#An Ana and Din Mystery

[abigailspinach]

A Drop of Corruption: An Ana and Din Mystery (Shadow of the Leviathan Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Robert Jackson Bennett 

Book 2 of 2: Shadow of the Leviathan

The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup. In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside. To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol. Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost. Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn. Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat.

[dwellordream]

Books Recs of 2024

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Mystery/fantasy centered around Din, a young assistant investigator assigned to help an eccentric and infamous detective, Ana Dolabra, solve a series of murders. Din is an engraver, his brain altered so he has a photographic memory. However, no one is quite sure how he got his current position, since he failed every single one of his final exams except the combat portion. Ana is an exceedingly odd woman who refuses to go to any crime scene in person and often performs mad science experiments in her spare time. As Din struggles to keep up with the case, which revolves around a bioweapon being unleashed on a series of the empire's best engineers, he also worries what will happen when Ana finally uncovers his secrets.

Highfire by Eoin Colfer. Urban fantasy (very comedic fantasy) about a dragon called Vern (short for Wyvern), who teams up with a juvenile delinquent named Squib (real name Everett Moreau) to take down a corrupt sheriff who is plaguing the Lousiana bayou. Vern is a very small (seven feet long) dragon who is the last of his kind (as far as he knows). When he is spotted by a local troubled teen, his first instinct is to hunt Squib down and kill him, but he quickly realizes the two of them have a common enemy- the murderous sheriff who is running drugs through their territory.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi. Magical realism about a romantic-minded art historian who is swept off his feet by a mysterious and charming heiress. After a whirlwind courtship, the happy couple return to her childhood home; a Gothic manor on a lonely island. The more time our narrator spends around his wife's past, the more questions are raised- increasingly sinister ones about who she is and what exactly she is capable of. Once upon a time, she was best friends with an equally odd and dreamy little girl named Indigo. But no one has seen Indigo for many years now- and the Flower Bride may be behind her disappearance.

Chlorine by Jade Song. Horror/magical realism. Since childhood, Ren's entire identity has been wrapped up in swimming. If she can be strong enough, fast enough, special enough, success is sure to come her way. As the end of high school approaches, Ren's passion for swimming becomes less about her future, and more about past legends of mermaids and sirens dragging sailors into the deep. School, friends, and her parents' expectations all fall away- Ren will make her home in the water, no matter what she has to do.

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza. Realistic fiction. Jen and Riley have been best friends for as long as they can remember, despite their vastly different childhoods. Riley is from a middle class Black family; Jen was raised by an impoverished white single mother. After twenty years of doing almost everything together, their lives are at a crossroads- Riley is a news anchor about to take Philadelphia by storm, while Jen is expecting her first child with her police officer husband. When Jen's husband is involved in the murder of a Black teenage boy by a fellow officer, Riley finds herself expected to cover the story- and Jen finds herself expected to answer for her husband's actions- and her own beliefs about what racism looks like.

Queenpin by Megan Abbott. Crime thriller/noir. Our nameless heroine lives a mousy existence working as a bookkeeper for a rundown local night club, but her life is turned upside down when the infamous Gloria Denton, a gun moll and smuggler, takes her under her wing. Gloria transforms her young protege from a timid girl to a sophisticated, cunning woman capable of handling gangsters, conmen, thieves, and bookies, but when she falls for the wrong man, her relationship with Gloria is strained, and they must decide just how far they can trust one another.

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen. Historical fiction. Based on the real life trial of Katharina Kepler, mother of the famed Johannes Kepler, Imperial Mathematician to the Holy Roman Empire. Katharina is a busybody, a domineering and devilishly clever woman with a particular talent for healing. She is also a fiercely loyal mother to her adult children, but when an old neighborhood grudge flares into accusations of poison and witchcraft, Katharina is determined not to meekly confess and beg pardon. The more she lashes out at her neighbors and the authorities, the more charges begin to pile up against her- despite her son's desperate attempts to save her from torture and execution.

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott. Crime thriller/noir. Based on a real life murder case in 1931 Phoenix Arizona. Naive and sheltered Marion Seeley is deposited in Phoenix by her disgraced doctor husband, who is forced to take a job with a mining company in South America after his medical license is revoked. Marion befriends the vivacious Louise and Ginny, two fellow nurses, who introduce her to the underground party scene in Phoenix. Politicians and businessmen flock to the secret parties held by them, and it's a quick way to make money on the side. Drawn in by the luxury and thrills, Marion falls in love with Joe Lanigan, a powerful local politician, but as their affair intensifies, her friendship with the other women fractures, culminating in a gruesome crime.

[tinynavajoreads]

Currently Reading: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennet

Hey guys! Don't know if you read my posts over on WordPress but I am currently doing a 12 Month Library Challenge this year where I go to my local public library at least once a month and find a book based on the prompt for each month. And January's prompt is Something related to my tabletop gaming group. And this is pretty close!

We (tabletop group) are an investigative agency, and we go around solving cases. We are currently working on the murder/death of a young fae man who was a bookshop assistant. And we are just getting started!

The Tainted Cup is a murder mystery set in a fantasy world full of huge monsters with the same old problems of the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. But the way mysteries are solved is interesting, involving a duo: investigator and assistant. Both have augments of some sort, as do most people in this world.

We're following Din, and engraver and assistant investigator to Ana, and we're not sure of all of her augments. Just that she is using everything she has to the extreme.

[victoriaperpetua]

Book Review: A Drop of Corruption

For the first book in this series, The Tainted Cup, I wrote, “Wow! Two of my favorite things in one book—a murder mystery (plural, actually) and a fully conceived fantasy world unlike any I’ve ever read.” That’s still true with A Drop of Corruption. Except this time, you get to learn so much more about Ana and Din. As I noted previously, the series contains great characters—imperfect and…

[elliepassmore]

The Tainted Cup review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, sci-fi, greenpunk, murder mysteries, powers, disability rep

Big thanks to Netgalley, Del Rey, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

To start, I'll say I'm not sure whether to classify this book as fantasy or sci-fi since I feel it has elements of both. The world the book is set in is 'greenpunk,' with buildings grown from plants and things like AC from mushrooms, and the characters have powers augmented through some kind of medical procedure. At the same time though, there are leviathans that rise from the ocean depths and threaten the empire. The genre isn't really important, but I will say it isn't super clear-cut and think it could fit easily into both sci-fi and fantasy.

The world in the book is super interesting. As mentioned, the buildings are largely grown from plants, with some more plant-like than others. A lot of the buildings have fernpaper walls, which serve well to keep out the humidity and don't mold, while also being sturdy enough to stand and not too heavy in the case of an earthquake. A couple of buildings are made from a different plant that can be grown in any shape, allowing for a more personalized architecture. Plants are pretty central to life in the book, and are used for additional things like AC, vaccination, medical treatments, and human augmentation. I love all the plant stuff and think the focus on 'green' things is a really interesting worldbuilding piece that isn't used nearly often enough. We get a good background on how the greenery works without going too in-depth, though I honestly could read an encyclopedia on this world and be happy.

In terms of the augmentation, there's a breakdown of the different augments people can have, with grafts being temporary and more for things like increased immunity in humans or faster growing in plants, while suffusions are permanent and change a lot more about a person/plant. If someone is employed by the empire and has a suffusion they're called a Sublime, with Sublimes categorized into how their suffusion works (axioms are good w/ numbers, linguas are good w/ languages, spatiasts are good w/ spatial relations, engravers who memorize everything, cracklers who are superhumanly strong, etc.). It was really interesting to read about the suffusions and the different Sublimes, and I really enjoyed the background info we get on the augmentations. I also thought it was pretty cool how the augmentations seem to be everywhere, including to help plants do different things and to help medications and vaccines be produced against the wide range of issues people might come across.

While this is a SFF story, the bulk of it is the murder mystery. It's twisty and deliberate, but at the same time has moments when it's very fun. Ana reminds me at times of Benoit Blanc from Knives Out and I really enjoyed her method to solving mysteries. There's a good mix of humor and seriousness here, and I think Bennett struck a good balance between the two.

Din is a Sublime engraver recently assigned to be Ana's investigative assistant. He's a rule follower and so his and Ana's approaches clash at times, though never majorly. Din is very clearly dyslexic, which gave him trouble in training, and at times he runs up against needing to read things during the investigation, but he's figured out a work around using his engraving skills which I found to be a really smart way of going about it. He's clever and a good observer, and is able to put the pieces of things together quickly even though he's new to investigating. I liked seeing things through his eyes and and way he would meticulously go through a scene to find evidence. It was particularly interesting how he interviewed people because Din seems to have a knack for knowing how to circle a conversation around to what he really wants to know without being too obvious about it, thus putting the interviewee at ease and getting them to open up. It was wonderfully subtle the way he got people to open up.

Ana is the main investigator on the case and is not the sort of investigator you'd expect. She prefers to stay in her house (or later on, in her borrowed rooms) rather than going outside to investigate on her own, and when she does leave the comfort of her accommodations, it's with a blindfold on. I suspected she was autistic throughout the book, and then toward the end she basically comes out and says it (without saying it since...you know...this is a SFF novel not set in our world with our terminology). She's quick to make deductive leaps and is often several steps ahead of everyone else involved. It was fun to read as she snapped through deduction after deduction, using the evidence Din collected, and coming to a conclusion that made sense but you didn't always see coming. Ana is also pretty funny and I enjoyed the humor she brought to the book.

There are a bunch of side characters who come in and out of the story as needed, and I found them to be pretty well fleshed out. It definitely felt like each character had their own lives and concerns and didn't just cease to exist once they left Din's presence. Miljin is the side character who's probably around the most, he's one of the investigators working the case with Ana and Din. At first his demeanor was pretty gruff and unwelcoming, so I didn't think I'd like him much, but over the course of the book his character grew on me and I actually ended up liking him a lot. He's just the kind of person that doesn't immediately warm up to people, but once he does he's got quite the quick brain and lots of humor and advice to go around.

As mentioned, the main point of this book is the mystery. At the beginning, Ana was making all sorts of leaps that I just took her word for, but as the story continued, I began being able to make guesses of my own. Some of the stuff I was able to guess correctly, sometimes in a surprising way, but other times I was still puzzling it out when Ana and the others came to their conclusions. There are so many moving pieces and different elements to the mystery going on in this book, I enjoyed trying to figure out the solution myself as well as seeing what the actual solution was.

Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. This is the kind of book that makes me want more SFF backgrounds for mystery books, it added a really interesting layer to things that I enjoyed.

[axel-mania]

The Tainted Cup was so good. It's set in this gross sci-fi/fantasy setting where all their advancements come from genetic engineering, using a base of skyscraper sized monster carcasses. Metal and machines are rare and limited to Victorian age technology. Almost every tool and building is made of plants. Everyone's skin is graying out, everyone is getting infected with worms all the time, all the cool modifications you can get that make you super smart or super tough inevitably shorten your lifespan or eventually make you go insane. And yet it's not a particularly dark book. The Tainted Cup wants you to have fun, but it's not as white-washed as something you'd call cozy fantasy. The book opens with the protagonist, Din, investigating a high ranking military officer who died because a tree exploded out of his body and grew up into the ceiling. We then quickly encounter a mass murder and the breach of a monster into a town which kills hundreds of people.

This is mainly a mystery story. Every scene revealed a new piece of the puzzle and set up a new scene with several interesting possibilities for how it would go. I quickly became engrossed and wanted to finish the book in a single sitting. What drew me in initially though was the second main character, Ana, a middle-aged Sherlock type. She blindfolds herself to think better, which leads to all kinds of weird behavior to compensate. I loved seeing this kind of female character, an amoral, experienced woman who is powerful enough she's allowed to be extremely rude and childish to almost anyone. The protagonist is fun too, a failson too old to be a student with a powerful modification that lets him memorize anything. His detective skills are limited by his anxious rule-following and dyslexia.

Political corruption is a huge theme, how this nice little rational military structure the empire has built falls instantly to anyone associated with a rich land-owning family. Myth-making that convinces you it's worth it to die young for the empire is deeply entrenched, and yet deserters lurk everywhere, trying to escape towards the safer areas of the empire where the rich live. Because the book is from the perspective of someone who deeply believes in this system, it's barely challenged. He thinks we just need good people to be put in the right places and then the system is perfect. I couldn't help but wonder why the political leadership of this empire, if they're so great, didn't just go all Mao on the landowners.

This won't be a good read for literary fiction fans or people who want something character driven, but otherwise I'd highly recommend it.

[meltotheany]

Goodreads | Amazon US | B&N | Blackwell’s | Bookshop “And when the Empire is weak, it is often because a powerful few have denied us the abundance of our people.” if you’re looking for a fantasy murder mystery that has a sherlock and watson dynamic, with a setting that feels like you were dropping into attack on titans, with themes of systemic injustice, and discussions on classism, with a story that follows a queer mc with a learning disability… well, i am here to tell you to please look no further in this world, the land is separated by rings, and those rings are walls that are constantly being reinforced to keep leviathans out and the people safe. especially the outermost wall, that is also constantly being manned by a military force. also in this world, people are able to get magical augmentations that enhance abilities – and there is a vast range of different augmentations from strength, to sight, or even memory. this land, these augmentations, and different sorts of technological advancements are constantly changing and evolving because of the flora and the importance of the array of plant life on this land. also, this story takes place right on the cusp of the wet season, where the land is less forgiving, alongside the leviathans trying to breach the walls. and if the leviathans do reach the shores, their blood and bodies have a very strange effect on the land and can make a place completely uninhabitable. and lastly, a murder rather unusual, involving the flora in this world, just happened and no one has any clues as to why or how, but the empire needs it solved before the wet season officially hits. this story follows an assistant to a detective, named dim, who is an engraver, which means he has an enhancement that allows him to remember everything he is seeing, and relay it back to his detective with 100% accuracy and certainty. this is because of an augmentation that he has, and he is able to extra anchor the memories with a vial of a fragrance he is able to tie the experience to. and truly, him exploring all of these places, and manors, and crime scenes, and attaching all of these clues to scent, was one of my favorite parts of this book. but the detective herself? oh, ana is the best character i’ve read in years! truly a new favorite for me! ana is a bit of a mystery herself throughout the book, so i don’t want to say too much, but she seems to be banished to the outer ring, but she needed a new assistant for a murder mystery in which she is very much needed to solve. and together we watch din and her work together and try to find the murderer(s), while more and more mystery ensues. this was just a really fresh story, and something that really pushed the bounds of both fantasy and mystery genres. yet, also combining both and making a really beautiful and harmonious experience for readers. this felt different to read, and special to consume, and it really surpassed absolutely every expectation i had prior to purchasing this book at b&n because i love the trend of covers being printed directly on hardcovers with no dust jackets. “Born into systems beyond our control, into relationships and organizations that obligate us to change, all so our families may prosper… That’s what the empire is, isn’t it?” to me, this story really also discusses themes of classism and social injustice, where the rich colonizers get to live in safety in the most inner walls, while also having the money to protect themselves from any and all things. while the essential workers who are trying to make all the walls and land a safer and better place are forced to work and live in unsafe conditions. and while people from impoverished communities are forced to give everything they have, in hopes that something will make it back to their families so they will be able to live a tiny bit of a better life. (please know, there is a lot more i want to say, but i won’t because of spoilers – but i really loved some of the themes and thoughts that i felt like were presented within this story!!) “If you ...

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Adult, Fantasy Mystery

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Content Warning: Murder, Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Ableism, Drug use, Classism, War

Summary:

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

*Opinions*

Robert Jackson Bennett’s other series, The Founders trilogy, was so well received, that it made me interested when this book came out earlier this year. This is compared to a fantasy Sherlock Holmes and Watson (that is like the first line of the description on Goodreads) and while I think that is a fair comparison to make, that does not take into account the huge amount of world-building done in this novel that I think is the true highlight. At its heart, this is a murder mystery, but all the bones and muscles that surround it are what this a truly enjoyable read for me.

The narration follows Dinios Kol, an assistant investigator of the Iudex who has recently been assigned to the eccentric Immunis Ana Dolabra. As the Iudex division is tasked with finding justice when crimes happen within the Empire when the body of a dead Engineer is found at one of the most influential family’s homes with a contagion growing out of his body, Din and Ana are tasked with finding the murderer. Especially because the death happened on the lands of the Haza family and it is unclear if they may be involved or a target of this assassin. The investigation takes Din and Ana out of their smaller town and into the beating heart of the effort of the Empire to keep the Leviathans from making landfall. With the loom of another Leviathan attack, Din and Ana find that many more individuals have been killed with the same contagion, and clues that point to more than one murderer may be at play. Yet, corruption runs deep in the Empire and soon it becomes clear that Din and Ana will only be able to rely on one another. 

This novel reads like a police procedural and I don’t mean that in a bad way. As someone who grew up watching CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and those types of shows, there was a familiarity to the structure of this novel. We are introduced to the first victim, we get information that leads the team to believe that something else is going on, more victims are found and then it is a race to find the killer(s) before they strike again or strike a member of the team. Now, I am not saying that this book is predictable in any way, but Bennett did not reinvent the wheel with the plot structure. I don’t think that every novel needs to do something weird or different, there is comfort in knowing the way a story is going to go even if you are unsure of the steps it will take. As someone who did countless assignments to Law and Order in the background, there was a coziness to it even with all the death and gruesome events that took place.

I think the mystery itself is well crafted so that the reader can pick up on clues while reading so when Ana or Din come to a conclusion, you can follow the logical steps of their explanation to get there. A pitfall that a lot of writers fall into with a Sherlock-esque character is that their leaps in logic are not backed up with textual evidence so the reveal doesn’t feel earned, but just told to the reader. I also hate when the reader is not given the information needed to solve the mystery, it makes it feel as if the writer wants a big twist instead of a fulfilling conclusion. I don’t feel as if Bennett fell into this trap and whenever Ana explained her thought process, it was the aha! Moment it was meant to be. I also appreciated that Din was not just the assistant in her eyes, but also made a number of connections and discoveries himself without Ana’s assistance. He wasn’t just a vehicle for the story, he was a character. 

My favorite part of this novel, however, had to be the world that Bennett wrapped around his mystery. It was lush and dangerous and you are just dropped in to figure it all out. Everything that we are presented with, from the idea of the contagions to the leviathans, to the augmentations and grafts, to the Empire itself is fascinating and I would read a whole novel just about the history of this world. This novel does have a feeling of science fiction about it because it is obvious that science has a large part in this society, but then the Leviathans put it firmly in the realm of fantasy. Bennett’s descriptions are visceral and so well done that I felt like I was in the jungle, or the mud, or looking at a dead body right alongside Din. I cannot wait for other books to see this world expand further.

While in the acknowledgments of this novel, Bennett stated that Ana ended up being close to a Hannibal character, I think she was given enough humanity throughout so that the reader cared about her without her ever being soft. Much like other brilliant minds, she is eccentric and incorrigible and oftentimes rude, but she is also given enough moments when it comes to Din that you see her as a person as well. Then there are small moments where you see that she does care for Din and doesn’t want him to be injured during the investigation. I think having her being overstimulated easily so she had to have her eyes blindfolded, leaving Din to be her eyes, not only is a great plot device for him to be the active member of the investigation but also made her have a vulnerability aside from the inability to talk to people properly. 

Din grew on me throughout the novel. During the first fourth I did not like him or Ana all that much, but the mystery was interesting enough to keep me interested. However, by spending all the time close to Din and what he was thinking and experiencing, I started to care about him and worry when he was put into numerous dangerous situations. I also appreciated that both he and Ana have disabilities that they have to find workarounds to manage. The small bit of romance in this novel was so sweet and so well done, I appreciated its addition to the story, even though it was a small part of this whole novel. I don’t know if we’ll see them together again, but what we got was a perfect accent to the story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this reading experience and gave this a 4.5 rounded down to a 4. I got this from the library but I am totally going to buy a copy and continue on in the series. I need to know more about this world if nothing else. 

[empyrean11]

Recent reads:

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

YES! Yes, yes, yes, I loved this!

First of all, it has all the stuff you need in a good fantasy book: tons of worldbuilding and lore and a fascinating magic system.

BUT! At the heart of it, it's just a good mystery! Maaaybe a few of the clues were a little too obvious, but I can't quibble too much. I like feeling smart 😁

Din and Ana are fantastic, I'll definitely be looking forward to more from them! I hope this will become a very long-running series.

[ebooklibrary]

Shadow Of The Leviathan Series by Robert Jackson Bennett

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery

The Tainted Cup

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

A Drop Of Corruption - COMING APR. 2025

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.

EPUB link

[abigailspinach]

2, 15, 17, and 24 for book ask, please!!

2. Did I reread anything?

I had a mega re-read focus year. I think I wanted comfort books?

I did almost a complete reread of Anne of Green Gables (Skipped Anne of Avolnea and Rainbow Valley - sorry Anne's twee progeny). I also reread Emily of New Moon (another LMM protagonist who is both a writer and an orphan) but Emily is bitchier and more goth and a little bit psychic and the most frustrating love interests.

Plus I reread all of Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and Desdemona novella. Pen is just a good boy who respect women and has a chaos demon living in his head and it's amazing. 10/10 would recommend.

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

Hmmm, scrolling through my notes.

I read "Redemption in Indigo" which won loads of awards in 2008 when released. "Karen Lord’s debut novel won the prestigious Frank Collymore Literary Prize in Barbados, the Mythopeic, Carl Brandon Parallax, and Crawford Awards." I enjoyed it. I really like Caribbean literature and should make a point to add some more to my TBD for 2025.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I hadn't read any Robert Jackson Bennett before because the print copies were very expensive and the e-book queue at the library was long. His previous works looked rather grimdark and I need to be in the right mood for that. I pre-ordered the e-book for the "The Tainted Cup" and I really enjoyed it. It was really fun. Great characters and I love a Watson and Holmes riff.

From Amazon "A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, BookPage In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible. Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior—but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect. By an “endlessly inventive” (Vulture) author with a “wicked sense of humor” (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that’s at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new."

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

The House Witch - started charming-ish but it just kept going and nothing happened that hadn't happened three times before.

Can't Spell Treason without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

My blood pressure kept rising in annoyance so I had to stop. Characters felt shallow, choices made were bizarre, worldbuilding slight. Too cozy for me?

[judgingbooksbycovers]

A Drop of Corruption: An Ana and Din Mystery

By Robert Jackson Bennett.

[pagesandpothos]

May Reading Recap

I read some great books in May! I started off the month a little slow but I found my stride mid-month and ended the month with 3 new 5-star reads. Here's everything that I read in May and my thoughts on each:

For Real by Alexis Hall 🌈

The characters feel very real and I love the growth they sparked in each other. How much I ended up loving them together really surprised me. This is one of my favorites by Alexis Hall and one of the best in the "Spires" series. It's super spicy and made me cry a little too!

🌕🌕🌕🌕

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang 🌈

This is a blend of two queer Chinese love stories, Passion of the Cut Sleeve and Huang Jiulang, reimagined into a reincarnation story. The concept of this is brilliant but the execution wasn't 100% successful.

The characters and relationships all felt flat and unlikeable to me and the second half of the book felt rushed.

It's also not a romance, so this may be a case of the book's marketing leading to incorrect expectations. Don't go into this thinking it is going to be a romantic, grand love story. This is not that at all!

🌕🌕.

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

Great twists and turns with creepy Summer camp vibes. One of the best from Riley Sager!

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

The most fun I've ever had reading a mystery! I love the humor and how meta it is.

🌕🌕🌕🌕

MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious by MrBallen, Robert Venditti, and Andrea Mutti

An upcoming graphic novel of spooky stories that I think is a successful addition to MrBallen's growing storytelling empire. As a long-time fan, I found his stories in this format to be really entertaining and I hope this is not the only graphic novel he releases. I'd love to see this become a series!

I will 100% be reading this again when it officially releases and I think it may become a yearly reread for me around Halloween. I highly recommend it for all fans of the strange, dark, and mysterious!

🌕🌕🌕🌕

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett 🌈

"What a tool cynicism is to the corrupt, claiming the whole of the creation is broken and fraudulent, and thus we are all excused to indulge in whatever sins we wish - for what's a little more unfairness, in this unfair world?"

Plant magic, great worldbuilding, giant monsters, a complex whodunit murder mystery, and a Holmes/Watson-esque duo on the case.... this book has it all! I seriously love the two main characters so much. Ana is ridiculous and so funny. Din is so charming. I need more of them ASAP!

This book had me hooked from the very beginning and I can't say enough good things about it. This is one of the best books I've read all year (maybe even the best)!

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕

Coup de Coeur by Halli Starling 🌈

Interesting characters and plot but the pacing felt a little off at times. The ending is a cliffhanger that sets up a potentially exciting sequel.

🌕 🌕 🌕

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Completely addictive and very fun. I could not put this down! This reminded me a little of season 1 of Veronica Mars, in the best way.

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty 🌈

This has been on my TBR for about a year and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. I genuinely loved every second of reading this and I did not want it to end.

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕

Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller 🌈

A funny, heartfelt, compassionate, and very relevant story about the power of books. I could not put this down!

🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕 🌕

How did I do with my reading goals?

I read one of my Book of the Month titles (The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi) and one from Aardvark Book Club (The Tainted Cup). Those were two of my 5-stars for the month!

I read every day in May and read a total of 3,505 pages.

I continued 1 series ("Spires") that I’m in the middle of.

Most of the books (90%) that I read this month were over 300 pages.

I finished one book (The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi) from my 2024 Priority TBR!

Other Stats:

I read 10 books and my average rating was 4.05. 70% of the books I read this month were in print format and 30% were ebooks.

My top tags were: LGBTQIA+, Mystery, and Fantasy.

[reviewsthatburn]

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book. 

THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett follows the trend of the witty, arbitrarily restricted genius of several recent popular iterations of Sherlock Holmes, but with a danger that feels at once too remote and too specific to make a lot of sense to me. I can tell it's aiming for a thing that I don't like, and so I'm not going to finish it. I like banter, I like witty dialogue, but I think I'm finally at a point in my life where I don't like someone explaining to me how smart they are with information I literally had no access to until this moment. The biggest factor in this DNF is I'd started to feel like I wasn't allowed to finish other books until I struggled through this one, and I don't like books that make me feel like I can't or shouldn't read other books. I'm definitely bothered by one character's personality quirk of wearing a blindfold at all times, and treating a refusal to leave her home as an affectation that exists to annoy other people. The narrative calls attention to it but refuses to explain. I don't enjoy being told repeatedly that I don't need to know something, or at least don't get to have it revealed at this time. It doesn't feel mysterious or interesting, just irritating and petty.

Full review at link

[elliepassmore]

A Drop of Corruption review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: murder mystery, locked room mystery, greenpunk, fantasy

Tainted Cup review

Big thanks to Del Rey, Netgalley, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book picks up about a year after the events of Tainted Cup. This was a bit confusing for me at first because I thought it was happening soon after but Din kept referencing stuff that had happened that I didn't remember, which led to me realizing there was a decent time jump between the two books. On the one hand, I appreciate this because it meant Din and Ana were more familiar with one another and we get to see them as an established investigative duo. On the other hand, Din in particular seems to have changed a good amount and it was jarring to have had that happen off-page.

Din, I thought, seemed settled in his role as an investigator alongside Ana by the end of Tainted Cup. However, this book opens with him wanting to transfer to a Legions division and to help defend against the leviathans that walk from the sea and wreak havoc every wet season. I was definitely thrown off by this and was kind of turned off by it for a bit as well (why would you want to fight leviathans when you could solve bizarre mysteries?!), but luckily it's not really a big plot point. Overall I felt we got to know more of Din in this one than in the first one. He thinks more about his family, as well as his and Ana's previous mysteries, so we get more insight into who he is as a person.

We also get more insight into Ana, both in terms of who she is as well as what her modifications are. I definitely figured some stuff about Ana out waaaay before Din did, but I also have the advantage of reading what's happening and being able to see the big picture, whereas Din is living it and has so much going on. As before, I liked Ana and thought she brought some nice humor to the book. Her investigative methods are definitely a little odd, but damn if she isn't good at figuring things out. She's a fun character to read, and I liked that she was in this one more than she was in Tainted Cup (or at least it felt like she was in this one more).

The mystery in this book is a locked room murder. A Treasury official disappeared from his hotel room when both the windows and doors were locked, leaving behind only a large bloodstain. From there things only become more complicated as the investigation reveals bigger and more complex mysteries the more it tries to find answers.

The setting was interesting in this one and quite different from what we saw in Tainted Cup. Ana and Din are in a city balancing very carefully between local rule and imperial rule. There are people on both sides who want imperial rule to prevail and also people on both sides who would prefer the empire leave the city well enough alone, despite the empire's reliance on the city's exports. Outside of the city is a dense, deadly jungle rife with smugglers who take aim at both local and imperial goods. The political situation is definitely more tricky than in book 1, but I enjoyed getting a bigger picture of the world and found it interesting to learn about the way augments are processed and created.

I think I figured out the mystery around the 65-75% mark. I did guess the answer in Tainted Cup as well, but there were still parts of it that I didn't know in that book. In this one I had pretty much the entire thing figured out and so was less impressed by the investigative acumen of Din and Ana. I would've preferred it being a little more difficult to figure out so that there would still be some surprises left when things were revealed.

Overall I enjoyed this book and think it's a good addition to the world. Despite solving the mystery with much of the book still left, I still enjoyed following Ana and Din as they tried to tie everything together. I know there's at least a third book, and I'm hoping this gets turned into a longer series with lots of different Ana-Din adventures!

[pipperoni32-blog]

The Tainted Cup

by Robert Jackson Bennett / 3.5 stars

Not written like any mystery I've read before. I'm not sure if that is more because of the world that's established, or simply the unique way RJB tells his story.

A world where people receive grafts to improve different aspects of themselves - their strength, size, intellect, attributes. Din is a Sublime, an Engraver who through use of smelling vials can remember everything about a scene. He's an assistant to possibly one of the oddest investigators ever in existence. Ana draws impossible conclusions, connecting dots no one around her has even begun to notice. Despite this, she's been exiled to the backwater of the Empire, whether due to her heightened sensitivity to outside stimulation or her lack of tact and renowned distaste for social niceties, no one can begin to guess.

Ana and Din quickly solve the mystery behind a murdered Captain, though his bizarre method of death soon leads them beyond their canton. To a bigger mystery that leads to a breach in the walls, and multiple killers. To one of the wealthiest families in the Empire, and uncovers deep rooted corruption. To a threat maybe even bigger than that of the leviathans outside the walls.

While I'm not sure yet if I'm going to read all of RJB's books, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next in this series! I'm not nearly ready to be finished with Ana and Din, and can't wait to see where their journey will lead to next.