At the risk of getting absolutely pelted by rotten eggs by my fellow, like-minded fantasy enthusiasts, I’m going to rain on the parade for this one.  Perhaps I was hoping for more of what The Tainted Cup offered:  mystery combined with a more traditional, high-stakes action fantasy and seasoned with fantastic characters who have quirks all bundled together to make a well-balanced meal of a great story.  Bennett really went slow, heavy, and intricate for A Drop of Corruption.  As I inherently despise detective stories, I didn’t like this installment as much as the first.  I found the detection dry and the goings-on so incredibly complicated and all over the place.  My eye balls rolled back in my head several times from the drag.  I will say that all of my perseverance paid off at the end—some of the stuff I wondered about the world and the characters actually had on-page answers instead of teasing cliffhangers.  In a world of string-along fantasy, the relief of those reveals alone made me hug my eReader.  

Perhaps what I found so encumbering had to do with the fact that Din features heavily in this one.  Ana comes in closer to the end, and I didn’t get that constant interaction between her and Din that provided such entertainment for me in the first book.  Here, Din does nothing but wander around grudgingly, sleeping his way through the locals and whining all. the. time.  Din was bummed.  I was bummed.  The story was a bummer.  While the mystery in the first really propelled me through the story, this one shifted gears and ruminated in an armchair with a pipe and smoking jacket, like an old BBC episode of Poirot.  Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a good, dry mystery.  I can only take small increments of them at a time, however, and this one spanned 480 pages.

It doesn’t matter, though.  I still didn’t peg the culprit, had no idea even how to solve the blasted mystery at all, and Ana swooped in and perked the story right up before dropping an absolute banger of a bombshell right at the end.  I think maybe I just love these books more when both Ana and Din show in them at the same time.  I’ll read the next one, so just take my money anyway, I guess.

My thanks to Del Rey via NetGalley for the DRC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

Once again Din and Ana are tasked with solving a murder, this time one that may have significant political impact for the Kingdom of Yarrow and even the future of the Empire itself. This time the body of a government official involved in the fraught negotiations is found in the swampy outskirts of the town, but how did he disappear from his room without his guard noticing?

We meet some new characters, one that I hope to see again is Malo a local Apoth and Warden who is there to guide and protect them while they are in Yarrow. But of course the situation keeps getting worse, more mysteries are uncovered and the Iudex are not making any friends. Everyone has hidden motivations and no body is who they seem to be.. Or are they?

The future of the Empire now lies in the hands of the investigators, and we finally learn more about Ana's augmentations. In addition to this Din is once again faced with his family problems and has to make a choice, stay or leave to be a hero at the wall.

One distinctly odd element in the story was Din's struggles with stress and how they choose to deal with it. This felt a little out of place and surprising when compared to the emotional connections they made in the first book.

Overall I love this series. I adore how the science works, how the fantastical elements exist, how nature can become strange and fantastical but still feel realistic and almost normal. Highly recommend.

If you loved the first book, you're going to love this. Din and Ana are back solving another case; what starts as a locked room murder mystery soon spirals out into a conspiracy that could threaten the Empire itself. It was nice to get dropped into a completely different part of the world and experience its culture - the world building is part of what keeps me coming back. Yarrow is a kingdom that is strategically important to the Empire, but is not technically part of the Empire yet. It creates a lovely culture clash throughout and makes the world feel alive.

The other is the characters, where I have some reservations. Din has a kind of silly character arc in this book. He's convinced that the Iudex isn't a very glorious or important part of the Empire because they never actually prevent any crime, and catching criminals just doesn't feel as good or useful as it would be if he was manning the walls against Leviathans (alongside the man he has a crush on, of course). He deals with this by being mopey and having a bunch of random sex. However, the conclusion of this arc was such a nice emotional moment that I give it a pass. The one that truly bothered me is that it felt like Bennett forgot that Din is disabled. Din's dyslexia is a major plot point in the first book as it actively hampers the investigation. Here, it is casually mentioned once. The murderer is leaving notes behind and Din is just engraving them in his memory without comment? I really, really disliked this and it bothered me throughout.

The mystery this time felt a bit different to me. I felt like Bennett was spending more time reviewing the facts with the reader, which made it far more easier to make inferences (I figured out a major aspect of the murderer for the first time in a mystery!). At the same time, this is a deeply political book about the allure and failure of autocracies. He wanted to make sure that everyone reading was following along, which can be irritating for those of us that prefer subtlety in our stories.

Overall, this is a great entry into what I hope becomes a long series, and I can't wait for the next book to be announced!

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love this series! Robert Jackson Bennett is an incredibly exciting voice in the genre and the mix of fantasy and mystery was super engaging. The lovecraftian vibe of the setting is engrossing and keeps the somewhat familiar homesian dynamics fresh for the reader. The characters are likeable and diverse. I also really like the ongoing building mystery of Ana's origins mixed with a new mystery each book. It reminds me of other great mystery series, like the Gamache books. Overall, I would recommend the series to anyone who likes fantasy, mysteries with a twist, weird worlds, or someone who is looking for a book like nothing they've ever read before. This book improved upon the first in the series and I can't wait to see where we go next!

Many thanks to NetGalley and DelRey for the e-arc of one of my most anticipated books of 2025.

From the first page of “A drop of corruption” I knew I will love this one as much as I loved the first book. Robert Jackson Bennet writes stunningly fantasy mystery books, better than most of the authors that write only this genre. He surprised me from the beginning until the very end of the book, I was left wondering what I just read and how he wrote something like this?? Because people, this was better than the first one.

Anna Dolabra and Dinios Koll are two of my favourite characters of all time. The quirkiness of Anna and the quietness of Dinn create a marvellous duo and atmosphere throughout the whole book. It’s hard to have a favourite between them, but it’s harder to not choose Anna. Because she’s so unique and unpredictable and mysterious and I keep wondering how did the author imagined such a character. She’s very unconventional and I can’t wait to discover more things about her, I do have some theories about who she could be and I’m very interested and intrigued by her character.

“Anna Dolabra, a woman so brilliant she loved most of her days blindfolded and rarely leaves her rooms, for fear that common life shall overwhelm her mind.”

I loved how Dinn was in this book, I felt more connected to him than in the first book. I liked how we saw some Dinn’s inner thoughts about his own life and future and how he made peace with his life and choices in the end. He grew so much from the first book and I’m sure he will continue to do so.
They make the perfect team and nothing can escape their attention. They complete each other in a very unique way and they protect each other as well. To take part in their journey and work, to discover the small details and secrets is a delight.

“Together, they bring justice to the Empire.”

I must say, regarding the mystery, I loved this one a lot more than the previous one. A close door mystery, where someone disappears and then is find dead in another part of the city? Sounds amazing. It was fantastic. It left me speechless the way Anna discovered the truth and how far she had to go to figure this case out. And the fact that this case was actually difficult for her was nice to see, thanks to this we could see more things about her behaviour and herself as a person.

The worldbuilding is great, of course. Very detailed and well done, and the plot together with the world is darker than in the previous book.
I loved the secondary characters as well and I hope we will see Malo in the next story.
Throughout the whole book, I had no idea who the killer was or what were his reasons, which is funny, because I always have at least an idea in the usual mystery books.

“That’s what faith and the divine is, isn’t it? A line stretching from little beings like it, to the ineffable, the incomprehensible.”

“The tainted cup” was the best book I read in 2024 and I’m sure that “A drop of corruption” will be at the top as well. I read it so fast and I’m sure i would’ve read it faster if not for work and adulthood. The mystery was amazing, the characters are to die for, the worldbuilding is magnificent and the magic system was great. This series is about more than crime and leviathans, it’s about corruption, politics and lies.

“And the drop of corruption that lies within every society shall always persist.”

Now I’m here, waiting not so patiently for book 3.

“I shall keep you close-for though you and I are small, together we shall forge grand things indeed.”

I adored the first book in this series, and I'm very happy to report that "A Drop of Corruption" is a wonderful sequel.

We're once again following Din and Ana, this time on the northern edge of the empire. There's another strange murder to solve, and the more they dig into it, the murkier and more terrifying things become. We get a lot more information about the Leviathans and how the Empire utilizes them. We also get some more background on Ana, which makes me want to read the next instalment immediately.

It was nice to see Din grow as a character throughout the book, and all the new characters were interesting and held my attention. Poor Dinios Kol is having trouble sleeping, he's sleeping WITH everyone, and he's got his own personal issues to deal with. Ana, as before, stays mostly in the background, using her extraordinary mind to solve the puzzles that Din brings her until she needs to venture out and cause some trouble of her own. Their interactions were a delight and made me laugh.

As always, the world-building put me right into the story. It's one of the things I loved most about the first book. The world that Robert Jackson Bennett has created is just...so cool. I loved it. More please.

The first instalment of the Shadow of the Leviathan series cured my recent, long-standing, reader’s block. Therefore I very excited to read the second, and I was not disappointed. If anything, I found this one more satisfying than the first!

Having read The Tainted Cup, I was aware of the “Holmes-and-Watson” similarities (I have read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The audiobooks are particularly marvellous!) Therefore when I read the blurb for A Drop of Corruption, before I’d even started the book, I was hooked. The “locked-room murder” is the feather in the mystery genres cap! Upon reading the synopsis, I immediately thought of the locked-room murder in the Sherlock Holmes Adventure, the Speckled Band.

Din and Ana were as weird and wonderful as they were previously (if not more so). I love a complex, anti-hero, morally-grey character. However, I will say that I wish I understood them better – although perhaps that is a contradiction in itself. Can so complex a character ever be fully understood by the reader? I also love Ana’s potty mouth. Nevertheless, the use of the word “piss” so frequently really does take me aback every time. Perhaps I am more of a prude than I thought! Bizarre that I find her swearing charming, but “piss” jarring. I imagine a therapist would have a field day with that. Moving on swiftly...

Whilst I so want to know and understand everything about our main characters, I also want to know and understand their world! Whilst I feel I have imagination enough to fill the Empire and the locations within it that the stories have taken us so far, I could not for the life of me imagine the Shroud. I think I perhaps do not have the scientific knowledge to understand the composition of it. I get enormous lettuce leaf vibes.

Having reached the halfway point of the book, I marvelled that the literary structure of Robert Jackson Bennett’s books is very similar to that of Terry Pratchett’s in the Discworld series (another favourite). “You’re reading too much into it,” I thought, before feeling vindicated upon reading the Author’s Note, in which he himself quotes Pratchett.

I now eagerly await the return of Ana, Din and – dare I hope – Malo.

Upon writing this review, I searched Goodreads to source various quotes and references. Whilst doing so I realised that, whilst RJB may be a new author to me, they certainly aren’t ‘new.’ On the contrary, it seems I have a new, complete, best-selling series to start whilst we wait for the next Shadows of the Leviathans episode. I can’t wait to get my metaphorical teeth into The Founders Trilogy.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc! 4.5/5 stars rounded down, I was LOCKED IN for another ana and din mystery and this did not disappoint!

din was really going through it in this one, and you can definitely tell that his relationship with ana suffered for it. I think this was the main reason this second installation didn't quite hit the same as the first - seeing them interact and learning how their relationship works in the first one was really amusing and engaging to watch and while they've still got those same notes here, there's definitely a tension between them, mostly due to din's continual suffering, my sad boy. other than that, bennett does a great job of creating such a rich and creative world, from the memorable side characters to developing the history of the empire. you definitely get the feeling that he's using this more as a springboard for the third book - we get more clues about who exactly ana is and what she does for the empire, and we get more of a look in to the history of the empire and leviathans, so this is definitely creating some more anticipation for me for what the third book is going to be about. the mystery in this one is also somehow even more complex than the first one (which is saying something) and it was so complex and interesting to follow along with and it had me on the edge of my seat as things played out. overall, an absolutely riveting read, I loved seeing din and ana again, and I cannot wait until the next book comes out!

Ana and Din are back, our wonderful detective duo, to solve one of the biggest mysteries of their lives. Things are about to get bigger, weirder and more dangerous, even compared to a leviathan attacking.

Ana, one of the best investigators in the empire, and her observant assistant Din, are back on the trail of a killer, and while they are far from the Wall and leviathan attack, they are once again near the sea. Parts of a Treasury officer are found in a swamp outside of Yarrowdale, an independent kingdom, yet to join the empire. The problem is, the officer had vanished from a guarded room, with locked windows. Gone without a trace. This mystery will push Ana and Din into places and states that will change their relationship for a while.

Once again Bennett has written a group of wonderful characters, all locked up in a fantastic mystery with a healthy sprinkling of a great fantasy all mixed in with an imaginative list of flora and fauna, there is little to nothing of this book not to enjoy!

A Drop of Corruption
by Robert Jackson Bennett
An Ana and Din Mystery #2
Fantasy Mystery
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Apr 1, 2025
Random House/Del Rey
Ages: 16+

Called to Yarrowdale, a kingdom at the very edge of the Empire, where the Shroud sits, Ana and Din investigate the disappearance of a Treasury officer, who days after vanishing, had reappeared in pieces.

As Din searches for clues, risking his life, Ana enjoys oysters and meditates on what Din discovers, and she believes that the Treasury officer's murder is linked to a much bigger danger, that threatens Yarrowdale, the Shroud, and the Empire.

But worse, it seems as if whoever is behind it all, can predict Ana's revelations and their plans stay steps ahead of Ana's and Din's reach.


This is the second book in a series and is its own story, so it's unlikely I'll give any spoilers to the first book.

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you'll probably like these, if Holmes is extra lazy and there are leviathans, and ways to alter your body to enhance sight, hearing, strength, etc...

Din, in first person, relays the story as he does all of the leg work, searching for clues, risking his life, and with his alterations he can recall all the details to Ana.

While Din was out and about I enjoyed the story because there was action, suspense, and details about what was happening. But when Ana came into the storyline, she talked (which was telling instead of showing), sniffed a lot, and was a b**ch to Din and everyone else. Sure she has her gifts and a flare for the dramatic which makes her an interesting character, but I don't like her. I got bored as she rambled on about the case, the clues, and pointless mutterings.

As for who did it... I guessed it as soon as they were introduced.

At least there was more history about the world in this book, but other than being mentioned, the Leviathans and other creatures weren't a big part of the story...

I didn't hate the story, but Ana's rambling ruined it for me. As to reading another book in this series, I honestly don't know. I like Din, the mysteries are good, but I don't like Ana, and she is the reason this book missed reaching the next star.

2 Stars

One of the issues I have with fantasy books is that they will setup a whole world and then have that world collapse throughout the course of the series. I appreciate the ability to live in a fantasy world without drastic change from book to book. I think that also supports the mystery part of this series well. This was another great mystery with the ability for the audience to figure it out before the reveal. There is also a tremendous amount of nuance that adds in the ability for these series to be read again and again. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Robert Jackson Bennett is truly a mystery mastermind. I have no idea how he manages to build all these layers while also building an entire fantasy world. I am obsessed with the way this world works with the grafts and draughts and suffusions etc.

I kept thinking I knew what was going on and then he would add another layer of intrigue and betrayal. It's infuriating to know you've been given all the clues, to be reminded of it with Dinios using direct quotes, and then still miss things, ahah. All while RJB is giving us reagents, leviathans, kings, jungles, boats, imperial detectives, imperial scientists, sketchy reagent research practices, sassy Ana, Dinios out on the town iykyk, and some touches of fantasy horror.

My literal only complaint is Ana gets heated a lot and so her sentences often end in exclamation points, but I'm not going to knock any stars for Ana being quite Ana.

What an excellent follow up to The Tainted Cup. I hope the series continues!

A Drop of Corruption sees our favourite investigative duo back in town - Ana and Din takes on a new locked room murder, this time in Yarrowdale, the only Canton free from Empire's reach, for now... They are racing a devious genius, someone who keeps them and their allies guessing at every turn. What I love about the second book in the series is that it shows us more of Din, some of the motivations behind his self-effaced nature; and Ana's desperation to unravel the deepest of mysteries that she's willing to sacrifice something important in her.

While the premise of the mystery is nothing new, a new host of characters make this new adventure more colorful: it also brings out the best in Din (and less so Ana!) after a few cases under his belt. RJB continues to depict the world magnificently, tottering between a nostalgia for the past and fierce yearning for a better future. I also really enjoyed how tapping became a language itself, stripped back to its primordial form, in a world where language can become quickly subversive – simple gestures can still convey great meaning.

The book really challenged how far devotion can go, and whether sacrificial acts could be truly selfless. It continues to emphasize that power will always breed violence, at the mercy of the powerful, but it's the less fortunate who bear the brunt of it most. A real reflective, adventurous read!

Robert Jackson Bennett has created a fantastical world that is both advanced and ancient in its ways. His writing brings this whole world to life. You can imagine the fretvine buildings, the seas, the leviathan. There is so much to absorb and capture in this unusual place with very unusual people. It’s wonderful. I was so excited to return and see what was in store for us this time around.

Din and Ana return with another mystery to be solved. This time in the canton Yarrowdale, a Treasury officer has gone missing. From a fully locked and guarded room. This is the type of mystery only the brilliant and eccentric Ana Dolabra can explain. Though there will be a lot of challenges along the way. Cryptic messages, humans turned into plants, plants growing human parts. It’s a grisly one, but most in the Empire are. So many people with secrets and secret agendas. For Din, it’s hard to know who or what to believe.

This time Din is paired with an Apoth named Malo. She’s a tough girl with a mouth full of hina root, the Yarrow version of chewing tobacco.. But she’s also smart and enhanced in such a way that she will be very useful to Din and Ana in their quest to find this mysterious Pale King that is wreaking havoc throughout Yarrowdale.

While you don’t necessarily need to read The Tainted Cup prior to this one, it will help explain Ana’s bizarre behaviors and Din’s backstory. Book one gives you a lot of background on the Empire, while this book brings more information about the Khanum to light.

I just hope that this series goes on for a while. It’s an extraordinary place. Bennett’s words are magical. Please also take the time to read the Author’s Note at the end of the story. It was profound in its own way.

When I say I *devoured* this book... the previous one was a five out of five stars for me, and this one more than lived up to its predecessor.

There is plenty of world building here, adding on to what has come before. There is a one page into about the Empire, the world state, and its a page I would have liked to have read in the first one as it outlines so neatly this fantastical other world.

In a way, it is more of the same. More plot, more mystery, more gradually learning more about Din and Ana. More crime that is an onion, layer upon layer and each one so artfully explained.

That is in no way a bad thing. This is a world that demands such a thing, and I truly enjoyed following the twists and turns of the canals and rivers as the story snaked its way to its breath taking conclusion.

As with the previous story, one of the biggest joys in this, is the ability to solve the crimes yourself. Like a puzzle box coming open with that oh so satisfying 'click' so there is that same delicious feeling of satisfaction at untangling at least some of the mystery. All the information is there for you to see, and reason.

I also adored what we learnt of Din and Ana. There are so many mysterious about our duo, and while some are answered, so many more aren't. It's a very delicate balancing act, because you don't want the personal mystery to overwhelm the actual plot, but one in which I think the writer has succeed at.

There is some body horror here, some hints at eldritch, cosmic horror as we reminded that the world they live in is beset by monsters, and not all are the beasts in the water.

I hope and pray he writes more. I need more. (And let Din see his boy again!)

When I finished The Tainted Cup, I hoped that the next book would go deeper into the Leviathans and give us more of Din becoming a capable detective in his own right. I think a lot of my disappointment with A Drop of Corruption is that it didn't do either of those things.

We start the story off with a bit of a time skip. It's stated that Din and Ana have had several other cases, but for actual time that has passed, it's a bit vague. Din, who was the eager overachiever who desperately wanted to keep his job in the first book, is now quite disillusioned with his role as a Iudex. Ana is still Ana. I didn't like her in the first book, and I don't like her in this one. The mystery is in a new setting, a kingdom called Yarrow, set nestled in a dense jungle.

The beginning of the book and the new mystery starts off very strong. I loved the idea of figuring out someone who literally seems to have vanished. Also, just some of the plant things in this region are very cool. We also get some nice Din development here (though I am not a fan of the whole "engraver makes him good at sex" thing. It comes off as cringy.).

Around midway through the book, the culprit is determined by Ana, and this just really kills the momentum. I get that now he's the Moriarty to her Sherlock, but I could see a lot of the twists from far away. I didn't feel their cat and mouse, because Ana or the culprit didn't feel particularly clever. A lot of the twists were ham-fisted and inelegant. We're also introduced to the Shroud, which is a mysterious structure used to break down Leviathans for their use in augments and grafts. I wanted this to feel important and be intrigued, but by the end of the book I still didn't understand really what the Shroud was for. I didn't understand why they needed the Augurs. I didn't feel like it added anything new about the Leviathans.

The book then devolves a lot into politics, and I don't feel like this is Bennett's strong suit with writing. There's not a lot of nuance and it bogs down the story and the final (no, really this time!) reveal made me roll my eyes.

Overall, I think it's fine I felt like Din and Ana are a bit too different from last book. Ana is mostly the same, but...off. Din feels wildly different this time, and I felt like the endearment I had to him from the first book was gone. He just seemed so devoid of personality this time. There's still a lot of good here, I think in the early book there's some great imagery and world building. I was just left wanting more.

A fantasy police procedural is exactly the genre that I didn't know I needed, but I fell deeply in love with the combination when I read The Tainted Cup. I was joyful when I realized that it would become a series, and couldn't quite get my hands on this second book fast enough to suit me.

Readers, this book did not disappoint! This installment builds on the characters and events from The Tainted Cup, so I'll keep my review vague so as not to spoil the unique experience you will enjoy there. A Drop of Corruption dials up the fast-paced investigation portion of the story, which was enjoyable for me but felt like a slight pivot from the fantastical world building we got in the first book. It was fun to follow along as Din and Ana follow clues, react to the twists, and handle their business in the way only they can. The investigation takes center stage, but the fantasy elements are still strong and vibrant throughout.

This is such a unique genre mashup and I love that Robert Jackson Bennett is thriving in this space. How refreshing!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray (Random House) for allowing me to accompany Din and Anna on this adventure in exchange for my honest review.

A Drop of Corruption is a perfect sequel that further builds the world while also keeping to a self contained mystery. This time Ana and Din are far from home, putting them out of their element.we get to see more of how the Leviathan bodies are used, and get some reveals that lead to deeper questions. I can’t wait to see where this story goes next.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Title: A Drop of Corruption    
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, fantasy    
Rating: 4 out of 5 

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

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

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

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

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

The world this is set in so strange to me—but its uniqueness makes it a lot of fun to read. Ana’s just as a crazy as can be and you never know what she’s going to do or say next, which adds a whole other level of entertainment to reading. Kol is a great character: sometimes he’s super smart and observant, sometimes, he’s fumbling around in Ana’s shadow like the rest of us. I did figure out who was behind everything before the big reveal, but I think that was sheer luck. If you’re looking for something unique to read, give this a shot.

Robert Jackson Bennett is an award-winning author. A Drop of Corruption is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 4/7).

Thank you netgalley for the e-arc!
4.5 ⭐️
I really loved this sequel to The Tainted Cup! RJB creates such a strong atmosphere in these books that I felt transported. It was damp and dark and creepy as Din and Ana were trying to solve this mystery, but the interactions between them were also really funny and helped balance the story.
The mystery story was really interesting and well thought out in my opinion! It had a good number of twists that I never guessed either at all or until right before they were revealed. It was a very satisfying mystery that wrapped up all of its threads at the end and felt well foreshadowed. The only part I wasn’t super excited about was the political treaty meetings subplot, but I do like what it added to the story
This book also gave us more background on the history of the kingdom and the magic system, which was cool
Overall, I’ve really been enjoying this series, and I hope we get many books with Din and Ana!