"The Tainted Cup" by Robert Jackson Bennett is a fantasy-infused mystery, filled with fantastic world-building, well-crafted characters, and an intricate plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The story unfolds in Daretana, a world teeming with contagions, Leviathan blood, and strange magical changes. When a high Imperial officer is found dead with a tree erupting from his body, the mystery is both terrifying and seemingly impossible. Enter Ana Dolabra, an investigator with an eccentric reputation for brilliance. By her side is Dinios Kol, her new assistant, who possesses a perfect memory and is tasked with observing, reporting, and being Ana's eyes and ears.

RJB's world-building is nothing short of remarkable. He creates a vivid and immersive fantasy world filled with unique elements and a rich history. The juxtaposition of magic and science in this universe adds so much depth to the narrative. In addition, the characterization is exceptional. Ana Dolabra is a compelling and enigmatic detective, reminiscent of the great literary detectives like Sherlock Holmes. Her eccentricities, her insatiable appetite for knowledge, and her unconventional methods make her a fascinating character to follow. Dinios Kol, her assistant, is equally engaging, and the dynamic between the two was one of the main highlight's of the story for me. As these characters dig deeper into the mystery, the surprises and revelations are both satisfying and unexpected. Highly recommend!

I found myself losing track of time reading this book! It was a classic “who dunnit” but with a twist of fantasy and beautiful world building. One major aspect I loved about reading this mystery/fantasy novel is you didn’t know how it would end, and trying to figure out any “twists” was impossible because anything can happen in Daretana! Another aspect that completed kept me entwined with this book was one of the main characters, Ana. I could not get enough of her personality, quick wit, and confidence! I would highly recommend this book to any reader who loves mystery’s, fantasy, or is just looking to get lost in another world.

Not the same as other novel of RJB but his writing style definitely jumps at you. Its a murder mystery plot with subtle fantastical elements. I usually prefer fantasy books with heavier magic systems but I feel that it has a lot of potential to be teased out in the next books.

The magic system is wholly intertwined with the murder mystery and the plot drove me to read this book too fast. A few of my complaints were the character development of Ana and Kol. Ana's background sounds a little sketchy to me. And a mystery feels at times convenient. I feel like, if we got more into Ana's head, it wouldn't feel "too easy". Kol's character arch felt meandering and took a little longer than I like to get to the point.

I would love to learn more about the world's history and especially the leviathans but that seems to be the direction the next book will be!

I have been provided with a review copy of The Tainted Cup from NetGalley for an impartial review. This book was just so easy to get lost in. I completely got lost in the story and I just loved getting to see these new characters come together. I just absolutely love this story and I just didn’t want to put it down. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

4.5 Stars 🌟

This was another first time author for me and I wasn't sure what to expect when I received the ARC. Let me just say this - I really, really enjoyed it.

This is in the fantasy genre but it has some aspects of other genre's as well. It really reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes and Watson type of detective novel and to me it felt more like a mystery novel in a fantasy setting. In that aspect, it really excelled.

The world building was done very easily without too much information that has to be learned. There is a map provided at the beginning and once I took a look at the map during the first couple of chapters, it really helped me to visualize the entire setting.

In the mystery/detective category, some books do a great job of setting the scenes, dropping the clues, and letting the reader follow along while building up the suspense. Other books do a horrible job of foreshadowing EVERYTHING in a way that when you actually get to the "ta-da" moment, the reader (that would be me) looks up and thinks, "yeah, what took you so long?"

Mr. Jackson Bennett did a fantastic job of creating two wildly different MC's. First you have Din, who is the Assistant Investigator (well, apprentice if you want to be accurate). He is relatively new to his position and he has a certain type of skill as an Engraver that enables him to basically have an eidetic memory. His memory does not just include text and images, but it is almost as if he is recording entire episodes with every single detail included. He is the one who goes out to the scene and then comes back to "report" to his Investigator.

Ana is the Investigator and an extremely unique character, and boy oh boy is she a character. She is a bit on the quirky side. Totally blunt and has absolutely no care in the world who she might offend with whatever she says. She is also brilliant. She has the truly amazing skill to be able to take entire sets of facts and somehow put everything in its proper place as she figures things out. The fact that she goes everywhere with a blindfold on is just one of her quirks. Is she blind? I honestly can not remember. Maybe it said one way or another at the beginning, but I got the impression that she wasn't, but decided that if you took out one sense, then the others tended to take up the slack. And boy does she like to cuss. Like I said before, totally quirky.

Anyway, the two of them have a really interesting relationship. The dynamic just works. There is a magic system as well and while there is not too much time spent on the entire magic system, we learn enough of it to be able to explain Din's talent as well as some of the other characters that we meet as they get more and more involved in this case.

About the case, I'm not going to go into it other than to say that I LOVED the way the case progressed. The way Din and Ana worked together to begin to understand all of the clues that began to pile up. At the beginning, Din just brought back the info and Ana would somehow come up with these off the wall conclusions. Eventually we see Din evolve and come into his own as he begins to make these conclusions as he began to put things together as well.

There are also monsters....Leviathans (just wanted to throw that out there) and the entire country is focused on protecting the country from these monsters. Every occupation seemed to revolve around the various responsibilities of defending the sea wall, the engineering aspects of the defenses, the maintenance of the walls....see a pattern? The different residential areas were also interesting (the farther you got from the sea, the wealthier the people).

I enjoyed the entire storyline. There was the perfect amount of build up as we got closer and closer to figuring everything out. And just when you thought everything was solved, nope, there was actually more.

Is there going to be another book? I'm not sure, but I know if there is, then you can count me in for book 2.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Thanks for the Arc!
Robert Jackson Bennett just keeps getting better and better!
In this book he introduces us to an amazing yet disturbing world full of political machinations and a great story set in a world of mutations and danger.
A modern day Sherlock Holmes adventure that I just couldn't get enough of...
Read this! I will be buying the books in this series on day one and diving in ASAP.

A genre bending fantasy, cozy mystery whodunit. Parts of the novel were interesting but the mystery element wasn't well executed- it was easy to get bogged down with characters and details.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. I've only read one other book by this author but have intended to read more. This one has such an interesting magic system. I love the main character's augmentations and how he uses them throughout the book. Ana is delightful (if a little vulgar in her language) and reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. The mystery and how it is solved is so interesting. Definitely would recommend this book!

This book was equal parts chaotic, hilarious, twisty, and a bit annoying. While I loved the story and all the twists and turns and the mystery itself, the number of curse words was incredibly annoying because they didn’t have to be used that often. It as frustrating because the rest of the dialogue was interesting, but it started to feel like a contest as to how many f-bombs Ana could drop on one page. It also was annoying how many different characters there are. Because so much was going on and the world was so huge, it was really hard to keep them straight.

The humor of the story, though, was on point. I laughed out loud so many times, especially with Ana’s different ideas and shenanigans! While I guessed the final murderer before the reveal, I still had a really fun time with Din trying to figure it out!

This took me some time to read because of how dense the mystery aspect was. I really liked the world-building and the characters but once we started getting into the details of all the possible killers and the politics I felt bogged down. I couldn’t follow all the names and jobs of the side characters and suspects, but I was invested enough in the world and story that I wanted to see how it ended. Maybe I’m just not a high fantasy detective fan? It was well written and captivating but I would have enjoyed it more if I didnt get so lost with all the details.

I received this from net galley in exchange for a review.

What an excellent premise in The Tainted Cup. I loved the fantasy duo: Ana and Denios are both great, complex characters. I also enjoyed the murder mystery aspect of the book. I was very quickly drawn into Din's and Ana's investigation. I did also appreciate the world building, but I will admit that it took me a long time to get a good for feel for the world. Perhaps I've been out of the "hard" fantasy reading game for too long, but I found Jackson Bennett's unfolding of the world very confusing. While immersive, more explanation was really needed to help me keep up with the fantasy elements. Once you're into it though, readers will be rewarded with a rollicking mystery and twisting surprises!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

For anyone who likes mystery and a bit of fantasy, then The Tainted Cup is for you. Since fantasy is not in my reading house I really loved the twist of mystery. Since I am not a fan of fantasy based books, Robert Jackson Bennett writes a quick paced novel that had me in it's grip.

There were many clues that culminated into a big finale that still kept you guessing.You never knew what was going to happen and that is the one thing that kept me wanting to keep reading. I loved how the characters developed throughout the story. I was hooked.

Since this is book one where will Mr. Bennett take us on the the next adventure. I guess we will have to read it to find out.

Thank you Random House and Net Galley for the ARC. Thank you Robert Jackson Bennett for bringing me a book that I probably wouldn't read unless I stepped out of my reading box.

Jackson has created a fascinating, and somewhat grotesque, dystopian world in which people and animals are altered to gain abilities and the entire empire is threatened by enormous seagoing leviathans attacking the land while all resources are marshaled to keep them out. In this world Din, the apprentice to detective Ana Dolabra, who has been altered to have perfect recall, is sent to investigate a murder and report back to the detective.

And so begins a beautifully written whirlwind of a murder mystery story.

I really enjoyed the main characters Ana and Din and their relationship. And although there are some gruesome scenes, there's also a lot of hilarious dialogue. The world-building is interesting and immersive although not overwhelming. I would actually have liked a little more explanation as initially I found some parts of the world confusing. However, the mystery and detective work are the focus of the story and those aspects are great.

The book reminds me a bit of Katherine Addison's The Grief of Stones with its intense world building, an investigator determined to do well and to do right, and a somewhat oppressive city setting.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook. This is my honest review.

I am not usually a reader of traditional mysteries but I greatly enjoyed this detective-type story with a unique fantasy setting. Rich worldbuilding, intriguing characters, and witty dialogue made this an enjoyable read. Five stars.

This was a super fun mashup of a murder mystery meets second world fantasy. While it took a little while to get going / get into (because the fantasy world is fairly complex), the characters are fun and snarky and inject a good amount of humor to keep readers interested as the mystery deepens. Overall a fun genre mash up to read!

Everybody needs to be ordering a copy of this book when it comes out. Its murder mystery meets complex fantasy world and it gave everything it needed to. I could not get enough of this book. The characters have been immaculately written and the way in which the world building was done made me feel completely immersed the entire time.

Robert Jackson Bennett has created an intricate, in depth story. From the very beginning you are immersed in the complicated Canton of Daretana where we meet Dinios Kol. Bennett comes out strong with diving right into a murder, giving us a complicated situation and pieces of a much larger puzzle to figure out. I was so caught up in the immersive storytelling that when clues were placed in front of me they completely slipped out of my sight. Dinios Kol is an interesting character, and his backstory is revealed to us in bits and pieces throughout the story. Ana, his mentor and boss, also has a complicated past that is slowly revealed to us as we dive deeper into the mystery.

The Tainted Cup is a story of mystery, betrayal, corruption, with just the tiniest bit of romance mixed in. The intricacies of the politics within The Great and Holy Empire of Khanum were just being unfolded as our Iudex Officers began to dive deeper into the mystery of the murder of Taqtasa Bias at the beginning of the story. I cannot wait til this book is released and I am able to get my hands on a copy, the way I need to be able to dive deeper into Ana and Din's story is akin to desperation. The entire story is so intricately woven and the way in which everything fell into place at the end blew me away. Bennett is a master at weaving an intricately plotted out murder mystery that leaves you guessing and waiting to see everything revealed.

Thank you to Del Rey/Random House and Net Galley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book of RJB’s, so I went in with no expectations, and found myself having fun.

1: The Plot

The story is told from the perspective of Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, meaning he’s been magically enhanced to have a perfect memory. He’s also an assistant to Ana Dolabra, a brilliant and eccentric investigator. Din acts as Ana’s eyes and ears during their investigations.

When a high-ranking imperial officer dies in a mansion belonging to a rich and powerful family, Ana and Din are on the case. The first murder is quickly followed by several more, and the investigators find themselves racing to find the killer before they put the entire empire at risk

2: Narrative, Prose, and Story

The story is told from Din’s first person perspective. I found the book to be digestible and easy to understand. I was never confused about who anyone was.

My only real issue was that sometimes it felt like Bennett was trying to make his prose sound old-fashioned, but it just feels unnatural written by a contemporary author.

3: The Characters

Ana and Din are basically buddy cops, solving crime for the Empire. When you meet them, you think 'Oh, Din's the straight man.' WRONG. He only pretends. He's just as much of a little shit as Ana is. Their relationship is so special to me. They're dumb and dumber and smart and smarter rolled into one chaotic duo.

"She began to look alarmed. So I began to feel alarmed."
— Din about Ana, Chapter 23

We spend most of the book with Din. He's an interesting POV character, though we don't learn very much about his background. He's smart but not a perfect genius. Plus, he's snarky.

"The guards rushed up beside me and stared into the hole. 'What's that?' demanded one. I said, 'Looks like a hole.' 'How'd you find that?' he said. 'I was walking around,' I said, 'and used my eyes to see it.'"
— Din, Chapter 29

Ana is great. She's so fun and an annoyance to everyone, but she's very intelligent and cares about Din as well. If you’re a Bungo Stray Dogs fan, she’s a lot like Ranpo.

4: The Worldbuilding

This book is like a perfect marriage between the genres of sci-fi and fantasy.

First, I love when I’m given data. We get a map and an explanation of the military ranks at the beginning of the book. I would’ve loved even more, though. Maybe appendices explaining the various ethnic groups and grafts?

The Empire being walled with the leviathans outside those walls is reminiscent of Attack On Titan or Pacific Rim. But the leviathans and wall breaches exist in the background of the story. They’re relevant, but not the main focus.

Many of the military officers in the Empire are enhanced humans. I don’t totally get how it works, but basically the different characters have undergone body modifications for specific purposes. For example, Din is an engraver, someone with an enhanced memory.

The murders are accomplished using a contagion that causes plants to sprout from the victims’ bodies. I love this. I think the imagery and symbolism of plants sprouting from humans is so delicious. Like, yes, humans destroy the earth, so the plants colonize the humans’ bodies. That is so valid and excellent.

I have one major thing that Bennett built into the world that I hated, and of course, it was a weird sex thing. It’s the main reason I docked a whole star from the book. So, there’s this part of the book where someone is trying to bribe Din, using a court dancer enhanced with pheromones. Said pheromones make the people around the court dancer horny, basically. So, it’s pretty much just sex pollen. It’s a trope I usually only see used in fanfiction, yaoi, or 60-70s sci-fi TV. I don’t know WHAT it’s doing here, but it was weird. Though, that’s generally a trope I hate. Maybe some of y’all are into it.

5: Conclusion

Overall, this book was a really solid fantasy mystery. I enjoyed it, and will definitely read the next one!

★★★★☆ (4/5)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Fantasy is not my usual genre although it does intrigue me. This book seems like a great reads for fantasy fans and want to be fantasy fans.
There is a murder mystery and Ana Dolabra and her assistant Dinios Kol are called to investigate the case.
I found the novel a little hard to get into as the fantasy world was introduced. It would have been helpful to have a map of the world as well as a reference guide to the roles and makeup of the different altered humans inhabiting it. As I progressed it did begin to make sense and the action did pick up.
Dinios was a charming hero, would definitely read more of his exploits.
The world that evolved in the story was likewise fascinating and there is lots of opportunity to expand and learn more about its history and evolution.
The solution to the mystery had many twists and was quite cleverly plotted. By the ending I was totally converted to the story/series and the author's writing style.
Can't wait to read more about these characters and learn about the world they inhabit!

This tale by the author of Foundryside is a murder mystery in a very different land. Someone dies at the beginning in a strange way, and the government of the empire works to figure out the killer(s). I have enjoyed this author previously and was excited to read this next book. However it took me most of the book to really start to enjoy it. There were many characters and many names, plus various oddities that equated to a lot of detail but not much story. The final 30% or so of the book got my interest more, but it took awhile to get there.

Master storyteller weaves a rich and imaginative world where dangers lurk at every turn, and the most dangerous might be the humans. Sherlock Holmes vibes with unique and sometimes quirky characters chasing a complex and bizarre set of murders though a web of politics, intrigue, lies, secrets, and danger at every turn. Just can't put it down! Hope we see these characters again ...