The Bitter Twins by Jen Williams – Review

Published: March 8, 2018

Publisher: Headline

Series: The Winnowing Flame #2

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 633 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4 Stars

Synopsis:
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.

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The Bitter Twins picks up right after the dramatic final events of The Ninth Rain and we find Noon, Tormalin, Bern, and Aldasair learning to work together with their warbeasts. It’s going very poorly since all but the dragon Vostok lost their memories of their past lives. Though they struggle valiantly against the Jure’lia, the future is bleak. 

Simultaneously, Vintage and the newly freed Nanthema are headed back to Ebora to rendezvous with their friends. Along the way they run into Eri, a young Eboran who was raised in isolation and whose parents are now dead. And then there’s Hestillion… she has seemingly allied herself with the Jure’lia and is raising her sickly warbeast, who she has named Celaphon, in the halls of their strange ship. 

Again, I really love this cast of characters. Vintage especially maintains a sense of humor no matter her circumstances, which I heartily appreciate. The rest of the cast is dealing with various awful, stressful events that would overwhelm anyone without their fortitude. Noon and Tormalin set off on what may be a wasted journey to find dream-containing artifacts created by the premier Eboran artist and are beset by struggles the whole way. Bern and Aldasair set off on a mission of their own shortly after and face their own challenges, which I could argue are worse than what Noon and Tormalin find. I do appreciate that the war-beasts are displaying their personalities so prominently as well, especially because the only one with past memories is Vostok. The “incomplete” war-beasts resent her authoritativeness and sometimes, in Kirune’s case, even the person bound to them.

Overall, this was a much darker installment in comparison with The Ninth Rain, but it was not without its bright spots. The character development is wonderful and the worldbuilding feels so original, bordering on sci-fi. The Jure’lia are a fascinating, disgusting enemy, though perhaps I’m biased by their insectoid and goopy descriptions. I’d love to dive right into The Poison Song, but thanks to my overwhelming reading schedule that probably won’t be until December.