The second in the Winnowing Fire trilogy, it has been a while since I invested myself in a full trilogy. Because this is the second in the trilogy, major spoilers of the ending of The Ninth Rain. I can say without getting into the premise, that I enjoyed the world-building again. I thought that the world was completely built at the end of the first novel, but Jen Williams continues to add new locations and more mystery in the story. That was actually one of the most surprising aspects to me is that the idea to exploring the world and solving a puzzle was present in this novel.
Just like the first novel, I believe this one is a bit of a slow burn. It begins with an action scene, but a lot of time is spent on character relationships. While the first novel focused mostly on Noon and Tormalin’s interactions and them growing closer, this novel is more about how everyone’s relationships are combative with their respective war beasts.
The Juraliya have returned, but their ships are weak and disconnected from the hive mind. If they were at full strength, the four war beasts that were the only ones to hatch so far would be no match for them. The war beasts, without their root memories, and disjointed and bicker amongst themselves. The two that are most often at each other’s throats are Vostock, Noon’s dragon, and Kirin, Tormalin’s winged cat. The tumultuous relationships of the war beasts bleeds into Noon and Tor’s relationship.
Hestillion is with the Juraliya with a war beast pod of her own. The Juraliya queen seems interested in doing things differently this time, and Hestillion is part of that. The Queen thinks of Hestillion as a sort of ambassador, but the queen has no interest in peace. I like the fact that the story is a blend of fantasy and science fiction. It reminds me of the Coldfire trilogy by Celia S. Friedman.
It was also a nice change of pace to see both the Juraliya and war beasts at diminished strength. It adds a level of desperation to both sides of the armies. If one side were to unlock their full strength before the other, they’d have a definitive victory. I am reminded of actual wars and battles and the fact that it’s not just about your armies’ abilities, but also logistics.
With the first book, I felt like the LGBTQ factors were somewhat muted. I don’t need them to be upfront and center, but when I hear LGBTTQ in fiction, I usually assume there will be one major same-sex relationship throughout the book. Vintage and Nanthema got together at the end, but it wasn’t until then that I realized their relationship was romantic in nature. I thought they were closer research partners up until they met up again. But maybe I’m just dense and missed earlier mentions. I thought Bern and Aldasair also had an unspoken attraction, but nothing ever happened between them in the first book. I felt that the same-sex relationships were much more prevalent in The Bitter Twins.
I also enjoyed how in both books the title had a dual meaning. The first was named after Tormalin’s weapon, and the second is named after Bern the younger’s twin axes. A second meaning comes up later in the book. Although not as obvious as The Ninth Rain being both Tormalin’s sword and the prophesized return of the Juraliya, I think there is enough information to say that the title, The Bitter Twins, applies to the war beasts because they are all brothers and sisters born from pods at the same time.
I will be reading the third and final installment in the series. This is the type of book that I’d love for them to make a series of. I don’t think it would work as a movie because of the length and amount of detail in the story, but a multi-season series could do it justice. The concurrent stories happening in different locations remind me of how a series would be portrayed to keep the audience invested in the character they’ve grown to love while also showing the other characters moving forward in the plot. The benefit of making this into a series is that unlike another HBO fantasy series, the books are all finished at this point and the final season wouldn’t need to be winged.
If you read the first book and enjoyed it, definitely check out the second. I mean you read all the way through the first book just to get to five minutes of dragon. Now the second book is really about the war beasts and their bonds with their riders.