The Ninth Rain

Quotes

Genre

• Fantasy
• Science Fiction
• Fiction
• LGBTQ+

Trigger Warnings

• Death
• Gore
• Violence
• Blood
• Burns
• Sexual Content
• Violence against animals
• Torture
• Forced institutionalization
• Drug use
• War
• Genocide
• Terminal Illness

*There may be spoilers in this review. I will try to avoid major spoilers but some may need to be brought up to be discussed.

Summary

The great city of Ebora once glittered with gold. Now its streets are stalked by wolves. Tormalin the Oathless has no taste for sitting around waiting to die while the realm of his storied ancestors falls to pieces – talk about a guilt trip. Better to be amongst the living, where there are taverns full of women and wine.

When eccentric explorer, Lady Vincenza ‘Vintage’ de Grazon, offers him employment, he sees an easy way out. Even when they are joined by a fugitive witch with a tendency to set things on fire, the prospect of facing down monsters and retrieving ancient artifacts is preferable to the abomination he left behind.

But not everyone is willing to let the Eboran empire collapse, and the adventurers are quickly drawn into a tangled conspiracy of magic and war. For the Jure’lia are coming, and the Ninth Rain must fall…

Characters

• Lady Vincenza ‘Vintage’ de Grazon
• Noon – A fell witch
• Tormalin the Oathless – an Eboran prince
• Hestillion – Tor’s sister
• Aldasair – Tor’s cousin
• Ygseril – the god tree
• Jure’lea – the invasive alien worm people

Setting

Sarn, a decaying realm

Overview

This was a surprise gem for me. I didn’t know what I was picking up but past me put it on the TBR so I just went for it. Good call past me, ’cause holy cow.

There are strong female characters left and right. The world building was engaging and lush. The plot moved at a good pace and there were just the right amount of perspectives to keep things interesting but not overwhelming. The writing style worked really well for me and I am just surprised I don’t hear more people talking about this one.

Pros

The world is one of the highlights of the book. I felt like I could picture the woods clearly, see the Winnowry and the bowels of its cells. The monsters and the descriptions that came along with their interactions with the characters were unique and very, very, horrifying.

I was a touch surprised by the tree vampires being a thing. And that I didn’t dismiss it outright. But with this one and The Serpent and the Wings of Night I guess I do still like a vampire story in the end. They had an established culture and you could feel the decay that the death of their god tree has caused. The rules and work arounds made sense and weren’t too distracting from the plot.

Vintage and Noon were a lot of fun to hang out with. Vintage especially was mysterious and compelling as a character. I personally liked the journal bits, it added to the world building and to her character overall. Noon I found myself paying a lot of attention to. I think some of her dialogue was a bit stilted but it made sense for her background and experiences. Y’know being locked up for most of her life. I liked her approach though and her reaction to the voice in her head felt like something I might do.

I really, really liked the giant bat.

Cons

It was a slower start but it had enough of an engaging story line to keep me invested. The writing style can drag a little and there are some clunkier dialogue moments that could be distracting. The biggest complaint I could probably point to would be the pacing of some chapters, especially in the beginning-middle. There were moments I felt myself tuning out and not necessarily caring that I was missing part of the story. I was into the story enough that I caught back up pretty easily but I could see some audiences not really vibing with the writing.

I really liked the Jure’lia but the twist at the end with the queen really wasn’t all that surprising. It doesn’t always have to be but it felt like it was trying to build up to a big reveal that was pretty obvious in the end.

Final Thoughts

I haven’t really seen it pop up on any of the book channels I’m plugged into so I was kind of surprised when I saw so many other reviews talking about how over hyped it was. I don’t think I have seen it anywhere except my TBR for years.

That being said I was surprised it wasn’t a bigger deal, especially with the female leads. It won awards but people really aren’t talking about it nowadays when they are crying out for these types of characters.

I thought it was pretty great. There were some dry spells but it didn’t mess with the overall experience. It blended the lines between fantasy and sci-fi pretty well but it is one of those I wouldn’t recommend unless you like the prose heavy kind of fantasy. It has unique monsters and a unique apocalypse that can keep fantasy fans happy.

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