertaining to read; the battles were exciting, engaging, vivid, and full of tension.
I seem to have better luck with reading underrated books rather than popular fantasy series—like The Wheel of Time or Raven’s Shadow #2 and #3—lately. Although I had my doubts in the first half of the book, and there were a few moments where I did feel bored, the second half and characterizations compensate wonderfully. The Bitter Twins provides intriguing quest-based adventure fantasy with heart. I’m sure that readers of the first book will have a good time with this one and will find themselves looking forward to the next after that ending. I’m going to start reading the next book immediately and see how it all concludes.
You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)
You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions
June 8, 2019
As much the first half was slow, second half was equally fast and full of action. New characters, new secrets, and new challenges, this book was an amazing read.
July 11, 2025
🦀 Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Needs to Die a Slightly Excruciating, Crustacean-Induced Death Buddy Reread (SSSNtDaSECIDBR™) with the MacHalos and stuff 🦀
· Previous rating: 8 miserable stars.
· New rating: 10 stars. Because suddenly, I saw the light and stuff.
➽ And the moral of this reread is: I already kidnapped all the scrumptiously delicious pets in this Slightly Very Good Book (SVGB™) when I first read it, and safely stashed them away in my High Security Harem Zoo (HSHZ™), so it is now time for me to take things up a notch or three, and lock Vostok up with Temeraire until they well, um, you know, breed and stuff. And produce wonderfully self-righteous, delightfully patronizing, dangerously clever and ruthlessly kick-ass little war-beasts.
Riiiiiiight…….That’s not exactly what I had in mind, but whatever.
P.S. Tor darling, youare can be a complete ass always sometimes. But I 💕lurves💕 you anyway. Because I’m moronic like that. You’re welcome.
P.P.S Aldasair dear, you seem to think that Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler is yours. Hahahahahahaha, such a sense of humor you have. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler is mine mine mine. Ha.
· Book 1: The Ninth Rain ★★★★★
· Book 3: The Poison Song - to be read.
🐉 Jen Williams of the Most Scrumpalicious Fluffy Beasts Where Hast Thou Been All Our Miserable Little Lives Buddy Read (JWoftMSFBWHTBAOMLLBR™) with My Little One 🐉
Actual rating: 8 stars. Give ortake give a star or two.
Some books are not meant to be crappily non-reviewed. Especially not books that leave you feeling a teensy little bit like this:
This ⤴ might or might not be a moderately unintentional spoiler. Perhaps. Maybe. Ha.
Besides, even if I felt mentally sane enough to crappily non-review this Piece of Utter Gloriousness (PoUG™), I think I did enough damage crappily non-reviewing book 1 in this trilogy in the crappiest way possible, and owe it to the Awesome Ms Williams (AMW™) to keep my big mandibles shut. Which you give you cause to glad and rejoice and stuff.
All you need to know about this book is that, even though it's been a few days since I finished it, I'm still dealing with its many vicious side-effects: please-someone-hand-the-defibrillator-posthaste moments, halp-I-think-there-seems-to-be-a-problem-with-my-branchiae-me-no-can-breathe experiences, uh-oh-my-heart-might-be-black-and-withered-but-it-can-stop-beating-too-you-know incidents, fetch-dr-prawn-at-once-I'm-being-killed-dead-repeatedly occurrences, what-do-you-bloody-mean-this-book-is-already-over-jesting-you-must-be-this-is-quite-outrageous-I-demand-a-shrimping-explanation episodes, and other delightful predicaments that kinda sorta ended up making me feel like this:
Fun times.
Oh, one more thing before I check into the Winnowing Flame Rehab Center (WFR™): this is one action-packed, imaginatively imaginative, twists-and-shockers-aplenty, brilliantly characterized, emotionally super-charged, LOL dialogues-adorned, uberliciously entertaining romp of an adventure. And it kinda sorta made me feel like this:
➽ And the moral of this Oh Bloody Hell Do You Really Expect Me to Wait Another Bloody Year to Read the Bloody Conclusion to this Bloody Trilogy Crappy Non Review (OBHDYREtWABYtRtBCttBTCNR™) is: ah, the exquisite yet slightly distressing condition named Acute Book Hangover of Doom and Oblivion (ABHoDaO™)! There really is nothing quite like it. Jen Williams, I thank thee kindly. Then again maybe not.
P.S. the scrumptious characters and cuddly creatures in this book? I'm doing the Poof Gone Harem Thingie (PGHT™) on them all. Okay, come to think of it,kidnapping adopting them all might not be such great idea. Some of them treacherous bitches and bastards need to die a somewhat excruciatingly death, after all.
P.P.S. That finale. That bloody shrimping finale. BRB dead and stuff.
[Pre-review nonsense]
This trilogy should come with a subtitle, methinks. What subtitle, you ask? This one, methinks (watch out, Subdued Caps Lock Screaming™ coming right up):
BLOODY. SHRIMPING. HELL. OF. THE. STINKING. FISH.
➽ Full The Book Hangover is Strong in this One Good Thing I'm Rerererereading Burn for Me Next It's Going to Take Lots of Delicious Tactile Tactile Tactile Stuff for Me to Get Over Such Fantabuliciousness Crappy Non Review (TBHiSitOGTIRBfMNIGtTLoDTTTSfMtGOSFCNR™) to come.
· Previous rating: 8 miserable stars.
· New rating: 10 stars. Because suddenly, I saw the light and stuff.
➽ And the moral of this reread is: I already kidnapped all the scrumptiously delicious pets in this Slightly Very Good Book (SVGB™) when I first read it, and safely stashed them away in my High Security Harem Zoo (HSHZ™), so it is now time for me to take things up a notch or three, and lock Vostok up with Temeraire until they well, um, you know, breed and stuff. And produce wonderfully self-righteous, delightfully patronizing, dangerously clever and ruthlessly kick-ass little war-beasts.
Riiiiiiight…….That’s not exactly what I had in mind, but whatever.
P.S. Tor darling, you
P.P.S Aldasair dear, you seem to think that Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler is yours. Hahahahahahaha, such a sense of humor you have. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler is mine mine mine. Ha.
· Book 1: The Ninth Rain ★★★★★
· Book 3: The Poison Song - to be read.
🐉 Jen Williams of the Most Scrumpalicious Fluffy Beasts Where Hast Thou Been All Our Miserable Little Lives Buddy Read (JWoftMSFBWHTBAOMLLBR™) with My Little One 🐉
Actual rating: 8 stars. Give or
Some books are not meant to be crappily non-reviewed. Especially not books that leave you feeling a teensy little bit like this:
This ⤴ might or might not be a moderately unintentional spoiler. Perhaps. Maybe. Ha.
Besides, even if I felt mentally sane enough to crappily non-review this Piece of Utter Gloriousness (PoUG™), I think I did enough damage crappily non-reviewing book 1 in this trilogy in the crappiest way possible, and owe it to the Awesome Ms Williams (AMW™) to keep my big mandibles shut. Which you give you cause to glad and rejoice and stuff.
All you need to know about this book is that, even though it's been a few days since I finished it, I'm still dealing with its many vicious side-effects: please-someone-hand-the-defibrillator-posthaste moments, halp-I-think-there-seems-to-be-a-problem-with-my-branchiae-me-no-can-breathe experiences, uh-oh-my-heart-might-be-black-and-withered-but-it-can-stop-beating-too-you-know incidents, fetch-dr-prawn-at-once-I'm-being-killed-dead-repeatedly occurrences, what-do-you-bloody-mean-this-book-is-already-over-jesting-you-must-be-this-is-quite-outrageous-I-demand-a-shrimping-explanation episodes, and other delightful predicaments that kinda sorta ended up making me feel like this:
Fun times.
Oh, one more thing before I check into the Winnowing Flame Rehab Center (WFR™): this is one action-packed, imaginatively imaginative, twists-and-shockers-aplenty, brilliantly characterized, emotionally super-charged, LOL dialogues-adorned, uberliciously entertaining romp of an adventure. And it kinda sorta made me feel like this:
➽ And the moral of this Oh Bloody Hell Do You Really Expect Me to Wait Another Bloody Year to Read the Bloody Conclusion to this Bloody Trilogy Crappy Non Review (OBHDYREtWABYtRtBCttBTCNR™) is: ah, the exquisite yet slightly distressing condition named Acute Book Hangover of Doom and Oblivion (ABHoDaO™)! There really is nothing quite like it. Jen Williams, I thank thee kindly. Then again maybe not.
P.S. the scrumptious characters and cuddly creatures in this book? I'm doing the Poof Gone Harem Thingie (PGHT™) on them all. Okay, come to think of it,
P.P.S. That finale. That bloody shrimping finale. BRB dead and stuff.
[Pre-review nonsense]
This trilogy should come with a subtitle, methinks. What subtitle, you ask? This one, methinks (watch out, Subdued Caps Lock Screaming™ coming right up):
BLOODY. SHRIMPING. HELL. OF. THE. STINKING. FISH.
➽ Full The Book Hangover is Strong in this One Good Thing I'm Rerererereading Burn for Me Next It's Going to Take Lots of Delicious Tactile Tactile Tactile Stuff for Me to Get Over Such Fantabuliciousness Crappy Non Review (TBHiSitOGTIRBfMNIGtTLoDTTTSfMtGOSFCNR™) to come.
March 7, 2018
4.5 stars
Ever since I first read the Copper Cat trilogy, Jen Williams has been one of my favourite authors. It is no surprise then that I was very eager to read her next series – The Winnowing Flame trilogy. The Ninth Rain, being the first book in the new trilogy, lived up to my expectations, becoming one of my favourite books of 2017 and instantly propelling it’s follow up onto my most anticipated list. So when I was given the chance to be part of this wonderful blog tour I jumped at it and wasted no time in reading this second book.
The Bitter Twins starts off shortly after the events of the first book, and I will not go into details (not even gonna post that spoilery blurb) so as to keep this review spoiler free for those yet to start the series (DO IT NOW), but suffice it to say that the stakes are sky high, there is much hanging in the balance and the characters we have come to love as well as some new ones that we are introduced to, are walking a knife’s edge in trying to survive the terrible events that have been set into motion.
The plot is a scrumptious slow burn and features a well loved fantasy staple – the quest, which was a lot of fun to follow, but apart from that the author continuously caught me off guard with the direction the story went in and even had me wondering for a moment if I was reading a science fiction or fantasy novel! While the steady pace might leave some wanting (not this reader), the story is filled throughout with both exciting action and emotionally charged moments as it sets up everything for a wonderfully wild climax that had me squeezing the life out of my Kindle from sheer tension. Yes, it answered a lot of questions, but it asked even more of them and there is plenty of mystery left for the final book in the series.
Dialogue is once again excellent and delivers the delicious banter that always permeates the pages of a Jen Williams book, bringing humour and fun to counteract the vivid, nightmarish horrors that she extracts from the darkest corners of her mind to stalk the pages and haunt our dreams. *shudders
It is of course her characters and the way they worm burrow work their way into your heart that stands out the most for me. Noon, Vintage, Tormalin, Hestillion, Aldasair, Bern, Eri, Vostok, Kirune, Helcate, Jessen, Celaphon, Sharrik – somehow they feel like family, which is apt looking at the themes throughout the book. Apart from her adeptness in conjuring up these endearing characters (and let’s not forget the loathsome ones as well,) Williams is of course brilliant in exploring relationships and she displays this to full effect in The Bitter Twins, always striving to give us a better understanding of everything that makes her characters who they are and what they aim to be. I feel that words such as complex and diverse are the order of the day and almost a default when I think about her characters, and as such I want to stray from the norm and use different ones, but, well, there is a reason they are so often used and that is because they just fit perfectly! I cannot say enough about it, but delving deeper will once again expose me to possible spoilers and I want to leave new readers with the chance to experience it all for themselves. So let me summarise that character development is of the highest echelon. I have become so caught up with how much I love the characters, that I have almost forgotten the worldbuilding which is so layered and thorough that it just blends into the story seamlessly, from the rich and evocative history of the Eborans and Sarn, to the mystery of the Jurelia. There is a vast world left to mine here in terms of stories untold, and I would not mind it one bit to spend many more books here.
Thinking back on everything that happens in the book, I am astounded that Jen Williams managed to fit it into one volume. This is a warbeast of a middle book in terms of content, and it delivers all the way, setting up the series for a gripping finale that cannot come soon enough.
“Get ready, my darlings. We are going to fuck them up.”
The Bitter Twins is a perfect sequel to the Ninth Rain – it took me places I did not expect in the least and surprised me continuously with it’s fresh storytelling, humour and exciting, genre-bending plot. Jen Williams, more than anything, writes fantasy with heart, and I could happily read her books forever.
On a final note, I must mention that the last book is called The Poison Song . What a beautiful title. I am already dreaming up how gorgeous that cover is going to be next to the already stellar artwork gracing the first two books of the series. *rubs hands in anticipation
I was given the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Feel free to follow the blog tour for more reviews of The Bitter Twins :)
Ever since I first read the Copper Cat trilogy, Jen Williams has been one of my favourite authors. It is no surprise then that I was very eager to read her next series – The Winnowing Flame trilogy. The Ninth Rain, being the first book in the new trilogy, lived up to my expectations, becoming one of my favourite books of 2017 and instantly propelling it’s follow up onto my most anticipated list. So when I was given the chance to be part of this wonderful blog tour I jumped at it and wasted no time in reading this second book.
The Bitter Twins starts off shortly after the events of the first book, and I will not go into details (not even gonna post that spoilery blurb) so as to keep this review spoiler free for those yet to start the series (DO IT NOW), but suffice it to say that the stakes are sky high, there is much hanging in the balance and the characters we have come to love as well as some new ones that we are introduced to, are walking a knife’s edge in trying to survive the terrible events that have been set into motion.
The plot is a scrumptious slow burn and features a well loved fantasy staple – the quest, which was a lot of fun to follow, but apart from that the author continuously caught me off guard with the direction the story went in and even had me wondering for a moment if I was reading a science fiction or fantasy novel! While the steady pace might leave some wanting (not this reader), the story is filled throughout with both exciting action and emotionally charged moments as it sets up everything for a wonderfully wild climax that had me squeezing the life out of my Kindle from sheer tension. Yes, it answered a lot of questions, but it asked even more of them and there is plenty of mystery left for the final book in the series.
Dialogue is once again excellent and delivers the delicious banter that always permeates the pages of a Jen Williams book, bringing humour and fun to counteract the vivid, nightmarish horrors that she extracts from the darkest corners of her mind to stalk the pages and haunt our dreams. *shudders
It is of course her characters and the way they worm burrow work their way into your heart that stands out the most for me. Noon, Vintage, Tormalin, Hestillion, Aldasair, Bern, Eri, Vostok, Kirune, Helcate, Jessen, Celaphon, Sharrik – somehow they feel like family, which is apt looking at the themes throughout the book. Apart from her adeptness in conjuring up these endearing characters (and let’s not forget the loathsome ones as well,) Williams is of course brilliant in exploring relationships and she displays this to full effect in The Bitter Twins, always striving to give us a better understanding of everything that makes her characters who they are and what they aim to be. I feel that words such as complex and diverse are the order of the day and almost a default when I think about her characters, and as such I want to stray from the norm and use different ones, but, well, there is a reason they are so often used and that is because they just fit perfectly! I cannot say enough about it, but delving deeper will once again expose me to possible spoilers and I want to leave new readers with the chance to experience it all for themselves. So let me summarise that character development is of the highest echelon. I have become so caught up with how much I love the characters, that I have almost forgotten the worldbuilding which is so layered and thorough that it just blends into the story seamlessly, from the rich and evocative history of the Eborans and Sarn, to the mystery of the Jurelia. There is a vast world left to mine here in terms of stories untold, and I would not mind it one bit to spend many more books here.
Thinking back on everything that happens in the book, I am astounded that Jen Williams managed to fit it into one volume. This is a warbeast of a middle book in terms of content, and it delivers all the way, setting up the series for a gripping finale that cannot come soon enough.
“Get ready, my darlings. We are going to fuck them up.”
The Bitter Twins is a perfect sequel to the Ninth Rain – it took me places I did not expect in the least and surprised me continuously with it’s fresh storytelling, humour and exciting, genre-bending plot. Jen Williams, more than anything, writes fantasy with heart, and I could happily read her books forever.
On a final note, I must mention that the last book is called The Poison Song . What a beautiful title. I am already dreaming up how gorgeous that cover is going to be next to the already stellar artwork gracing the first two books of the series. *rubs hands in anticipation
I was given the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Feel free to follow the blog tour for more reviews of The Bitter Twins :)
June 3, 2019
The Bitter Twins is a stunning sequel of staggering inventiveness and imagination.
I am in awe with the direction the story took after the unexpected turn of events at the end of The Ninth Rain. Instead of suffering from the middle book syndrome, The Bitter Twins continued to captivate me with its eldritch worldbuilding and engaging characterisation. I had to keep this review a bit shorter than usual, as there’s simply too much potential to accidentally spoil the numerous surprises that I kept encountering during my read.
There is a compulsive quality to these books which make it so unputdownable. Again, I place it squarely on Williams’ diabolically devious skill in laying the breadcrumbs. One of the main plots in the sequel is a quest to locate a hidden island in the Barren Sea which may unlock the lore and mystery of the Eborans. Quests and adventure-type narratives are one of my favourites especially when it involved potential discoveries of long lost secrets or history. And then there is the other major plotline of a ‘hostage situation’ within the enemy lines so to speak which enabled the reader to gain further understanding about the strange (and rather disgusting) Jure’lia. The alternating POVs of these different plotlines just kept the pages turning, and sometimes at a rather frantic pace because I just had to know the what, the why and the how.
I was stunned with the level of imagination that Williams applied into the worldbuilding and plot development; some which are dark and horrible. Aside from the feeling of foreboding that things will not go down well, I pretty much couldn’t predict what will happen or even speculate on the possible outcomes. The revelations and truths took my breath away, and in some cases so horrifying that I felt a bit sick. It does feel that Williams poured her heart and soul into writing these books, and having a whole lot of fun doing it. Seriously, who thinks of having giant slug-like airships that excrete big bugs, who then, in turn, expel green varnish as an invasive manoeuvre.
While this book is longer and has slower pacing throughout, the unpretentious writing just draws you right in with ease. Jen Williams has a knack for character interaction and dialogue that are laced with just the right amount of levity and gravity to make it feel completely natural and real. These characters all have their flaws and strengths; quite a few have endured enough to be even considered as broken. Regardless, every one of them had to rise above themselves and rely on one another to face the looming threat that was unleashed during the Ninth Rain. The bonds and relationships fostered between our primary characters are beautifully rendered throughout the story which made for some truly poignant and emotional moments.
The Winnowing Flame falls within my favourite genre category of classic fantasy, but with some serious inventiveness which resulted in something quite unlike any other that I've read. With the final book coming out soon, I am hoping that the conclusion will firmly place this trilogy on the mantle of my all-time favourites.
You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon UK | Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide)
You can also find this, and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
I am in awe with the direction the story took after the unexpected turn of events at the end of The Ninth Rain. Instead of suffering from the middle book syndrome, The Bitter Twins continued to captivate me with its eldritch worldbuilding and engaging characterisation. I had to keep this review a bit shorter than usual, as there’s simply too much potential to accidentally spoil the numerous surprises that I kept encountering during my read.
There is a compulsive quality to these books which make it so unputdownable. Again, I place it squarely on Williams’ diabolically devious skill in laying the breadcrumbs. One of the main plots in the sequel is a quest to locate a hidden island in the Barren Sea which may unlock the lore and mystery of the Eborans. Quests and adventure-type narratives are one of my favourites especially when it involved potential discoveries of long lost secrets or history. And then there is the other major plotline of a ‘hostage situation’ within the enemy lines so to speak which enabled the reader to gain further understanding about the strange (and rather disgusting) Jure’lia. The alternating POVs of these different plotlines just kept the pages turning, and sometimes at a rather frantic pace because I just had to know the what, the why and the how.
I was stunned with the level of imagination that Williams applied into the worldbuilding and plot development; some which are dark and horrible. Aside from the feeling of foreboding that things will not go down well, I pretty much couldn’t predict what will happen or even speculate on the possible outcomes. The revelations and truths took my breath away, and in some cases so horrifying that I felt a bit sick. It does feel that Williams poured her heart and soul into writing these books, and having a whole lot of fun doing it. Seriously, who thinks of having giant slug-like airships that excrete big bugs, who then, in turn, expel green varnish as an invasive manoeuvre.
While this book is longer and has slower pacing throughout, the unpretentious writing just draws you right in with ease. Jen Williams has a knack for character interaction and dialogue that are laced with just the right amount of levity and gravity to make it feel completely natural and real. These characters all have their flaws and strengths; quite a few have endured enough to be even considered as broken. Regardless, every one of them had to rise above themselves and rely on one another to face the looming threat that was unleashed during the Ninth Rain. The bonds and relationships fostered between our primary characters are beautifully rendered throughout the story which made for some truly poignant and emotional moments.
The Winnowing Flame falls within my favourite genre category of classic fantasy, but with some serious inventiveness which resulted in something quite unlike any other that I've read. With the final book coming out soon, I am hoping that the conclusion will firmly place this trilogy on the mantle of my all-time favourites.
You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon UK | Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide)
You can also find this, and my other reviews at Novel Notions.
October 15, 2022
New favourite series!
I am calling it already. The Winnowing Flame trilogy has become one of my all-time favourite series. The characters are brilliant, the world-building is intricate and SOOO unique, and the pacing is spot on!
The Bitter Twins was so much better than I could have expected. It is crazy how much ground Williams is able to cover in this book! I feel so emotionally invested in these characters, and the stakes are so high. This series also has one of the best uses of the “pet companion trope” I have ever encountered. So, in short, I love this series for its original world-building, diverse representation, giant flying bats, weird worm people, MASSIVE pet companions, both sci-fi and fantasy elements, incredible pacing, great dialogue and compelling characters. Yes, I love nearly everything about this series. I am having such a great time in this world! I can’t wait to pick up The Poison Song!
BUT, I will say that if you didn’t enjoy The Ninth Rain, this book will probably not be for you. The Bitter Twins is just as weird as Ninth Rain, so if that is not your thing, then go and read something else.
I’ve written a longer review for Ninth Rain, so if you are curious about this series, I would recommend reading that review!
4.5 / 5 stars
Thanks to my Patreons Erin, Petur, Blake, Mel, Mark Georgina and Áron Sofus.
I am calling it already. The Winnowing Flame trilogy has become one of my all-time favourite series. The characters are brilliant, the world-building is intricate and SOOO unique, and the pacing is spot on!
The Bitter Twins was so much better than I could have expected. It is crazy how much ground Williams is able to cover in this book! I feel so emotionally invested in these characters, and the stakes are so high. This series also has one of the best uses of the “pet companion trope” I have ever encountered. So, in short, I love this series for its original world-building, diverse representation, giant flying bats, weird worm people, MASSIVE pet companions, both sci-fi and fantasy elements, incredible pacing, great dialogue and compelling characters. Yes, I love nearly everything about this series. I am having such a great time in this world! I can’t wait to pick up The Poison Song!
BUT, I will say that if you didn’t enjoy The Ninth Rain, this book will probably not be for you. The Bitter Twins is just as weird as Ninth Rain, so if that is not your thing, then go and read something else.
I’ve written a longer review for Ninth Rain, so if you are curious about this series, I would recommend reading that review!
4.5 / 5 stars
Thanks to my Patreons Erin, Petur, Blake, Mel, Mark Georgina and Áron Sofus.
November 22, 2021
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The Ninth Rain ★★★★
The Bitter Twins ★★★★
It is hard to talk about this book without spoiling it or even spoiling the first book so I am going to try and make this short. This book events take events after the explosive events of the first book and the beginning of this one was much better than the first book because there was a since of familiarity rather than the confusion found in the first book.
Williams has a great writing style and the characters have different voices and characters which makes the multiple POVs a safe choice for this book. The new characters include the newly hatched creatures and it was just amusing to discover their characters and how they bond with their partners.
The world-building is exquisite and I can’t help but get the studio Ghibli vibes from this book with its giant alien bugs and the oozing creatures which is vibrant in my brain. Williams is sneaky because she provides an answer but a new question at the same time which keeps the reader drawn to the story and wanting more.
The pacing is certainly better than the first book, it started pretty well for me but it slows around the middle and picks up again toward the ending and it follows the steps of the first book where the last chapters are the best in the book and they left me wanting more. I think the plot is a bit predictable in this one -from the synopsis itself I could tell what will happen in half of the book- and for some reason less memorable than the events of the first book. For that reason, I am giving it 4 stars which is the same rating I gave the first book and I think both are awesome!
Summary: A great entry to what I believe should be a way more hyped series. I like how unique the story is and although the main plot is not new, Williams put her own touch and twists upon the story to make it her own. I love the characters and creatures and I am so hyped for book three!
“Get ready, my darlings. We are going to fuck them up.”
The Ninth Rain ★★★★
The Bitter Twins ★★★★
It is hard to talk about this book without spoiling it or even spoiling the first book so I am going to try and make this short. This book events take events after the explosive events of the first book and the beginning of this one was much better than the first book because there was a since of familiarity rather than the confusion found in the first book.
Williams has a great writing style and the characters have different voices and characters which makes the multiple POVs a safe choice for this book. The new characters include the newly hatched creatures and it was just amusing to discover their characters and how they bond with their partners.
The world-building is exquisite and I can’t help but get the studio Ghibli vibes from this book with its giant alien bugs and the oozing creatures which is vibrant in my brain. Williams is sneaky because she provides an answer but a new question at the same time which keeps the reader drawn to the story and wanting more.
The pacing is certainly better than the first book, it started pretty well for me but it slows around the middle and picks up again toward the ending and it follows the steps of the first book where the last chapters are the best in the book and they left me wanting more. I think the plot is a bit predictable in this one -from the synopsis itself I could tell what will happen in half of the book- and for some reason less memorable than the events of the first book. For that reason, I am giving it 4 stars which is the same rating I gave the first book and I think both are awesome!
Summary: A great entry to what I believe should be a way more hyped series. I like how unique the story is and although the main plot is not new, Williams put her own touch and twists upon the story to make it her own. I love the characters and creatures and I am so hyped for book three!
January 8, 2022
3.75 ⭐️
So much fun. Extremely predictable. A bit too long.
So much fun. Extremely predictable. A bit too long.
December 7, 2017
I am really struggling to write a review for this as so much that happens is directly related to some surprising stuff at the end of book one and there's no way I want to ruin that for anyone. So, for now i'm going to stick to something a bit more general and say that those who have read the first one will not be disappointed (though apparently the book blurb has no such reservations-don't look at it if you haven't read the first book).
Picking up with the cast as it was left at the end of The Ninth Rain, this kicks right into a high action opener that sets the tone for the whole book. There's certainly lots of thrills when it comes to the battles and a lot more magic too- I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that we get to see Noon really let loose. Even so, Williams does not lose sight of what makes this series special: her cast of diverse and complex characters. While there's a ton of plot development and some big set pieces, the moments that hit me the most were the intimate, emotional ones that allowed the reader to see characters in ways we may not have before, the depth of their feelings made quietly clear.
It's a series well worth you time: classic fantasy with a serious twist, fun and imaginative, with a cast whose company you really enjoy. Recommended.
Extended review closer to publication date.... 8th March
ARC via Netgalley
Picking up with the cast as it was left at the end of The Ninth Rain, this kicks right into a high action opener that sets the tone for the whole book. There's certainly lots of thrills when it comes to the battles and a lot more magic too- I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that we get to see Noon really let loose. Even so, Williams does not lose sight of what makes this series special: her cast of diverse and complex characters. While there's a ton of plot development and some big set pieces, the moments that hit me the most were the intimate, emotional ones that allowed the reader to see characters in ways we may not have before, the depth of their feelings made quietly clear.
It's a series well worth you time: classic fantasy with a serious twist, fun and imaginative, with a cast whose company you really enjoy. Recommended.
Extended review closer to publication date.... 8th March
ARC via Netgalley
July 29, 2022
This book started slow. It was torture to read at first. However, in the second part, it got amazingly better. I'm excited to read the last book because Williams weaved a very strong exciting tale.
I am honestly surprised this trilogy isn't more popular since it's got what it takes:
- innovative world
- good character writing
- solid world building
- exciting plot
I only wish the first part moved faster given the fact that this book isn't short. It was worth the effort for sure but I was also barely reading during those few weeks until the story finally became more gripping.
Bottom line: fantasy lovers, you need to add this trilogy to your tbr. you won't regret it (unless you want a classic medieval fantasy then this isn't for you).
I am honestly surprised this trilogy isn't more popular since it's got what it takes:
- innovative world
- good character writing
- solid world building
- exciting plot
I only wish the first part moved faster given the fact that this book isn't short. It was worth the effort for sure but I was also barely reading during those few weeks until the story finally became more gripping.
Bottom line: fantasy lovers, you need to add this trilogy to your tbr. you won't regret it (unless you want a classic medieval fantasy then this isn't for you).
January 9, 2022
Spoiler Free Series Review: https://youtu.be/OEmofcrpNas
This was an amazing sequel. I loved each thread we followed, I was constantly concerned about what would happen and the ending had my heart rate through the roof, which rarely happens to me these days. I will also say that this has some of my favorite action scene descriptions in fantasy. If you are a character driven reader who wants an adventure/save the day fantasy story I would really look into this series.
This was an amazing sequel. I loved each thread we followed, I was constantly concerned about what would happen and the ending had my heart rate through the roof, which rarely happens to me these days. I will also say that this has some of my favorite action scene descriptions in fantasy. If you are a character driven reader who wants an adventure/save the day fantasy story I would really look into this series.
March 7, 2018
Woah. I have just finished The Bitter Twins and my emotions are a mess. As this is a sequel I won’t dwell on the plot, I only wish to say that it continues a little after the ending of The Ninth Rain and while we get a lot of answers, a whole host of new questions are raised. Luckily, Williams’ writing and characters still leave me with plenty to discuss.
Similar to The Ninth Rain, The Bitter Twins is full of great dialogue that genuinely had me laughing out loud. I really admire the way Williams has expertly weaved humour, sarcasm, wit and intelligence into all the characters actions and conversations. It adds to the reading experience and makes it a very fun read. Despite all the terrible things the characters have to endure and witness, the way they snap, tease and banter with each other -even the war-beasts!- is so natural and realistic that you forget you’re reading and makes you feel like you’re actually there. It’s wonderfully immersive.
The pacing is a bit slow to begin with but it was a joy to be back in the world of Sarn and reading about the characters I grew to love in The Ninth Rain. I didn’t find the slowness off-putting as my favourite thing about this series is the characters. I love how complicated they all are; they’ve all seen/done/endured terrible things and they’re all a bit broken by it. The way that the author shows us how they battle their demons and how it affects the way they behave and interact is brilliant. What’s more, they all deal with it differently and in unexpected ways. It really is so enjoyable to watch them evolve and find hope and joy in each other despite the horrors. I particularly like Bern, he is such a solid beacon of hope, happiness and selflessness that is truly heart-warming. They way he interacted with Aldasair in The Ninth Rain was so well done and this continues in The Bitter Twins. He is possibly the least broken, but the best equipped to deal with it in others. We all need a Bern in our lives.
I also adore Vintage. Her consistent optimism and readiness to deal with whatever comes at her brings me joy. I wish I could be her friend. Her ‘well it’s happened now, let’s focus on what we *can* do’ attitude buoys me and she remains an integral member of the team even though she has no magical prowess. Her intelligence and quick thinking are certainly incredibly important to the events that unfolded in The Ninth Rain and continue to be so in the events of The Bitter Twins.
I could quite happily ramble on about my love of Tor, Noon, Aldasair and all the new characters we meet in The Bitter Twins but I don’t want to give anything away. In case you can’t already tell, the character development is just as wonderful as in the first novel and I cannot wait to see where they all go from here. They are all so, so different from how we first met them, especially Hestillion who is seriously going through some amazing shifts, and I can only imagine how they will continue to change.
As for general comments about the plot, it kept me guessing all the way through. I spent a lot of the novel with a growing uneasiness as the certain facts were unveiled and little movements and comments kept me worried about the bigger picture. Although there were a few parts where I knew how certain scenes would play out, these were only small and didn’t really affect the world as a whole. Be ready for some great reveals and twists that may break your heart, but that will overall leave you fist pumping the air.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Similar to The Ninth Rain, The Bitter Twins is full of great dialogue that genuinely had me laughing out loud. I really admire the way Williams has expertly weaved humour, sarcasm, wit and intelligence into all the characters actions and conversations. It adds to the reading experience and makes it a very fun read. Despite all the terrible things the characters have to endure and witness, the way they snap, tease and banter with each other -even the war-beasts!- is so natural and realistic that you forget you’re reading and makes you feel like you’re actually there. It’s wonderfully immersive.
The pacing is a bit slow to begin with but it was a joy to be back in the world of Sarn and reading about the characters I grew to love in The Ninth Rain. I didn’t find the slowness off-putting as my favourite thing about this series is the characters. I love how complicated they all are; they’ve all seen/done/endured terrible things and they’re all a bit broken by it. The way that the author shows us how they battle their demons and how it affects the way they behave and interact is brilliant. What’s more, they all deal with it differently and in unexpected ways. It really is so enjoyable to watch them evolve and find hope and joy in each other despite the horrors. I particularly like Bern, he is such a solid beacon of hope, happiness and selflessness that is truly heart-warming. They way he interacted with Aldasair in The Ninth Rain was so well done and this continues in The Bitter Twins. He is possibly the least broken, but the best equipped to deal with it in others. We all need a Bern in our lives.
I also adore Vintage. Her consistent optimism and readiness to deal with whatever comes at her brings me joy. I wish I could be her friend. Her ‘well it’s happened now, let’s focus on what we *can* do’ attitude buoys me and she remains an integral member of the team even though she has no magical prowess. Her intelligence and quick thinking are certainly incredibly important to the events that unfolded in The Ninth Rain and continue to be so in the events of The Bitter Twins.
I could quite happily ramble on about my love of Tor, Noon, Aldasair and all the new characters we meet in The Bitter Twins but I don’t want to give anything away. In case you can’t already tell, the character development is just as wonderful as in the first novel and I cannot wait to see where they all go from here. They are all so, so different from how we first met them, especially Hestillion who is seriously going through some amazing shifts, and I can only imagine how they will continue to change.
As for general comments about the plot, it kept me guessing all the way through. I spent a lot of the novel with a growing uneasiness as the certain facts were unveiled and little movements and comments kept me worried about the bigger picture. Although there were a few parts where I knew how certain scenes would play out, these were only small and didn’t really affect the world as a whole. Be ready for some great reveals and twists that may break your heart, but that will overall leave you fist pumping the air.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 25, 2019
3.5 rounded up.
A very good book, just not as awe inspiring as the first one and definitely much slower paced. For the first two hundred pages nothing really happens and the group of good guys that were all together at the end of book one split up into a few pairs with each pair going their own ways and doing their own things. It's not until everyone is brought back together for the finale that things pick up again and I felt like maybe a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages could have been cut and the overall story would not have suffered. A ton of questions were answered though and there were some surprises in terms of history and background that were very cool and organic, very much expanding on the world and characters. When it was good it was great but when it wasn't I did find my mind wandering and the compulsion to read was not as strong or as overwhelming as my experience with book one was. I also questioned some of the characters motivations and some of their actions did not seem to fit with who they were or how they were presented earlier and, to me at least, there was a glaring plot hole right in the middle that took me out of the story and had me yelling at the book itself. I don't know how to tag spoilers as I am pretty much computer illiterate so I won't go into what it was but there was a major inconsistency that seemed pretty obvious to me.
Alright, enough already with the complaining, here's the good stuff. The action was fantastic and the blend of sci-fi/advanced technologies and fantasy elements is something that IMO needs to be done more in fiction. The horror of war and the price people pay in battle was realistically depicted and the bonds of friends and family or even friends AS family seemed to be a major theme, and helped make everyone feel a little bit more real to me. The ending was as close to perfect as you can get and sets up book three very nicely, it just took a long time to get there.
A very good book, just not as awe inspiring as the first one and definitely much slower paced. For the first two hundred pages nothing really happens and the group of good guys that were all together at the end of book one split up into a few pairs with each pair going their own ways and doing their own things. It's not until everyone is brought back together for the finale that things pick up again and I felt like maybe a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages could have been cut and the overall story would not have suffered. A ton of questions were answered though and there were some surprises in terms of history and background that were very cool and organic, very much expanding on the world and characters. When it was good it was great but when it wasn't I did find my mind wandering and the compulsion to read was not as strong or as overwhelming as my experience with book one was. I also questioned some of the characters motivations and some of their actions did not seem to fit with who they were or how they were presented earlier and, to me at least, there was a glaring plot hole right in the middle that took me out of the story and had me yelling at the book itself. I don't know how to tag spoilers as I am pretty much computer illiterate so I won't go into what it was but there was a major inconsistency that seemed pretty obvious to me.
Alright, enough already with the complaining, here's the good stuff. The action was fantastic and the blend of sci-fi/advanced technologies and fantasy elements is something that IMO needs to be done more in fiction. The horror of war and the price people pay in battle was realistically depicted and the bonds of friends and family or even friends AS family seemed to be a major theme, and helped make everyone feel a little bit more real to me. The ending was as close to perfect as you can get and sets up book three very nicely, it just took a long time to get there.
October 5, 2022
#Middle_book_syndrome
It was really good. But God! Did it drag...Also I was given some wrong information. I thought there would be more of the war beasts. I expected them to be the main focus of the story. But that didn't happen. Some of the characters lost their charm...It was quite underwhelming tbh. However Vintage makes it all better ☺
Vintage, Tor, Noon, Aldasair and Bern - I really loved these characters in the first instalment. But in this one? Not so much. Well, except for Vintage. She was perfect as always. It felt as though the other characters have lost all their charms. There was depth in any of these characters. They seemed two dimensional and boring. Noon was stiff and distant throughout the whole book. While I absolutely loved Tormalin in "The Ninth Rain", he annoyed the hell out of me here. His actions were immature and stupid. He was whining all the damn time. I really missed my humorous and charming Tormalin, the oathless. I missed his jokes. His comedic timing has always been so perfect. But Tor hardly cracked anything jokes in this book. Aldasair and Bern were solid characters. However I would've preferred to read Bern's pov, which didn't happen of course.
I was excited to meet the war beasts. But Jen Williams disappointed me. I kind of hated Vostok. Kirune was so cute! I expected some "bonding" moments between the war beasts and their riders. But there was none. Williams tells us that they have bonded, but we don't get to see that. Emotions were completely absent in the narration of this book. No inner monologues, no commentaries. "The Bitter Twins" was a plot driven book through abd through. And I prefer characters focused stories. So, it really didn't work for me.
It was really good. But God! Did it drag...Also I was given some wrong information. I thought there would be more of the war beasts. I expected them to be the main focus of the story. But that didn't happen. Some of the characters lost their charm...It was quite underwhelming tbh. However Vintage makes it all better ☺
Vintage, Tor, Noon, Aldasair and Bern - I really loved these characters in the first instalment. But in this one? Not so much. Well, except for Vintage. She was perfect as always. It felt as though the other characters have lost all their charms. There was depth in any of these characters. They seemed two dimensional and boring. Noon was stiff and distant throughout the whole book. While I absolutely loved Tormalin in "The Ninth Rain", he annoyed the hell out of me here. His actions were immature and stupid. He was whining all the damn time. I really missed my humorous and charming Tormalin, the oathless. I missed his jokes. His comedic timing has always been so perfect. But Tor hardly cracked anything jokes in this book. Aldasair and Bern were solid characters. However I would've preferred to read Bern's pov, which didn't happen of course.
I was excited to meet the war beasts. But Jen Williams disappointed me. I kind of hated Vostok. Kirune was so cute! I expected some "bonding" moments between the war beasts and their riders. But there was none. Williams tells us that they have bonded, but we don't get to see that. Emotions were completely absent in the narration of this book. No inner monologues, no commentaries. "The Bitter Twins" was a plot driven book through abd through. And I prefer characters focused stories. So, it really didn't work for me.
November 15, 2021
I'm still hooked by the story, its revelations and mysteries, but I hoped that the characters' actions and, most of all, their dialogues will be greatly improved. Wishful thinking, unfortunatelly. And great characters are not even my main interest in a fanatasy tale, but I can't help getting annoying by their interactions here.
Still, the worldbuilding and the events unfolding around our heroes and their nemesis are truly captivating, and keep me going. There are plenty of things happening on different threads, that there isn't even a dull moment in the book.
On to the next and final part.
Still, the worldbuilding and the events unfolding around our heroes and their nemesis are truly captivating, and keep me going. There are plenty of things happening on different threads, that there isn't even a dull moment in the book.
On to the next and final part.
January 10, 2025
when the title starts to make sense and you just want to end it all
Bookstagram | Blog
Bookstagram | Blog
June 13, 2022
This was The Fantasy Guild Book Club monthly pick for May 2022!
“Dark things are happening here, don't be getting me wrong. Young people lost, their poor families going out of their minds, and that evil thing lurking... It should have been dealt with a long time ago, but how could we have known?”
It's been quite a while since I've read the first book of this fantasy trilogy, and I enjoyed it so much because of the very exciting plot and the fascinating world building and the likeable characters. It's safe to say that I had high expectations jumping into the sequel, and fortunately enough, my expectations have been met. In this installment, the beautifully diverse world Jen Williams built kept expanding, and the wish I had after having finished the first book, which was to explore the world in more depth, has been fulfilled in this one. Since this is the middle book of a trilogy, it has to play a delicate balance of moving the plot forward but leaving a great chunk of it unresolved in order to create a suspenseful conclusion in the third book, and one of the ways Jen Williams did this was to incorporate a very interesting side-quest a group of our characters end up embarking on, which serves to expand on the world-building and explore the origins of this vivid fantastical space our characters live in. Meanwhile, we also tackle with the aftermath of the bloody conclusion the first book had, and explore the villains of our story in much more detail, which sheds more light on their origins and their motivations, and the villains in this book are interesting indeed.
Our heroes are fighting an ancient insect civilization led by a menacing queen who will stop at nothing to achieve the ultimate end goal of consuming all life in the world and using that life as a breeding ground for her people to reproduce. As I mentioned in the first review, the villains here are very disgusting to read about, since they're quite literally giant and intelligent insects that unleash their monstrosities on human villages, having hundreds of tiny bugs called burrowers get inside humans and consume them from within, leading to an agonizingly painful death and eventually turning them into mindless zombies that follow the queen's commands. We dig a layer deeper in this book and discover how this insect civilization follows the model of the hive mind, a system our real-life creepy crawlies follow as well. Seeing this mode of functioning on a larger and more intelligent scale was very interesting to read about, and very unnerving. The notion of individuality that is heralded by human societies doesn't exist in their civilization, since everyone is just part of a complex system and the role of the individual is nothing more than to serve the collective. This is why this enemy civilization, the Jure'lia, is a severe threat to everyone, because of their unyielding unity.
As I mentioned earlier, since this is the middle book of the series, there was a limit as to how much the plot could progress, and the major plot progression we saw was with the secondary quest some of our characters embarked on. This might be frustrating to some readers, which is why it's important for the reader to actually like the characters in this series, because this book represents a space where we can hang-out with the characters and go through some tribulations with them, without necessarily resolving the major plot in any significant way. This was an excellent opportunity for lovely relationships to flourish between some characters, and some previously cherished relationships to fall apart among others. Despite not much movement to the central plot, there was significant movement characterization wise which allows the reader to form solid emotional bonds with them. Some characters I liked in the first installment such as Hestillion gradually moved themselves into the list of characters I dislike. Despite being intrigued by Hest in the first book, her actions stopped making sense to me in this one. Other characters, like Aldasair and Bern, became all time favourites. A new character called Eri was also introduced in this book and he put me through an emotional roller-coaster, which attests to Jen Williams's talent for getting the reader attached quite quickly to characters.
I'm glad there's still one book left to read that will let me rejoin these characters and this world, but I'm also sad at the same time since that means it's almost over. I'll be looking forward to reading the third installment, and I definitely still recommend this series to anyone who likes nice adventure fantasy with a small hint of Sci-fi here and there.
“To be suddenly alone when all you have ever known is connection. To be alone in the dark while you felt the distant pieces of yourself decay.”
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You can also read my thoughts on:
#1. The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #1) by Jen Williams
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June 21, 2019
First half a bit slower due to new characters and additional Povs. Also all characters seem to be split up doing different things so storyline feels more scattered. Action and suspense certainly pick in the second half and book is pretty much unputdownable in the last third. Some mind-blowing revelations there.
Loved Noon's and Tor's Pov - both for their mystery uncovering adventure and comic banter. Although I'm not a fan of her character Hestilion's Pov was very interesting due to the insight to the alien race.
Another great read!
And I'm on to the next book.
Loved Noon's and Tor's Pov - both for their mystery uncovering adventure and comic banter. Although I'm not a fan of her character Hestilion's Pov was very interesting due to the insight to the alien race.
Another great read!
And I'm on to the next book.
February 28, 2023
There's always a delicate line regarding first book recap when you read a sequel. I prefer the method Jen Williams utilized here, where the first couple of chapters where characters reunite or travel and we get an appropriate amount of recap in their dialogue. We don't get every action/moment reminders, just the pertinent ones and just the right amount to spark my memory.
About 40% of the way in, I had begun to accuse this book of suffering from middle book syndrome, of it being used as setup, a bridge between the first and final books. Even though I thought that, I was still interested in the story because of a new perspective included and because I love the beauty of the author's writing. I immersion read this one, as I did with the first book and was delighted Jot Davies returned to narrate - even though the voice used for Celaphon grated on my last nerve. Actually, it ran out of nerves and started irritating my blood vessles...)
That is precisely when everything began to pop the eff OFF.
I'm still working through all that I learned, information gleaned, reveals, ramifications and consequences of choices made - it was insanity - it was genius - it was a huge rush of adrenaline. I have no idea where the final book in the trilogy will take me, but I sure know where it's going to start and I AM HERE FOR IT!
About 40% of the way in, I had begun to accuse this book of suffering from middle book syndrome, of it being used as setup, a bridge between the first and final books. Even though I thought that, I was still interested in the story because of a new perspective included and because I love the beauty of the author's writing. I immersion read this one, as I did with the first book and was delighted Jot Davies returned to narrate - even though the voice used for Celaphon grated on my last nerve. Actually, it ran out of nerves and started irritating my blood vessles...)
That is precisely when everything began to pop the eff OFF.
I'm still working through all that I learned, information gleaned, reveals, ramifications and consequences of choices made - it was insanity - it was genius - it was a huge rush of adrenaline. I have no idea where the final book in the trilogy will take me, but I sure know where it's going to start and I AM HERE FOR IT!
June 9, 2022
In some ways this was a filler book, and in others it wasn't. I loved it almost as much as the first one, but it still didn't hit a full 5 stars.
The main reason is that I mostly cared about the Noon and Tor chapters and wanted to get everyone else's chapters out of the way so I could have more of the two of them.
Relating to that, I hated Arnia. She officially surpassed Hestillion as my most hated character. Especially when she tried to .
And Hestillion, she did her own thing for the majority of the book, so I didn't feel like I had to spend energy on hating her, but I'm sure she'll take back her number one spot in book three unless if someone more annoying comes along.
Eri was one of the new characters that grew close to my heart. That poor baby was not treated well at all.
I love that the world building is constantly being expanded on, but never info dumpy. The mythology of this world continues to fascinate me time and time again.
And that's about it, just know that this is an amazing book and series and you should read it if you haven't already. Join the worm people club, you know you want to.
4.5
The main reason is that I mostly cared about the Noon and Tor chapters and wanted to get everyone else's chapters out of the way so I could have more of the two of them.
Relating to that, I hated Arnia. She officially surpassed Hestillion as my most hated character. Especially when she tried to .
And Hestillion, she did her own thing for the majority of the book, so I didn't feel like I had to spend energy on hating her, but I'm sure she'll take back her number one spot in book three unless if someone more annoying comes along.
Eri was one of the new characters that grew close to my heart. That poor baby was not treated well at all.
I love that the world building is constantly being expanded on, but never info dumpy. The mythology of this world continues to fascinate me time and time again.
And that's about it, just know that this is an amazing book and series and you should read it if you haven't already. Join the worm people club, you know you want to.
4.5
August 30, 2023
I took a long time to get to this review, because wow do I ever love this series.
Jen Williams has somehow come up with the perfect blend of creepy horror, original fantasy, and absolutely wonderful characters to break her readers hearts with. And despite The Bitter Twins being the second in the trilogy, it's not plagued with the usual middle-book-syndrome (not entirely unrelated to the middle-child variant) - this feels like a book where significant progress is made through the story, where events take place that can and do alter the trajectory of multiple storylines.
There's just so much here to love, and I had an excellent time no matter which set of characters we were following at the time. I'm trying to hold off on the third book to draw this out - but I know it won't be long until I give in.
Jen Williams has somehow come up with the perfect blend of creepy horror, original fantasy, and absolutely wonderful characters to break her readers hearts with. And despite The Bitter Twins being the second in the trilogy, it's not plagued with the usual middle-book-syndrome (not entirely unrelated to the middle-child variant) - this feels like a book where significant progress is made through the story, where events take place that can and do alter the trajectory of multiple storylines.
There's just so much here to love, and I had an excellent time no matter which set of characters we were following at the time. I'm trying to hold off on the third book to draw this out - but I know it won't be long until I give in.
November 18, 2022
The Bitter Twins is the second book in The Winnowing Trilogy. I thought book one was good, but this is better.
There were so many new characters in this, and I love the War Beasts, there are so different from the myth and stories about them.
World building and Writing
Sarn, the world of this book is somewhat like a historical dystopian world. Though it's an epic fantasy, the Jurelia has somewhat advanced technology. I love how the author blended fantasy and science fiction in this book.
The book is written in the third person multiple POV, which is straightforward to understand.2
Characters
I love the initial three protagonists in book one, and I love the addition of new characters in this one. Some of them have POV, and some do not.
One of the new characters I adore is Eri, and he's just so amazing. I love the war beasts way more than I thought I would. The fact that they are sentient beings with different personalities makes them all more awesome.
Then there's our protagonist, and Vintage didn't change much, given that she was already a middle-aged woman in book 1, but that didn't stop her character from developing. I love her willingness to learn new things.
Tor is still as arrogant as he was, but he listens more to others and is willing to accept to he isn’t perfect. That's progress.
Finally, Noon. Noon is my favourite character in this series; I love her willing she is to help others despite all she has been through.
Then there's Alisdair, Bern and their war beasts which I adore.
Plot
The ninth rain has begun, and humanity isn't ready. To make things worse for the inhabitants of Sarn, the Eborans are all but gone, and the War Beasts are not only as many as they used to be, but they are also not as strong. Is this the end of the world, or will the Jurelia finally win?
There were so many new characters in this, and I love the War Beasts, there are so different from the myth and stories about them.
World building and Writing
Sarn, the world of this book is somewhat like a historical dystopian world. Though it's an epic fantasy, the Jurelia has somewhat advanced technology. I love how the author blended fantasy and science fiction in this book.
The book is written in the third person multiple POV, which is straightforward to understand.2
Characters
I love the initial three protagonists in book one, and I love the addition of new characters in this one. Some of them have POV, and some do not.
One of the new characters I adore is Eri, and he's just so amazing. I love the war beasts way more than I thought I would. The fact that they are sentient beings with different personalities makes them all more awesome.
Then there's our protagonist, and Vintage didn't change much, given that she was already a middle-aged woman in book 1, but that didn't stop her character from developing. I love her willingness to learn new things.
Tor is still as arrogant as he was, but he listens more to others and is willing to accept to he isn’t perfect. That's progress.
Finally, Noon. Noon is my favourite character in this series; I love her willing she is to help others despite all she has been through.
Then there's Alisdair, Bern and their war beasts which I adore.
Plot
The ninth rain has begun, and humanity isn't ready. To make things worse for the inhabitants of Sarn, the Eborans are all but gone, and the War Beasts are not only as many as they used to be, but they are also not as strong. Is this the end of the world, or will the Jurelia finally win?
July 4, 2019
I'm never sure what to say about the second and third books in a trilogy -- everything feels like a spoiler.
Suffice to say that this second volume picks up right where The Ninth Rain left off, and continues the story in the most absorbing, gripping, impossible-to-stop reading way. These books manage to be character-driven, action-packed, and thematic all at the same time. They explore the question, "What is the meaning and importance of connection? How does it inspire people to both good and harm?" But they never feel preachy. The questions are woven tightly and smoothly into the story line and the characters' experiences and personalities.
I loved learning more about Sarn, its peoples, and its history, both natural and not-so-natural. I loved getting to see more of the Jure'lia and their cold and creepy queen. (The Jure'lia are like an organic mix of the Borg from Star Trek and the replicators from Stargate SG-1. Brrr and ugh.)
The whole book kept me on my toes, with its amazing creativity and never predictable twists, turns, reveals, and discoveries. I love this world. I love the characters, even the villains -- they're all fully fleshed, whole, and complicated, never two-dimensional. Their motives are all too easily understandable, and left me questioning the purity of my own desires right along with theirs. (But not en0ugh to have an existential crisis and stop reading!)
Books 1 and 2 in this trilogy are both 5-star reads, and well worth my having to buy physical copies from the UK. Any US publishers looking at these reviews -- pick Jen Williams up NOW.
Suffice to say that this second volume picks up right where The Ninth Rain left off, and continues the story in the most absorbing, gripping, impossible-to-stop reading way. These books manage to be character-driven, action-packed, and thematic all at the same time. They explore the question, "What is the meaning and importance of connection? How does it inspire people to both good and harm?" But they never feel preachy. The questions are woven tightly and smoothly into the story line and the characters' experiences and personalities.
I loved learning more about Sarn, its peoples, and its history, both natural and not-so-natural. I loved getting to see more of the Jure'lia and their cold and creepy queen. (The Jure'lia are like an organic mix of the Borg from Star Trek and the replicators from Stargate SG-1. Brrr and ugh.)
The whole book kept me on my toes, with its amazing creativity and never predictable twists, turns, reveals, and discoveries. I love this world. I love the characters, even the villains -- they're all fully fleshed, whole, and complicated, never two-dimensional. Their motives are all too easily understandable, and left me questioning the purity of my own desires right along with theirs. (But not en0ugh to have an existential crisis and stop reading!)
Books 1 and 2 in this trilogy are both 5-star reads, and well worth my having to buy physical copies from the UK. Any US publishers looking at these reviews -- pick Jen Williams up NOW.
March 19, 2018
As waiting goes this has come out only one year on which is about normal for most sequal unless you are George R R Martin or Patrick Ruffuss who does give care .
This even thicker by 100+ pages so at £14.99 for Large format paper back not seen it in Hard back this not bad for hell lot .Started on day we lost Ken Dodd the funniest man on the planet Dark as ink dark as hell much creeper with hint of The Borg Queen .
A map,a journey & no idea what title means
I wonder what vol.3 will be called?
This better than the Ninth Rain but because it is a sequal it cannot be voted as top book because I don't like top book to be a sequal it has to stand on its own. Over years books like Oliver Twist, Moby Dick or Forever Amber not squeals.
Dark liquid that control's the mind & flashbacks I wish had started with other Rains first but she could later. You could get more books from earlier periods.
I almost feel that put in the deep end of the Crimson moon's orbit.
This even thicker by 100+ pages so at £14.99 for Large format paper back not seen it in Hard back this not bad for hell lot .Started on day we lost Ken Dodd the funniest man on the planet Dark as ink dark as hell much creeper with hint of The Borg Queen .
A map,a journey & no idea what title means
I wonder what vol.3 will be called?
This better than the Ninth Rain but because it is a sequal it cannot be voted as top book because I don't like top book to be a sequal it has to stand on its own. Over years books like Oliver Twist, Moby Dick or Forever Amber not squeals.
Dark liquid that control's the mind & flashbacks I wish had started with other Rains first but she could later. You could get more books from earlier periods.
I almost feel that put in the deep end of the Crimson moon's orbit.
June 12, 2019
Absolutely magnificent! Vintage and the crew were fabulous. I do feel sorry for Celaphon- he only wants his family...this is original, unique fantasy AND sci fi at its best. Recommended but start with the Ninth Rain.
February 16, 2024
5 stars.
I mean is anyone really surprised? I am obssessed with this world and I couldn't be happier that I'm letting myself binge the series.
This second installment went some places I didn't expect - which is one of the things I love about this series; I can never predict what's going to happen - and these new developments expanded the scope of the story immensely.
In order to achieve these new plot lines, I do feel that Williams left some of the threads from the first book hanging for a bit too long, but I I was so invested in every page of this story that it didn't hinder my reading experience in the slightest.
The stakes are steadily increasing, with the odds turning against the characters we've grown to love. This is definitely the "shit gets worse before it gets better" portion of this trilogy, but I'm here for the ride.
On to The Poison Song!
I mean is anyone really surprised? I am obssessed with this world and I couldn't be happier that I'm letting myself binge the series.
This second installment went some places I didn't expect - which is one of the things I love about this series; I can never predict what's going to happen - and these new developments expanded the scope of the story immensely.
In order to achieve these new plot lines, I do feel that Williams left some of the threads from the first book hanging for a bit too long, but I I was so invested in every page of this story that it didn't hinder my reading experience in the slightest.
The stakes are steadily increasing, with the odds turning against the characters we've grown to love. This is definitely the "shit gets worse before it gets better" portion of this trilogy, but I'm here for the ride.
On to The Poison Song!
July 28, 2022
با اینکه جلد اولو بیشتر دوست داشتم اما قلبم برای تک تکشون پر پر شد 🥺
ا
ا
January 6, 2020
The Bitter Twins had the same atmosphere as Ninth Rain, there is still a lot of mystery to uncover told in a slow paced manner that immerses you into this world. This time a lot of the adventure is along with the War beasts! I love these talking majestic creatures that have elements of several animals.
We continue where Ninth Rain ended with a small time gap. Hard not to be spoilery but we get inside info about the Queen and the Jure'lia! Very fascinating alien creatures with insect like aspects. I love the story behind them and how connected they are.
I really enjoy all the characters along with the few new ones. They have such great personality and there is this slow building romance. The attention to growing and genuine care between people is beautifully told.
The Jure'lia are scattered and not at their top strength. The gang makes use of this and try to get more answers. They find hints of an island. They split up and the quest is awesome and there so much mystery and danger that they throw themselves in. It was strange!
I like how we get to know more about these mysterious enemies and how the world came to be. We are still left with many questions which keeps me hooked. The slow pace is perfect cause it gives all the characters the attention they deserve, their mannerisms and growth gets a lot of detail. I can't wait to dive into the finale!
We continue where Ninth Rain ended with a small time gap. Hard not to be spoilery but we get inside info about the Queen and the Jure'lia! Very fascinating alien creatures with insect like aspects. I love the story behind them and how connected they are.
I really enjoy all the characters along with the few new ones. They have such great personality and there is this slow building romance. The attention to growing and genuine care between people is beautifully told.
The Jure'lia are scattered and not at their top strength. The gang makes use of this and try to get more answers. They find hints of an island. They split up and the quest is awesome and there so much mystery and danger that they throw themselves in. It was strange!
I like how we get to know more about these mysterious enemies and how the world came to be. We are still left with many questions which keeps me hooked. The slow pace is perfect cause it gives all the characters the attention they deserve, their mannerisms and growth gets a lot of detail. I can't wait to dive into the finale!
April 13, 2018
High Five (stars)!
This sequel bossed it fo' sho' (I'm down with the kids).
Laughs. Cries. Gasps. Growls. There's some of all of that as the Ninth Rain continues.
There's some surprising twists and HUGE b@stard betrayals in this book, with real curse moments where you want to throttle characters (in a way that is clearly intended by Jen Williams - shakes fist at her wordsmithing of my emotions).
Battles are present and frikkin cinematic and kewl. People get hurt and some even deaded. I was quite out of breath at the end of some scenes, both from holding it and the exertion of living out those tense moments. Intrigue in swathes. Mystery in wholesale size bundles that are later spilled across your lap in a cascade of, "NO FUCKING WAY"s and "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME, BRAH!"s. Truly.
I'm ranting and raving (about this series) and, well, I'm going to leave it there because I'm sleep depraved and ready for bed. Read it, mother funkies. Read it NOW! ;-)
Peace out. Much love. XX
JP
PS/ Nope, I'm sober, actually.
This sequel bossed it fo' sho' (I'm down with the kids).
Laughs. Cries. Gasps. Growls. There's some of all of that as the Ninth Rain continues.
There's some surprising twists and HUGE b@stard betrayals in this book, with real curse moments where you want to throttle characters (in a way that is clearly intended by Jen Williams - shakes fist at her wordsmithing of my emotions).
Battles are present and frikkin cinematic and kewl. People get hurt and some even deaded. I was quite out of breath at the end of some scenes, both from holding it and the exertion of living out those tense moments. Intrigue in swathes. Mystery in wholesale size bundles that are later spilled across your lap in a cascade of, "NO FUCKING WAY"s and "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME, BRAH!"s. Truly.
I'm ranting and raving (about this series) and, well, I'm going to leave it there because I'm sleep depraved and ready for bed. Read it, mother funkies. Read it NOW! ;-)
Peace out. Much love. XX
JP
PS/ Nope, I'm sober, actually.
July 15, 2019
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
The Bitter Twins picks up just after The Ninth Rain left off, in terms of where we find our characters and just how much trouble they're in (yes, all of it, naturally). It's an epic sequel as war breaks out, with each side still far weaker than they'd like. Expect more unusual quests, some spectacular action sequences, plenty of opportunities to shout HESTILLION WHAT WHY NO and a slow build to a thought-provoking climax. The pacing is measured, but Jen Williams does a brilliant job of drawing out the tension - this is very much a book that had me on the edge of my seat wanting to yell advice at beloved characters as they made terrible decisions or failed to spot threats creeping up on them. It makes for a very satisfying read and cemented Jen Williams as an author whose books I will read and recommend without a second thought. Can't wait for the third (and final) instalment.
Full review
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Bitter Twins picks up just after The Ninth Rain left off, in terms of where we find our characters and just how much trouble they're in (yes, all of it, naturally). It's an epic sequel as war breaks out, with each side still far weaker than they'd like. Expect more unusual quests, some spectacular action sequences, plenty of opportunities to shout HESTILLION WHAT WHY NO and a slow build to a thought-provoking climax. The pacing is measured, but Jen Williams does a brilliant job of drawing out the tension - this is very much a book that had me on the edge of my seat wanting to yell advice at beloved characters as they made terrible decisions or failed to spot threats creeping up on them. It makes for a very satisfying read and cemented Jen Williams as an author whose books I will read and recommend without a second thought. Can't wait for the third (and final) instalment.
Full review
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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