Ninth Rain is an interesting, world-building adventure that has elements of other fantasies and ties them together for a whole that is honestly a bit difficult to summarize without sounding like a crazy person. The story follows three primary POVs: Noon, a young witch imprisoned for her powers, Tormalin the Oathless, an Eboran mercenary (kind of like an elf/vampire hybrid) with serious Geralt of Rivia vibes and his employer, Lady Vincenza "Vintage" de Grazon, a noble scholar determined to find out all she can about a race of monsters that once devastated the world and were driven off only at great cost. The signs that Vintage has discovered point to the return of the monsters and with the decimation of the Eborans who had been all that kept them from destroying the world, if they do come back, there is very little to stop them.

The Ninth Rain is a book that definitely deserves the recent attention it's been getting, I'd love to see a US publisher pick this one up so it becomes more readily available. The worldbuilding had me very interested but honestly it's the characters that really sell this one. The banter between the three main characters is fantastic and had me laughing throughout, I was continually interested in how they worked together (and sometimes didn't) and genuinely rooted for them the entire time. The only thing that kept this from being a five star read for me is that the monsters, the Jur'elia, completely grossed me out and parts of it had me reluctant to read the dreadful bits. Not a reflection on the writing, but on my personal enjoyment.

Overall, if you aren't turned off by a somewhat slower pace as the suspense of the monsters potential return and the slow reveals of worldbuilding, Ninth Rain is well worth picking up. I will probably end up re-reading this next year so that I can actually finish the series.