Another really fun book! I highly enjoyed this second installment. It is just as good as the first book, The Tainted Cup. Ana and Din are working to solve another murder in this blend of police procedural and fantasy. There are more mysteries about Ana, the empire, the leviathans and the ancients. These books are amazingly creative and super fun to read. I can’t wait for the next installment!

This was such an incredibly fun and exciting read!

I did not know this author, so I had to read the first book. And I am glad to say, I am now eagerly awaiting book three. The world-building was fascinating to me; it was fresh and new—totally not what I’m used to. I was so hooked and couldn’t stop reading it.

Honestly, this seems to be a new favorite genre of mine because of the mystery, the constant tension, and the slow revelation of the truth.

The dynamic between Ana and Din was also very enjoyable! It didn’t seem forced at all and the banter was done very well. I could relate to Din’s yearning for justice too well. The inner conflicts were very well written, though it could have been a tad bit shorter.

As someone who enjoys the dark, dark themes - I REALLY enjoyed the unsettling twists and unexpected turns of events. It could’ve been a bit more emotional tho in my opinion, but still—very excited for the next one.

Thank your for letting me read this gem!

Our protagonists Din and Ana set off to solve another murder mystery in ‘A Drop of Corruption.’ As with the previous installment, the mystery is clever and multifaceted, this time centered around the murder of Immunis Sujedo. The fantasy world of Khanum is whimsical and intriguing (although much of this book takes place outside of the Empire in Yarrowdale). Despite the length of the book, the story was entertaining and well-paced. Sequels can often fail to recreate the magic of their predecessors, but this was a great follow up to ’The Tainted Cup.’

4.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey/Penguin Random House for the ARC of 'A Drop of Corruption' in exchange for an honest review.

Once again I stand in complete gaping jaw awe of Robert Jackon Bennett. I speak of his ability to combine the complex intricate fantasy universe he's created with an infinitely complex mystery thriller (and its one-of-kind infinitely memorable sleuthing team.

The oddest crime solving duo imaginable has a new perplexing (and gruesome) case to unravel. As if the crimes aren't grisly enough, they're committed amid The Empire and its surrounding city-kingdoms. Its a world fraught with the cruelty, corruption and dangers of Medieval-like autocracies and dependent on harvesting the precious blood of Lovecraft-ian Titans, monsters who swarm the Empire's sea.

Investigator Ana Dolabra possesses the instinctual sensitivities of Sherlock Holmes and swears like Popeye Doyle. She prefers to put her powerful intuitions into play while blindfolded, so it's up to her stalwart, sword-wielding assistant Dinios Kol to do her legwork - seeking out and questioning suspects and informing Ana of everything gleaned from his enhanced memory abilities. Only when Ana's taken in as much information as Kol can supply her with can she snap the puzzle pieces together.

A treasury official's disappearance turns into a ghastly murder and Ana and Din face their most formidable and diabolical foe......a remorseless killer who easily bypasses every security measure designed to stop him. Whoever he is he's also devised an infernal method of mass slaughter and his killing spree extends from jungles to royal castles. While Ana's mental talents are put to seemingly impossible challenges, Dinios searches for answers at the 'Shroud' , the vast ominous structure where Titans are eviscerated for their all powerful blood.

I'll admit that this book series is not some kind of easy peasy breezy read. The worlds of Ana and Dinios are a vast mosaic of cultures, customs, politics and geography to absorb. But once you enter and fully immerse yourself in this universe, it takes hold of you and keeps you turning the pages. And once Ana finally lays out every revealed twist, the heartbreak and horror of the crimes committed speak volumes about the values of an autocratic empire. Not just a swashbuckling adventure but a lot of food for thought about how author Bennett's world mirrors our own.

(If I'm making this sound all too grim, I don't want to forget to mention you'll also find plenty of unexpected ribald, laugh out loud moments of humor........guaranteed t0 take you by surprise .....)

Can't recommend this highly enough. Take the ride, it's more than worth it.

A Drop of Corruption is the follow-up to 2024’s The Tainted Cup and the second installment in Robert Jackson Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series. We’re once again riding shotgun with Ana and Din as they investigate a murder, this time in the delightfully rotting heart of Yarrowdale.

I really enjoyed The Tainted Cup last year, but A Drop of Corruption takes it to the next level. I love this book. It is ridiculously creative. More than once I caught myself thinking, How does he come up with this stuff? The world-building is incredible. Vivid, layered, utterly original, and steeped in corruption. You can almost smell the rot.

This isn’t just a perfect sequel, it’s a perfect book. No second book syndrome here. The characters are at their peak, their dynamics honed and crackling, and the central mystery is just as world-altering and twisty as in the first novel. It’s clear Bennett knows exactly what he’s doing with this series.

I figured out who the killer was somewhere around the halfway point, but that didn’t take away from the experience at all. The mystery is clever, well-constructed, and satisfying from start to finish. It’s less about the final reveal and more about how every piece clicks into place along the way.

It took me about two weeks to finish this one, but that’s on me, not the book. The current political situation in Turkey makes it hard to focus on anything else. We’re, quite literally, fighting for our democracy here. That’s why Bennett’s Author’s Note at the end hit me harder than I think he anticipated. It felt like a quiet, unexpected comfort. When he wrote that note, things weren't this dire here, but now, in the midst of the protests, reading his thoughts on autocrats felt good.

Five stars. I need the next book yesterday. Not because of a cliffhanger, just because I want more. A million more of these would be ideal, honestly.

I read City of Stairs last year and found it a bit slow and dull, despite its impressive world-building. Then I picked up The Tainted Cup and liked it a lot. Now? A Drop of Corruption has me hooked. I will definitely go back to The Devine Cities with fresh eyes later this year.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed with an ARC from the publisher.

Robert Jackson Bennett has built an entire world that works to set fascinating and fantastical mysteries in. I wish I could read one of these a month. Ana and Din are such a fun Sherlock and Watson to follow around in this world full of dark and powerful magics. Bennett doesn't remove the human elements in these fantasy mysteries. I've really come to appreciate how he seems to easily compare and contrast the unknowable and ancient horrors of giant sea beasts with magic blood to the evils of man. It's a really powerful combination that Bennett uses to great effect.

ARC provided by NetGalley

If you read A Tainted Cup, and loved it, you’ll love this one too. More of that world, more of that mystery and more of Ana and Din!

RJB is now one of my favorites for well written mystery and intrigue in a fantasy setting. Go buy all his stuff.

This was even better than the first book in the series!! Which I also loved and gave five stars.
My only complaint about the first one was that Ana was barely in the story, but that was remedied in this one. Din was still the main character but Ana was actively in almost every chapter as well.
The world-building is INSANE. Like so detailed and awesome. But it’s not just info-dumping; it actually flows well.
I really liked that we had a platonic relationship between Malo and Din, instead of trying to force something there.

I’d say this is PG-13 for content, and R for language.
Thanks Netgalley for this opportunity to read the ARC!

What a joy to find a new series, The Shadow of the Leviathan and a 5 star one at that. When I requested this book I hadn't realised that it was the second in the series so I beavered off to buy A Tainted Cup, I am so glad I did. I was enthralled from the start of book one and then being able to segue straight into book two A Drop of Corruption was fantastic. You could read book two as a standalone but I really would encourage you to start with book one, you won't be disappointed, especially if you love a fantasy, crime, murder/ mystery combination.

A Drop of Corruption follows our two key characters from A Tainted Cup, Immunis Anagosa Dalabra or Ana and her apprentice/assistant Dinios Kol or Din, who both work in the Iudex , department of justice for the Empire of Khanum. Their professional working relationship has cemented with Din used to Ana's eccentricities and they have now been sent to the outer fringes of the Empire to the port city of Yarrowdale.

For context if you do decide to read as a standalone, the Empire is built on concentric arcs forming districts. The closer you are to the coast, an area most vulnerable to incursion from Leviathans the less status or money you tend to have. When Leviathans or Titans as they are also know hit land the touch of their body/blood etc causes dramatic mutations to any organic matter - the ancestors who formed the Empire used and adapted Leviathan blood and body parts to cause changes in their people, to heal (including growing body parts), to manufacture and to create weapons to repel the Leviathans. Din has one such adaptation to become an Engraver with his brain altered so that using scent stimuli for recall he can remember or engrave meetings, conversations, rooms and environments perfectly and recalls on demand - an essential tool for a investigator/detective. Ana is irreverent and pieces together random pieces of information to find clarity and solutions. Din is her perfect foil, respectful and a person most others he interacts with view as non-threatening, leading them to underestimate him - something Ana uses to their advantage.

Ana and Din are in Yarrowdale to investigate a locked room mystery, when an Empire Treasury officer goes missing. Yarrowdale is on a 100 year lease to the Empire from the local ruling family. Yarrowdale has a key strategic position for the Empire as they can haul killed Leviathans to an research unit (offshore from Yarrowdale) called the Shroud from where augments, tonics and other derivatives from the Leviathans are distilled and exported. Ana uses her unique skills to solve the mystery, however there are deeper, political currents to navigate and the author does an excellent job of keeping the tension at the right level so that you just do not want to put the book down.

My thanks to Random House and Netgalley for access to this ARC, my views are my own and looking forward to the next adventure.

Robert Jackson Bennett is one of my favorite authors. Thankfully, he is quite a prolific author, and he completes his trilogies (this is his third one) in a timely manner, releasing on average a book a year (no need to fear being left hanging).

I consider Bennett an excellent gateway into fantasy literature (especially if the traditional swords and sorcery genre of it does not appeal to you). His 2014 "City of Stairs" is a novel that opens with a murder mystery (an excellent one at that) and before you know it you are reading epic fantasy.

"A Drop of Corruption" is a follow up to "The Tainted Cup" - and it improves on it. It's still a murder mystery, but it is not as dark. "The Tainted Cup" felt oppressive in many ways, "Corruption" is lighter - and more fun. It is another fantasy murder mystery adventure with two investigators - a brilliantly eccentric Ana Dolabra and her pragmatic assistant Dinios Kol, the pair that the marketing materials compare to Sherlock and Watson - fairly.

Set in an incredibly fleshed out (pun intended) high fantasy world, it is more akin to a urban fantasy mystery.

The mystery in question is incredibly well-crafted, the plot neither drags nor rushes, the tension is maintained throughout, and the resolution satisfying. A Treasury officer has seemingly disappeared into thin air while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits were all under constant guard. Before long, Ana and Din realize they are investigating a murder, rather than a disappearance, and the case seems to do the impossible - stump even the brilliant mind of Ana Dolabra.

Underneath the intrigue of whodunit, quite serious themes are examined, without being preachy: a criticism of autocracy in the fantasy genre that is typically fond of royalty, divine rule, chosen ones, and mystical quests. It is a very refreshing take.

Characterization is a very strong element of the book. Both Ana and Din are neurotypical, and it's a pleasure to see them written as leads. The development of both over the course of the book is filled with insight and revelations, although plenty has been kept under wraps (especially regarding Ana) to look forward to in future books.

I also expect that the mystery of the leviathans and their magical impact on the land is something to be further developed as the series progresses.

I highly recommend this book.

I honestly think this is an even better book than the Tainted Cup! We are once again following Din and Ana as they attempt to solve a locked room mystery in a distant kingdom from the empire. The initial setup of the mystery is intriguing, but it's nothing compared to what is revealed later!

This volume doesn't have to do the heavy lifting of the worldbuilding in the first, and it is better for it. We can focus on both the mystery and the growth/revelations about our main characters.

There were several scenes that I even found genuinely suspenseful. I did suspect the final reveal, but not enough to affect my enjoyment. This book could probably be read first, but I would start with the Tainted Cup. Robert Jackson Bennet is a delight and my favorite current fantasy writer! His author's note at the end is also very affecting and absolutely worth reading.

The Tainted Cup was one of 2024’s most beloved fantasy releases, introducing readers to Bennett’s excellent mystery series about the put-upon assistant to a brilliant but eccentric investigator whose deductive skills are so impressive they border on clairvoyant. The sequel, A Drop of Corruption, avoids the feared sophomore slump, once again delivering a tantalizing mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end.

This time, assistant Dinios Kol and his employer Ana Dolabra are faced with a locked-room mystery wherein a treasury officer is killed after being abducted from his secured room in a heavily guarded tower. Everything spirals from there, as the gruesome murder blossoms into a wide-reaching political conspiracy that even the brilliant Ana struggles to unravel. Shadow of the Leviathan is the type of fantasy series that even my friends who don’t read fantasy text me about, and I’m so happy to tell them — and you — that A Drop of Corruption lives up to, and I think surpasses, the high bar The Tainted Cup set last year.

A Drop of Corruption is the second book in the Shadows of the Leviathan series and the sequel to The Tainted Cup. We follow Ana and Din to another part of the world where they have a murder to solve. This part of the world does not have the threat of leviathans but a mysterious "Shroud" in the middle of the ocean, where Leviathan blood is harvested for magic

Din and Ana are top-notch characters in this sequel - we learn more and more about who Ana might be and why she is the way she is. She continues to be weird (and a little gross) but I am obsessed with how much she cares for Din. I also love how she is not afraid to speak bluntly to anyone she is in contact with whether it be leaders from the Empire or kings and princes.

I found the mystery in this book to be just as intriguing as the one from The Tainted Cup and also found the world even more interesting. The uniqueness of the engravers who use scent to remember key moments is so well thought out.

I would highly recommend this book and cannot wait for book 3

Simply Phenomenal.

True worthy successor to the original, can't wait to read more in this series you've created something very special.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an Advance Reader.

Paul

Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

I really loved this follow up to The Tainted Cup. I enjoyed following Din and Ana on another mysterious adventure.
This time we are in Yarrowdale which is not yet part of the Empire. There are two parts to Yarrowdale which are the High City where the King of Yarrowdale lives and then I guess what would just be Yarrowdale. The High City is like a completely different world from what Din is used to and he navigates it fairly well.
As always I love Ana and her ability to connect things that seem completely unrelated to others.
This was fantastic and I can't wait for more adventures with these characters.

I had really enjoyed reading the tainted cup and the second book didn't disappoint at all. The mystery was even more complex than the first book which i really enjoyed. We got to know more about the fanstasy part of the world and the whole thing about the shroud was just so fastinating to read. The mystery was so good that even after having so many clues it was so difficult to guess the actual culprit till the very end. Also enjoyed the dynamics of Ana and Din in this book too! The reveal related to Ana right at the end of the book was so good and unexpected and her behaviour which we had seen in the both the books made even more sense now.


Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey for the ARC.

I really enjoy Robert Jackson Bennett’s writing and again this one did not disappoint! Once again you are following the main characters from Book 1 on another case and along the way getting more insight into their lives. These books are so cleverly crafted and looking forward to more in this world he has created.

A fantastic follow up to The Tainted Cup that really manages to capture all the same twisty, interesting world building mystery of the first volume of this series.

Bennett's prose is accessible and enjoyable and you can tell the man loves to spin out the intrigue in the steampunk fantasy stage he's set his players on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Ana and Din are in Yarrowdale to investigate the disappearance of a treasury officer. What seems to be a locked room mystery that might be solved relatively easily, given Ana's skills, turns into more victims and a case of political intrigue.

The world-building continues to be good. Yarrowdale is not part of the Empire, but the Treasury officers working there are, which is why Din and Ana had to be called in. This means that there are some issues of jurisdiction that might complicate the investigation. Furthermore, we get to see a different part of the fantastic world; different people, different languages, and different socio-economic and political problems.

I liked this sequel to The Tainted Cup, although I could see some of the twists long before they happened. Maybe I am too much of an armchair detective.

Now I am looking forward to the next book in the series. Meanwhile I should catch up with Bennett's other series, which have been on my TBR for years.

4.5/5 stars, rounded up

This second installment in the Shadow of the Leviathan series was just as amazing as the first book. I will never get over how interesting this world is. It’s so unique and endless in its growth, such a delight to read about.
The new mystery for this book is unpredictable. One moment I think I got it but I really didn’t. It was exciting and fun, it could be gruesome at times though. A hint of horror at some points, which I loved.
Just as the first book, the characters were relatable and enjoyable. I love them so much and can’t wait to see what else is to come.
Not only is it a murder mystery but there’s also a political mystery that reflects today’s issues. The authors note is also a good read, please don’t skip it. The conflicts make you really think and you can see by the writing that RJB fleshed this story out so well. Thought of everything so perfectly.
If you are considering this series, just read it. You won’t regret it.
Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me this digital arc in exchange for an honest review!