Rating: 4.5

I loved the characters, the world building and the writing. Though I was confused sometimes. I overall loved this book and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and anything else this author has written.

I was immediately excited to read The Tainted Cup as soon as it was announced. Bennett’s Divine Cities trilogy is my favorite completed trilogy of all time, and The Troupe is one of my favorite standalones. I still need to read more of his backlist, including the last two books in the Founders series and American Elsewhere, but I have really enjoyed everything I’ve read from him. Mix my trust in him as an author with the idea of Sherlock and Watson in a dark fantasy world and I am sold!

Our story opens with Dinios Kol, our perspective character and riff on John Watson, inspecting the scene of a suspicious, and incredibly disturbing, death. He is an engraver, someone augmented and supplemented to remember every syllable of conversation, every inch of a crime scene. Which is incredibly handy for Anagosa Dolabra, the semi-homebound Inspector to whom he is apprenticed. Ana is just as much Sherlock as Din is Watson. Early on in the story, the similarities were so strong that they felt almost like caricatures. Especially Ana. She was almost laughably a genderbent Holmes, complete with Sherlock’s same brand of barely contained mania. She even plays a stringed instrument on occasion and deeply desired psychedelics as a method for warding off boredom. However, as the story progressed both characters became more nuanced, more interesting in and of themselves.

The murder Din engraves and shares with Ana is but the tip of the iceberg of a larger conspiracy, one that brings them to the fraught, dangerous edges of the Empire. Here they are in close proximity to the sea wall, the only thing keeping invading titans from making landfall and wreaking havoc. When the wall is breached, Din and Ana must solve their multilayered, twisted mystery before there’s no city left to protect. Unfortunately, Din and Ana are Iudex, which is essentially Internal Affairs for the Empire’s military. This means that they aren’t popular, to say the least, and that everyone seems intent on hiding things from them, even when doing so places the entire Empire in greater danger.

I found this entire world fascinating. From the beginning, we are introduced to fascinating, magical, somewhat macabre flora that the people of this world utilize in all kinds of interesting ways. The ‘science’ of engraving is incredibly interesting, as are the other Sublime arts. Sublimes accept radical augmentations to their bodies. These augmentations give them some insane abilities, but always at a cost. There are cracklers, soldiers and workers who are incredibly strong, to the point that even their skeletons have to be augmented to bear the weight, resulting in a crackling sound to their movements. Engravers tend to go slightly mad from all of the information their brains are required to hold. There are those who have incredibly acute senses of smell, or touch. And all of these augmentations come from the blood of the very titans that so threaten the land.

As mentioned above, both Din and Ana grew as characters throughout the story. I came to especially like Din, who surprised me multiple times both with his engraving and his ability to put things together in ways most engravers could not. He had a strong sense of morality, but also knew when it was necessary to bend or break some rules. And right around the halfway mark of the book, there is a fight scene featuring Din that I thought was exceptional. Ana had to juggle so much information. She always had a reason for keeping things close to the chest that I actually found believable. I wouldn’t say that I came to like her, but it was a near thing. She was never boring. There was one other side character that I very much enjoyed: Miljin. He was very much his own person, but reminded me of characters like Logen Ninefingers.

All in all, this was a pretty compelling story. The world was always fascinating, and the mystery element was well balanced and well paced. The characters were compelling and grew as their story progressed. I like that Bennett tied the story up neatly while still leaving himself plenty of room to create further installments. It took me a little while to get into this book, but I came to enjoy it. I’ll definitely be reading whatever Bennett publishes next in the series.

The Tainted Cup is a fantasy murder mystery blend. We start with the murder of an Imperial officer, who died when a giant tree spontaneously erupts from within him. Ana Dolabra, an investigator with sensory sensitivities, sends our main character, Din, to investigate the scene and report back to her all he sees and hears. As a magically enhanced 'engraver,' Din remembers everything he sees and hears. Despite the abundance of terrors, with contagions and the ever present fear or titans coming to land and destroying their homes, this investigation leads into a much larger issue threatening their land.

Robert Jackson Bennett states in the author note that he wanted to write a fun mystery in a fantasy setting, and he DELIVERED! The dynamic between Ana and Din is described as a Watson-and-Holmes take, which I can't speak to as I've never read the original. However, I can say that I absolutely enjoyed the hell out of their dynamic. Both characters are funny in their own rights. I was not expecting to laugh nearly as much as these characters made me. If you're into dark, sometimes downright morbid humor, you'll find this hilarious. Ana goads Din, and a few times, he pushes right back at her. Their clap backs to one another are perfect.

The worldbuilding was my second favorite part. It was so cool and expansive, even in the little details (which by the way, all the little details within the mystery aspect of the story - the way they all came together - EXCELLENT). I cannot wait to see more of the world in the sequels, as I can already tell we will get so much more crazy unique worldbuilding from this series.

I am so excited at the knowledge that I have Bennett's backlist to read because I need more of his writing!

What a ride! I haven’t had so much fun reading a book in such a long time. Gripping story, fun characters, and Bennett’s signature engrossing drip-fed worldbuilding, The Tainted Cup kept me up til 3AM, absolutely enthralled.

My first exposure to The Tainted Cup was the pitch Game of Thrones meets Knives Out, and I was sold on the Knives Out comp alone. Having read the book, I can confidently say that those comps doesn’t nearly do this story justice. The more accurate comp ought to be ‘biopunk Attack on Titan meets Knives Out/Sherlock Holmes’. Seriously, the worldbuilding so freaking cool! The story opens with our Watson character, Din, heading to the scene of the crime, where a full-grown tree has spontaneously sprouted out of some poor guy’s chest. Along the way, Din describes how plants for security, air conditioning, and of course murder. Apparently scientists of this world have genetically modified the shit out of all organic organisms, including humans (Din included). The biopunk aspect plays a strong role throughout the story, and is one of the most creative and unique worlds I’ve read in some time. It also lends itself to a nice subtle body horror angle, giving this world a slightly creepy edge.

Soon after the opening, we learn that Din’s country is surrounded by heavy walls. Why? To keep out the Leviathans, giant sea dwelling monsters that seasonally approach the country’s borders and can cause absolute devastation if not repelled. Attack on Titan, anyone???? The constant threat of Leviathan attacks and how they shape entire industries in Din’s world is central to the worldbuilding and Benett’s does a wonderful job drip-feeding the reader information, keeping up on our toes and constantly craving more. Bennett has some of the best worldbuilding in the fantasy genre and it really shows.

Of course, the story itself is no slouch either. The prose is relatively quick paced, with this mysterious tree-murder at the forefront of our character’s mind. Din, and his Holmes-esque mentor, Ana, are great characters to follow. Their banter is often hilarious and witty, and their occasional softer moments a great balancing act that shows how strong the relationship between runs. Each keeps hidden skeletons and the recognition of each other’s expertise makes for such a strong dynamic. I love component characters and these two certainly embody that. Bennett does a great job interweaving the mystery these two are attempting to solve with greater plot elements at play.

Overall, I rate this book a 5/5. Some of the most unique worldbuilding I’ve read recently, in this ‘biopunk Attack on Titan x Knives Out’ world, great characters, and an immersive murder mystery plot.

If you took Sherlock Holmes & John Watson and plopped them into a fantasy novel, you'd get something similar to The Tainted Cup. This was fun to read. Ana Dolabra's witty one-liners had me laughing on more than one occasion.

This is the type of fantasy where you are pretty much just dropped right into the middle of the world and it took me a bit of time to get my bearings. I did have to go back and jot down some notes on who all of the characters are, which I sometimes have to do anyway in fantasy novels with unique names and abilities. Once I did that I was able to fly through the story.

While the mystery is tied up at the end of the book, I still want to know more about the world itself. I will be anxiously awaiting a sequel!

Before I even got to the ending I was thinking, "I hope this is a series and there are more books" so that means it's really good and I can't wait for more of these characters. I want to know so much more about them!

This was a murder mystery, but in a unique setting that I would classify as fantasy. Not sure if others would agree, but it's what I'm feeling. The mystery started of a bit confusing and slow, but it was because we were entering a new world and had to get the lay of the land and figure out how the world worked and what all the words meant. Once I got into, I devoured it in two days! The mystery was satisfying and Ana is such a character. I liked that a lot of my thoughts were addressed on the page (ooo oooo what about.... Oh ... Yes, I'm just as smart as Ana until she blows me away). All of the details I caught were eventually wrapped up and tired with a bow.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review The Tainted Cup! I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery and was entranced in this story from the very beginning. I look forward to reading more by this author. Great read!

Thank you to author Robert Jackson Bennett and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for making this e-ARC available for free via NetGalley.

I requested The Tainted Cup because I thoroughly enjoyed Bennett's Foundryside trilogy. This new book definitely met my high expectations. I loved the various characters, the unraveling of the mystery plot and the interesting setting. The magic felt fresh and interesting. The setting was well built, though a couple of aspects of the setting did call to mind Attack on Titan manga and anime. I thought the characters were developed well and that the main characters, Ana and Kol, complemented each other well.

I look forward to the sequel and recommend this to readers who enjoy murder mysteries, fantasy worlds and dry humor. I would give it 5 stars, rounded up from 4.5.

This took me a little bit to get through, partially because I was reading other things at the same time, but I really did enjoy myself from the first page. It was basically Sherlock Holmes set in this really original fantasy world. It even had a Watson narrator, except he was a Watson who was modified to be able to remember everything he saw. Also he was dyslexic. And the Sherlock Holmes character was an autistic-coded woman who was absolutely hilarious. And in was in this world focused on fighting off these gigantic monsters whose blood also seeped into their plants which they then used for all their technology—it was so unique and fun, and all this was revealed slowly and in the context of a murder mystery that really pulled me through the story. I'm officially a fan of murder mystery high fantasy, because a lot of times high fantasy can be so hard to get into because of the new world but the mystery solved that for me. I can't wait for more from this series!

A epic fantasy murder mystery, need I say more!!

This was a fantastic start to a new trilogy from Bennett. We follow Din the apprentice to Ana who is an ‘Iudex’ which is like a judge mixed with an investigator and we travel with them to the city of Talagray where they try to find the murder but find a much larger plot unfolds.

I’m looking forward to reading future instalment’s and hope we can see more of the leviathans and find out a bit more about their lore. I also would like more Strovi and Din pls and thanks.

What I don’t get is why is it named the Tainted Cup - there was no mention of this in the story or have I just missed something?

Robert Jackson Bennett does it again. For transparency, I was already a fan from reading his Foundryside series, so I jumped at the opportunity to get an e-ARC of The Tainted Cup.

While some folks have compared The Tainted Cup to Sherlock Holmes, that's selling it short - and I actually enjoy Sherlock Holmes! Ana is such a compelling character, and her quirks made me laugh out loud at points. Din and Ana complement each other so well, and I cannot wait to see how their relationship develops over the course of the series.

The book itself presents an intriguing mix of fantasy and murder-mystery that will appeal to folks who enjoy either genre. I personally tend more towards fantasy, but it's fun to read a book like this that is not high fantasy, but feels more approachable. The world unveils itself slowly over the course of the story, almost effortlessly along with the plot.

All in all, I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to read this book ahead of its publication, and I will be eagerly awaiting future additions to the series! Thanks to Del Rey Books and Netgalley for the opportunity!

ARC Review

Well, unfortunately I do not have any comparison titles for this book as it was well outside of my normal genre… or more so… a mashup (?) of several separate genres I read-- whatever it was, it was BLOODY brilliant.

This is my first RJB book as I've have had the second Foundryside novel on my shelf for years, not realizing when I bought it was number two. The Tainted Cup has pushed me to order Foundryside immediately so that I can ready more of his work.

Anyways, The Tainted Cup follows an investigator Ana who is raving mad, and absolutely genius (I can only hope I grow to be as eccentric as she) and her assistant Din who can do nothing but role his eyes and push on through Ana's antics. I enjoyed their relationship and disparate personalities so much, I feel as though I could read dialogue between them and them alone for hours.

But! For those of you that shake your head and say "no!" to dialogue between only two characters, no worries. We have a full cast of characters full of investigators, elitists, townsfolk and the like to keep us entertained while Ana and Din try to solve several murders before the Leviathan (giant sea beasts) breach the towns wall and they have to evacuate.

This novel wraps up perfectly, but leaves just enough mystery in the last chapter's dialogue that you know another is coming, and you can't wait. (Me, it's me, I can't wait).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book not expecting a lot, only to be greeted with one of the most engrossing mysteries I've read in a long time. The Sherlock Holmes and Watson nature of the two main characters was delightful and kept things interesting even in places where the story slowed down. The world this all took place in was fascinating and exciting in equal measure, with magic based off nature and biological enhancement, and an empire protected from enormous leviathans via three walls in a fashion that reminded me of Attack on Titan. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery, interesting characters, or both!

This book wasn’t for me. I thought I was reading a magical fantasy type book, but it didn’t feel that way to me. However, the storyline was written well.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me. I was really excited to read it given the early feedback but I was left wondering if I was reading the same book as they were. I think the writing style doesn’t mesh with my preferences.

I wasn’t able to connect with any of the characters. There were times I didn’t know what was going on. The leviathan angle was underserved in the plot. You could have had a similar mystery without that element.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The Tainted Cup mixes fantasy and mystery perfectly. I don't read a lot of mystery because I often see the ending coming and for this one parts of it feel into place quickly but the ending was not what I saw coming.

Ana is an investigator assigned to Daretana and while she is there she gets a new assistant Din. Din is an engraver, altered to have a perfect memory. After weeks of fraud cases there is a murder and it is a strange one even for this world where the sea is full of leviathans and contagions are common. A military officer is killed by a tree erupting from his chest. Din goes to the scene and he engraves what he sees and brings it back to Ana, who interacts with the world as little as possible. Together they work to put the pieces together as the Leviathan's attack the sea walls.

This was such an original world and I loved the characters. Ana who is brilliant but limited and Din who is at times sure of himself and at others feels like a fake. I'm really looking forward to more of the series. While the mystery of this story was wrapped up nicely there was so much more to learn about this world. I really really want to know why the Leviathan's attack the sea walls in the wet season and why do they have faces?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

In The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett carries forward the strengths of the Founder’s Trilogy, but in a different type of story—a murder mystery.

The world-building is as strong as ever, aided by taking familiar elements and combining them in unique ways and clear, precise writing. Every few months, the Empire of Khanum comes under assault from massive leviathans (think Kaiju), the prose clearly and terrifyingly captures their scale. The leviathan’s corpses, especially their blood, contain unique properties that the empire has used to create their technology, including enhancing individuals for strength and smell and other attributes. And yet, the safety of the Empire is threatened by the schemes of the wealthy, land-owning gentry.

The story’s sole narrator Din—a likable, resourceful, determined protagonist, plagued by feelings of inadequacy—is an engraver, someone enhanced to have perfect recall, and an assistant investigator to the brilliant, eccentric, and acerbic Ana. The duo, always a pleasure to follow if you don’t mind a lot of snark (the comparison to Holmes and Watson is definitely valid), find themselves caught up in a scheme when the calm of Din’s home is shattered by a gruesome murder.

The murder mystery that follows is full of shocking reveals that skillfully expose the inner- and true-workings of the empire. (Its only weakness is that some suspects could have been more developed. The intrigue came more from the why than the who.) Much of the joy of The Founder’s Trilogy comes from its action scenes and cleverly executed heists based on its innovative magic system. In The Tainted Cup, those are largely replaced by probing investigative questions posed to suspects and the bureaucracy of the empire. This may sound less joyful, but there are thrilling action sequences at key moments, the details of the empire rarely bog down the pacing thanks to the precise prose, and the battle of wits at play in the questioning is as engaging as any well-executed sword fight. Combine all this with a steadily growing sense of danger, and The Tainted Cup is every bit as engaging.

The conclusion satisfyingly brings all the threads together with a message that celebrates difference and offers hope in the face of anger and entrenched corruption. It is also thorough enough to allow The Tainted Cup to stand alone, while leaving enough questions to create eager anticipation for a sequel.

This review will be posted to X/Twitter at laramie_graber and to Goodreads at Laramie Graber on February 6th.

I was intrigued by the blurb for this book, but knew I was stepping outside of my comfort zone as a primarily romantasy reader. The first two-thirds of the book were a bit slow paced for my liking, but the last third definitely paid off.

The book follows a young man as he tries to prove himself capable of becoming an assistant investigator, working with a quite eccentric superior. There are extensive fantasy and sci-fi elements, as well as strong, immersive world building. I enjoyed discovering culprits along with MMC as he used his unique abilities to help unravel a series crimes that went back years.

All said and done, I’m glad I branched out and tried a new genre. It has inspired me to continue. I’ll likely buy a physical copy of this book once it releases for my teenage son, and I’d definitely read more of the author’s work going forward.

We are led to believe that this book is going to be a fantasy novel with magical elements. I don't see where magic played any part in this novel-at least not magic the way I understand it. I did find it interesting that the people of this world have augmentations/grafts added to their bodies and/or brains. These augmentations allow the user to do many amazing things.

This book kept me somewhat engaged if only to find out the why's of the mystery. I did not like the main characters, Din and Ana, one tiny bit, and I felt nothing for them. Some of the secondary characters hit the mark better than the main characters. They kept me going.

The swearing and usage of modern colloquialisms were atrocious, considering (the world? the time period?) the rest of the odd language used in this novel.

It is a very twisty mystery that many fans of this author and of this type of fantasy will enjoy.

*ARC supplied by Del Rey | Random House Group, the author, and NetGalley.

I've seen so many people excited about this book, but I sort of struggled through it. It unfortunately wasn't for me.

At the beginning of the book, I did find it interesting and the world building seemed impressive and unique. But after that the book quickly started to lose my interest.

While I generally love crime-solving duos, I did not love this one. I found the characters one-dimensional and uninteresting.
I also didn’t really care about the mystery or anything that happens really. There were also Leviathans. The Leviathans existed. That's about it.

I guess the combination of mystery and fantasy didn’t really work for me. There were too many mystery and fantasy elements for a brain foggy individual like myself to keep track of and stay engaged.

The book was described to me as fun. I didn’t fall into the category of people who found this book fun. I'm not sure if using the word f*ck every other page is supposed to constitute fun. And I personally just find the use of modern swear words grating in a fantasy like this. Also whoever compared it to Knives Out, no, stahp.

I recognize I’m in the minority of people who didn’t like this book, so I do recommend anyone with an interest in fantasy and mysteries to give this a try.