The Winnowing Flame Trilogy
#2144.11 adjusted 4.10 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 3 books Status Complete 2017–2019 Reading commitment Medium Jen Williams Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Overview
The Winnowing Flame Trilogy is Jen Williams's complete epic fantasy trilogy (2017-2019), set in a world scarred by past invasions from an alien, world-eating force known as the Jure'lia. A washed-up adventurer, an exiled war-witch, and a fallen scholar are drawn together as the threat reawakens, forcing them to confront both the Jure'lia's return and the fractured, secretive society that has grown up in the aftermath of earlier invasions. The trilogy comprises The Ninth Rain (2017), The Bitter Twins (2018), and The Poison Song (2019), following the same core trio across an escalating war. It won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel twice, for The Ninth Rain in 2018 and for The Bitter Twins in 2019, with The Poison Song also shortlisted, and the trilogy as a whole was nominated for Best Series at the 2020 Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards.
Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (3 works) counts toward ranking
The Winnowing Flame Trilogy Jen Williams
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Ninth Rain | 2017 | core | 4.08 (10,782 ratings) |
 | The Bitter Twins | 2018 | core | 4.07 (5,850 ratings) |
 | The Poison Song | 2019 | core | 4.22 (4,700 ratings) |
Complete trilogy; the first two volumes each won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Quick answers
- How many books are in The Winnowing Flame Trilogy? The Winnowing Flame Trilogy's Core Canon is 3 books.
- What is the reading order for The Winnowing Flame Trilogy? Publication order, starting with The Ninth Rain. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is The Winnowing Flame Trilogy finished? Complete (2017–2019).
- How much reading does The Winnowing Flame Trilogy take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 3 Core Canon books · ~1,120 pages).
- How is The Winnowing Flame Trilogy ranked? #214 in this site's official ranking, based on 21,332 reader ratings across 3 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #214?
Ranked #214 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.11 across 3 core books.
- A smaller readership (21,332 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 3 rated core books rate within 0.15 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #213, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn / Osten Ard (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 3 books · Complete · 21k ratings · Ranks #214 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (3 Core Canon books)
- The Ninth Rain (2017)
- The Bitter Twins (2018)
- The Poison Song (2019)
Awards (verified)
- British Fantasy Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2018: won: The Ninth Rain
- British Fantasy Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2019: won: The Bitter Twins
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.11 across 21,332 ratings on 3 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: The Winnowing Flame Trilogy admitted as a new universe accepted 2026-08-21
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-21
Rule: Core Canon = all three novels, one continuous story read in publication order.