This was such a fun return to this world! I really enjoyed The Tainted Cup, and this sequel delivered more of what I loved—clever mystery, sharp dialogue, and that unique, almost Holmesian investigative vibe. Bennett’s worldbuilding continues to be so immersive, and I love how the story unfolds with its mix of intrigue and humor. RJB is becoming an auto-buy author for me :)

Wow, RJB does it again! The twist and turns this book has - truly incredible. If you love science fiction and mystery novels, please check this book out. You will not be disappointed.

Amazing sequel from The Tainted Cup!
The plot this time is a little bit different compared to the first one, so that means new area, new people, new mystery, except for Din and Ana, our two MCs.
From the synopsis, you might think that this is just another locked room murder mystery. No! It is, but with a lot of twists and surprises.
You could tell that the villain in this book will take more effort to catch. Seems like Ana finally got an opponent worth her time. Genius vs genius!
Not to mention the thrill of racing with time, since a crucial part of the Empire is threatened to fall since it seems like the villain is able to predict our MCs moves! It feels as if they're just a part in the villain's plan.
Within this journey, we get to know more about Din and Ana. Their character development leads to more understanding between them. There's also one new character, and I hope to see more of her in the future.

Fantasy, crime, thriller, mystery, and detective lovers, this book is for you! But don't forget to read the first book first to get a better understanding of the world building.

This is an honest review in exchange for e-ARC I've received. Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I would rate this 7 stars if I could. The Tainted Cup was one of my favourite reads of last year; and its sequel hit just right for me! Robert Jackson Bennet has done it again.

A Drop of Corruption brings us back to Din and Ana, after a small time skip, to yet another murder mystery. This time it’s a locked room mystery, in the swampy Yarrowdale.
I can’t describe what a master RJB is at world building; the gradual expansion of the world and the lore has absolutely made me feral for the next book.

Give Din his boyfriend back, but also I’m really enjoying the exploration of his character. He’s my favourite, I love him dearly, and I could read ten more books about him!

This second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series is just as good and maybe even a little bit better than the first book. This series features a dynamic Sherlock and Watson type detective duo in a fantastical world full of a science based magic. The mystery is top notch with lots of twists and turns and suspects and you will always be guessing as to who is the real murderer until the end.

The story is told through the single point of view of Dinios Kol. He is one of the most interesting characters I have come across as he is altered to have a perfect memory and can recall everything that he sees and hears with absolute accuracy. Of course having a memory like that can cause issues when you see some of the horrific things that Dinios has. But you couldn’t have a more reliable narrator. It was a lot of fun figuring things out with him and watching how Ana and him work so well together. Dinios is struggling in this story with whether or not he has chosen the right profession and if what he does is as helpful as Ana keeps telling him it is. Lots of nice growth for this character throughout the story.

Ana is her usual difficult and brilliant self. We do learn a bit more about her background and why she is the way she is, but not quite enough to solve the whole mystery about her. I really enjoy her character and how her mind works. It would maybe be wonderful to see a chapter or two from her perspective, or maybe not. She is a chaotic character and her mind does not always work the way most people’s minds do, so it might be hard to share that headspace. But she is brilliant and I love how she is able to piece things together and find the person responsible for all of the deaths in this book.

What really sets this book apart from other fantasy mysteries is the world building. This world is very unlike our own, yet familiar enough that you never feel totally lost. There is a science based magic which I find most fascinating. The people have grafts and other things done to them to enhance their senses and minds in such a way that they are able to accomplish their work very efficiently. But the world is almost medieval in its class structure and culture. The writing is beautiful and really helps to create this wonderful world. The pacing is perhaps a little on the slow side, especially in the middle, but the action at the end makes up for that.

The mystery was marvelously well done and had me guessing the whole time. I had many suspects and almost all of them turned out to be red herrings, but I had a great deal of fun figuring it all out. The new characters we meet in this mystery were not as well fleshed out as they could have been, but well enough that you could see why they did the things they did.

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, The Tainted Cup, then you need to read this one. You could certainly read this as a standalone, although you might find the world a bit confusing as the groundwork for this magical system is well laid out in the first book. You would be better served by starting at the beginning. I am hoping that his series will be continued for at least one more book. I really want to learn more about Ana and who or what she is.

I liked the continuation of the story. Very excited for the next one and hoping there'll be more than 3 books.
Story feedback: I would have loved more of the Shroud, the scene with the Augurs was magnificent and I'd just have liked more of the interactions there. If felt like a big buildup to go there and maybe because it was so cool it felt like it was over too soon.
The plot and mystery fit perfectly, I knew some things were relevant but hadn't put them together myself. I did not feel cheated in any way when the outcome was revealed. All pieces were there, they were just put together in front of me.

“Just a little more” and then “okay, another chapter” and then it’s eight hours later and I haven’t slept because it isn’t short and Din and Ana have their claws in me, what can I say. Their latest sleuthing excursion nicely fits the form of a classic mystery, with an isolated murder, locked room conundrums, reluctant witnesses, and little clues about the secrets of the Empire and each character’s personal development to build continuity across the series (hint: backstory, experiments, trauma...). There’s just enough clues to keep you guessing and make for satisfying reveals. Mystery and fantasy remains a winning combination, and I enjoyed this second outing by the eccentric investigator and beleaguered assistant just as much as their debut. Here’s to their (hopefully) many adventures ahead.

I was jumping up and down when I received the news that I got to read this so soon! I loved the first book, so I was ready to jump into another book with some of the same characters and new ones to boot! The atmosphere was perfection. I enjoyed exploring a new local for this world. I loved the mystery and how it revealed things about Ana and Din! Five STARS!

Review: A Drop of Corruption

Overall rating: 3.75 stars

A Drop of Corruption is the much-awaited (by me) (for a day, until I got hold of an advanced copy) sequel to the Tainted Cup, a twisting SF/F novel that somehow (successfully!) marries a well-built fantasy world, a Holmesian murder mystery, and, of all things, Pacific Rim.

The Tainted Cup was my first five-star read of the year, and I immediately looked for the sequel. My thanks to NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing me with the eARC. All thoughts and opinions remain my own.

I enjoyed the sequel quite a lot, too – I enjoyed being back with Din and Anna, and unravelling more of their world. This book places us some many months after the first, at the scene of a new, impossible murder in another corner of the empire. The best parts of ADOC were (1) exploring this new region and the new characters it presented – Malo!!!! – and (2) learning more about the strange, Annihilation-esque botany/ bioengineering shenanigans the mysterious Apoths have going on. (Very, very cool).

The reason I hesitate to give this book four stars and above is that it is, at its core, a murder-mystery, and I personally did not find the murder very mysterious. I correctly predicted almost every element of the plot – who the murderer was, where and how they were hiding, and who their accomplices were. Luckily, I love being right, so this didn’t necessarily deter my enjoyment of the book. I do think that it makes it rather weaker than the first, though. It could be purposeful, of course – perhaps, as the series progresses, we, the reader (or, indeed, we, as Din perceiving the world) are meant to become more adept at finding the patterns in the world, as Ana does. It would be really cool if that was the case, though I think it’s a bit unlikely.

Overall: did I like this book? Yes. Will I read the next one? Absolutely. Was it as good as the first? Unfortunately not.

One of my favorite detective duos is back to solve another seemingly unsolvable case. In this second book of the Shadow of the Leviathan series—The Tainted Cup is the first—the pair must once again use their logic and insights to solve a crime and walk a delicate political tightrope.

Ana Dolabra and her assistant, Din Kol, are tasked with solving a locked-room disappearance of a Treasury officer in Yarrowdale. They quickly discover that the man has been murdered with body parts showing up far from the crime scene. In tracing the victim's last activities, they realize they are up against a killer skilled at deception and whose ultimate goal may be destroying a controversial facility, known as the Shroud. With the body count rising, the pair is in a race to outwit the killer, save the facility, and ease political tensions.

This is an imaginative book featuring eccentric characters in a fantasy world that comes to life. I love the combination of fantasy and a murder mystery; it works for me. There are twists and red herrings galore, but Ana and Din cannot be denied. Just how the murder is solved and the killer uncovered makes for an entertaining read. 5/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Del Rey, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is April 1, 2025.

Back in January I hyped up “The Tainted Cup” as one weird, wild ride of a fantasy murder mystery. This is book two in the ‘Shadow of the Leviathan’ series and it didn’t disappoint in its wildness and weirdness with a new bizarre murder mystery, but the same loveable main characters, - who just happen to be the best detective duo in all the realms. There’s also some interesting commentary about autocracies. I don't know if I loved it as much as the first book, which wowed me with its novelty, but this was still a very good read. All my thanks to NetGalley for the sneak peak. I’ve become quite a fan of this author and this series in particular. I'm already looking forward to the next book!

The brilliant Ana Dolabra and her assistant Dinios Kol are at it again in A Drop of Corruption, the second installment of Robert Jackson Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series.
A seemingly impossible murder has occurred in Yarrowdale, a city at the edge of the Empire. An officer of the Treasury has disappeared into thin air- abducted from his locked quarters, in a heavily guarded building. As Ana and Din begin to work the case, they find themselves at the centre of a much larger plot than either of them had anticipated- and dealing with an enemy that perhaps even Ana can’t best.

Listen, I adore fantasy and love a mystery, so this series was practically made for a reader like me. A complex murder mystery with heavy political tones, A Drop of Corruption is well crafted. The action starts immediately, and the reader is forced to hit the ground running with Ana and Din in their newest investigation (a difficult feat, for the two combined have bigger brains then would ever be possible for non-augmented people like me). I remained engaged throughout and often found myself on the edge of my seat. The stakes are high, the pacing excellent, and the conclusion satisfying.

Bennett is a master of worldbuilding, and has created an environment that is unique, intricate, and layered. The Empire has seen better days, and the gritty realities this provides, alongside a cast of characters augmented with a variety of skills, makes for a gritty and at times dark reading experience. These somber realities are expertly juxtaposed with dialogue that is often quirky, charming, and impulsively readable. The relationship between Ana and Din feels so alive. I could read an entire book of the two of them just bantering back and forth.

An excellent sequel. I shall wait for Book #3 with baited breath.

Many people refer to the second book in a series as the sophomore slump. Bridge books tend to be extremely hard to write, as authors tend to know the start and the end of their stories but not how to connect the two. As such, it constantly impresses me that Robert Jackson Bennett’s middle novels are often his best ones. A Drop of Corruption, the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan trilogy, continues this trend by being a strong contender for one of the best books of the year (yes, I know it’s March). Having laid the groundwork for his world in A Tainted Cup, Bennett manages to tell a very captivating locked room mystery, rope me into the greater trilogy narrative, and speak to our current mounting political crisis in America simultaneously.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, a swamp-infested nightmare of a region, 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. As Yarrowdale technically sits outside the empire, any outside assistance and policing must be handled with a delicate hand. Yarrowdale is home to the Shroud, an enormous weeping wound on the world that allows alchemists to process Leviathan corpses and build the thing that makes the Empire run: grafts. It is critical that any criminal elements in this unstable canton not affect the flow of commerce, but the Empire can’t march an army into foreign lands. 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.

A Drop of Corruption is an immediate Bennett classic with all of his signature elements that I love more than anything. It has a compelling mystery that had me rereading every paragraph for clues, fucked up prose that somehow is beautiful one second and horrific the next, an engrossing setting with a gigantic eldrich horror on the horizon, characters you can’t help but fall in love with, and social commentary that feels incredibly timely. I loved A Tainted Cup, but the book felt like it spent a little too much time establishing the foundation for the trilogy and not enough time on its own mystery. A Drop of Corruption, on the other hand, has a mystery that grabs you the second you open the book and doesn’t let you go until the last page. I was much happier with the division of page space in this second entry, and the pacing as a whole might have been the best I have seen from Bennett ever.

Honestly, if you are a fan of the site, I almost certainly don’t need to sell you a Bennett novel. You know we love them, and you likely love them. the review could probably just have been an announcement that it’s out on April 1st, 10/10 stars, go read it. While I don’t really want to go into too many details about the story or the characters to preserve spoilers (though both continue to be great), there is one element of the themes I think would be good to talk about. In A Drop of Corruption, one of the central issues that Dinios is dealing with is a sense of purpose and direction. He is adrift in a capitalistic hellscape run by corrupt elites with all of the power and has witnessed time and again that his efforts aren’t doing much to change the direction of things and make them better. He is exhausted in many different ways and constantly questioning if there is anything in his life he has agency over anymore. This is why it is wonderful that one of the core ideals of this second novel is about how a little person doing what is right will always make a difference. Bennett shows that while one person may not be able to seize control of the world and fix everything, we can still be additive and make things better in our own small ways–and that these ways add up. Sometimes, we are forced to be in a place of reaction, watching power-hungry idiots break things out of an all-consuming sense of greed. It is demoralizing that we can’t stop in and just stop “crimes” from happening. But we can stand up and hold people accountable for what they have done, fix what is broken, and build a better world. Change is hard and awful work, and you need a light inside you that burns like a bonfire to stand up to the winds that will try to blow it out. Yet, one step at a time, we can improve things.

A Drop of Corruption is another fabulous creation in Bennett’s tapestry. It builds very successfully upon the intricate foundation established by A Tainted Cup and uses it as a launching point to reach new heights. The prose is haunting, as always, and the mystery feels like a modern classic. Corruption will absolutely be one of the best books of the year.

Rating: A Drop of Corruption - 10/10
-Andrew

RJB JUST DOES NOT MISS. I'm particularly in love with how everything will be going along at a good pace, and then towards the end, just ramps up into "holy shit excuse me WHAT". This is the good sort of "answered one question and leaves you with a thousand new ones" because it all ties into the expanding worldbuilding - all the threads and ties to what's already been revealed are there, it's just future developments and ramifications that you're left to turn over and over in your head.

We're once again following Din and Ana as they work to solve a mysterious murder that reveals itself to have deep-rooted political implications. This time, we're picking up two years after the end of The Tainted Cup, and travelling to Yarrow, a tribute state of the Empire whose negotiated contract end date is looming. So tensions are, of course, high and political machinations are many. As is typical of RJB's works, there's a lot of conversation about what it means to be part of one political system or another, and how those differences are further different for various social classes. The lands that form the city of Yarrowdale were sold to the Empire, but of course, right outside the city is still the kingdom of Yarrow, and so the two clash. With the addition of the Shroud, a mysterious floating laboratory focused on researching the leviathans in the bay, the situation is absolutely ripe for a big political blowup.

And this is where we find ourselves, and it is a delight to watch all of the complex worldbuilding and system building unfold once again; nothing ever feels infodump-y, despite the vast amount of information you have to take in to get up to speed with all of the players.

Even more fascinatingly, we get to delve deeper into the mysteries of the leviathans and their role in providing the grafts and alterations that form the backbone of the Empire's advancements. Of course, Ana's own alternations are a mystery never forgotten about, and while we don't have all the answers, we certainly have more clues, and it only makes you hungry for more.

With such a wide scope and having to explain the tensions between a monarchy versus an empire, there's less time this time around for a lot of character work - most of it happens in the text, in Din's quicker perceptions than last time and his greater tolerance for a lot of nonsense that has other characters reeling.

I'm very excited, once again, to see more, except this time I'll have to wait even longer for the next book, which is a tragedy of its own.

The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite reads of early 2025. I was thrilled to receive an ARC for A Drop of Corruption. If you liked the Tainted Cup, I’m confident you’ll love this followup. I won’t say this book is a step up from Tainted Up, but it isn’t a step down either. Both a fantastic books, and I can’t wait for the third installment. This is an easy 5/5 for me.

A Drop of Corruption was a great follow up to The Tainted Cup, catching up with Din and Ana one year on and in another far reaching part of the empire. Din continues to be a disastrous bisexual, somehow being more sleep-deprived, messier, and now in catastrophic debt. But he's also become more clever at untangling the webs around him. Ana is as delightfully crazed as ever, still searching for something interesting enough to hold her attention.

This book drops you not back at the sea walls fighting off another wet season, but in a world of kings, smuggling, and politics. It pushes Din and the readers understanding of the world, as well as challenging the ideas of heroism and leadership.

The mystery and fantasy elements blend into a page turning read, simultaneously driving you to try to unpick the mystery and to understand each new element of the empire that's shown. I think I could read about a dozen books in the Shadow of the Leviathan series and never get bored of them.

Another fantastic installment in this high-fantasy murder mystery series! The world building is incredible and I had a great time being in a different location from the first book. Ana and Din are still a fascinating duo and their connection is only getting deeper. The mystery itself was complex and crafted so damn well! I also loved the new friendships and connections that were made. But my favorite part? The author’s note at the end 🙌🏻

I cannot wait for more to come!

A big thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Robert Jackson Bennett for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

A Drop of Corruption is, quite literally, a web of mysteries. It is an intricate story that is captivating and unique. It involves political points of view, moral distress, conspiracies, and murder. Robert Jackson Bennett has done a fantastic job of weaving together several intricate threads and ensuring that everything had a neat, satisfying conclusion. No thread was left untied.

The world-building is phenomenal. It's vivid, easy to follow, and all the components make sense. I did not feel any sense of confusion or misunderstanding during this read. The nuances of injecting real-world inspirations were seamless and added a depth to the story that was endearing.

Ana and Din's dynamic is incredibly complimentary. They have an uncomplicated friendship that holds great respect for one another. Ana has a quirky yet highly intellectual personality. Ana's every move is thought-provoking and calculated. Din is someone with strong capabilities but seems to be navigating himself in this world. Din needs to be nurtured, not coddled. I found Malo to be a great addition to the character pool. Malo's brute-natured appearance was a good contrast to Ana and Din.

​A Drop of Corruption is a medium-paced book that has a gripping, complex plot with well-written characters.

Read if: You want to read about a disaster bisexual being subjected to 'the horrors' by an eccentric genius detective in order to solve a murder

Ana and Din are back and I love their dynamic in this book just as much as the first book. Their relationship often drives this book and I think in this sequel you could see them coming to care for each other. Robert Jackson Bennett has created a main character in Din who embodies my experience as the reader - still learning things about the world but smart enough to figure out the mystery. There's nothing I hate more in a mystery book than when the main character takes ages to realise something that I as the reader figured out chapters ago. This series manages to deftly avoid this pitfall by having a main character who is likeable, smart, and who cares about the mystery and the world around him and in turn makes the reader care.

What I really appreciate about this series is that on the way to solving the 'who-did-it' mystery there are many smaller mysteries uncovered including personal secrets about our detectives. It makes these books compulsively readable and hard to put down. Just as one mystery is solved another springs up in it's place. This is a bad sign for my ability to get enough sleept but an excellent sign for an unputdownable mystery book.

The world building in 'Shadow of the Leviathan' is excellent. I could read 100 books set in this high-fantasy magic/science plant world. The unique elements of this world add to the depth of the mystery and the leviathans especially add a sense of both wonder and menace that I think should be present in every fantasy mystery book.

As much as I missed some characters from the first book, I loved the new characters introduced in this sequel just as much. This book introduces just enough characters to have a viable pool of potential murderers but not so many that you start to forget their names (a sin I am guilty of in many a fantasy novel).

An excellent addition to this series and one that has me hoping we see more of Ana and Din soon.

Review posted on Goodreads and rated on Storygraph

Wowza! Another excellent entry to the Shadow of the Leviathan series. Dare I say, I liked A Drop of Corruption even more than book 1.

RJB continues to dazzle us with his rich, immersive and imaginative world where we once again follow along Ana and Din as they solve another mystery. I love how this book feels like a game of Clue sometimes.

If you like your fantasy stories to be heavily featuring mysteries, look no further than this series.

Thank you Netgalley and Del Ray Publishing for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.