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!

As a longtime Robert Jackson Bennett reader, there’s one thing I know: he always writes a great sequel. A Drop of Corruption is no exception!

Din and Ana travel to the edge of the empire to solve an impossible disappearance. They find themselves in a small, backwater outpost that produces the most valuable reagents in the empire.

This mystery is perfect. No frustrating misdirects here, just a masterful example of a mystery so complex that you’re peeling back layers until the final pages. The new characters are written with as much care and nuance as our MCs. Din and Ana’s relationship is just as odd and touching as before, but both characters are given more depth. You even get some answers about Ana’s background (that, of course, only lead to more questions).

I devoured this in one weekend. In typical RJB fashion, the book is a complete story that will leave you feeling satisfied. Fans of The Tainted Cup will adore this sequel!

Robert Bennett does it again with A Drop of Corruption. I knew as I read every perfect chapter that this was a five star read for me, and by the end I was not disappointed. This is a truly perfect murder mystery meets political thriller. Din and Ana are the ultimate crime fighting, justice seeking duo and I am so excited to see what’s to come for both of them in future stories. Din and Ana both continue to grow as individuals and as a team and their bond and trust is beautiful. This book series is the perfect combination of fantasy meets Sherlock Holmes and I cannot get enough!

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ana and Din go to the city of Yarrow to solve a perplexing kidnapping, but soon find it was murder. This starts an intense cat-and-mouse chase for a man who may be able to outwit even Ana.

I adored The Tainted Cup, and I didn't have a single qualm about the sequel. My faith was rewarded! Everything I loved about the first book returned, but with added layers and understanding. I no longer had an entire world to understand, just one beleaguered city and its surroundings.

Certainly, the world building was just as deep as the first book, and the intrigues just as intricate, but I felt I understood Din a little better in this book. It was Ana that got a surprising amount of development, but not a lot of backstory. We still don't know where she came from, or who she really is, but I'm looking forward to finding out!

As with the first book, the side characters came to life, and I particularly enjoyed Malo! Smart, competent, brave, and brash, she was a highlight of the book.

I can't say enough about the world or the city or the Shroud. It was all rendered beautifully in Din's perspective. I could feel how awe inspired he was, how curious, and how he sometimes felt cynical, but not about the world around him. It's fitting that the books are told from Din's viewpoint, for he is an observer, and it's his job to remember. What he also adds is an ability to put things together - not like Ana, but in his own way.

Honestly, I feel like I've just had a very satisfying meal. Hopefully, I won't starve before the next book!

In the second book of the series, Ana and her assistant Kol are sent to solve the ultimate locked door mystery. Naturally, nothing is as it seems and there is more than just a drop of corruption at work. I love this world and the characters. In addition to a great plot, we learn a little more about Ana and get a deeper look into Kol's motivations. I loved this book and can't wait for the next one. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5* rounded up

I adored the first mystery and couldn’t wait to pick up this one. The characters are the main draw. They are lifelike and quirky and I want to know so much more about them. I’m definitely rooting for them. Also, the world the author has drawn here is so interesting. It’s well-written and every novel seems to take place in a new city, which starts filling in the history and details of the larger world picture.

I didn’t enjoy this mystery as much as the first novel. I’m not sure why. It was intricate and detailed and pulled in so many aspects of the world Ana and Din inhabit. We learn a lot about the Shroud and how the world’s magic has evolved. There are a lot of details about the mysteries of the Empire and the ancient people who ran it. The mystery is complicated. It’s not easy to guess and it also furthers the overarching plot: what is Ana and how does the empire as a whole function?

Watching Ana and Din unravel how someone could have been murdered in a locked room was very interesting. The details of the murder and how it occurred were interesting and engaging. I like when loose ends of a mystery are tied up at the end and nothing is left for the reader to guess and that’s how this mystery finished.

Din acts a bit strange in this sequel. Dealing with Ana is difficult, but he seems to lament his position more now because he wants to “do more” and unlike in the first book, he’s become a bit of an addict. He’s a bit annoying in this book and since we live in his head that coloured the reading experience.

There was also a point where Din and Ana talk about all the places they’ve visited and solved mysteries and I wondered if I’d missed a book. I double-checked and I haven’t. It threw me a bit.

We are teased with information about Ana, again, and I continue to hope we will get more information as the series goes on. I definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed the first. I will be watching out for the next in this series.

I loved the first book and was excited to see if the next lived up to that first effort and, well, it does.

This is a great inventive world: the intertwining of religion, mythology and detection with a world that is somewhat medieval yet completely different makes the description and the background less annoying and more fresh. Our two main characters, Ana and Din, are still figuring out their relationship as boss and assistant, and the limitations put on them by a strictly ordered society adds to the innovation. As for the mystery, it's definitely not cut-and-dried, the twists are never obviously telegraphed. And then there's the Shroud...

eARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.

This book series is truly unlike anything else I’ve ever read. From the magic system to the mind bending mystery’s to the giant monsters that could attack at any moment there is not a dull moment! I loved A Drop of Corruption maybe even more than in loved book one. We get to know Din and Ana a little bit more as they tackle a case that defies all logic. A missing persons case soon turns into a murder investigation with political intrigue that will leave you with whip lash. This series is destined to go down as one of the all time greats! A must read for any fantasy or mystery fans.

What I love most about A Drop of Corruption--and Robert Jackson Bennett's ongoing series--is how seamlessly, and seemingly without strain, he integrates various genres. This is a locked-room mystery, but also a Weird fantasy with titans and baroque bio-ecological implications, and a political fantasy with royalty and court intrigue. He then grounds these genre acrobatics in outstanding, engaging character development, and the book races along. It's just a joy to read, despite all of the sophisticated engineering of so many rich thematic and genre ingredients. Highly recommended.

The second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series builds on the world introduced in The Tainted Cup. Like The Tainted Cup, A Drop of Corruption follows another unique mystery to be solved by the Sherlock-Watson inspired pair, Ana Dolabra and Din. This story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a treasury officer in a canton at the edge of the Empire. The political machinations of a nation on the brink of absorption into the Empire and the mysterious Shroud lurking in the distance serve as both the context for the mystery and an extension of our knowledge of this new world.

These mysteries feel particularly fresh with the addition of clues that rely on a world we’re still learning. That’s not to say the revelations come out of nowhere- there are enough clues that they can be pieced together, but, for me at least, they’re only clear in hindsight. I’m excited to follow Din and Dolabra in solving more mysteries from this world!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

Ooh, this was every bit as good as the first volume and more. The politics of the empire grows more complex and complicated, the world-building grows in shape, the intrigue is exhilarating. The villain was terrific and terrifying, the writing crisp and delicious. I loved the direction this book took. If you enjoyed the first book, I think you'll have at least as much fun reading this one.

I found Din's development and Ana's characterisation particularly enjoyable (and the scenes evoking classic crime novel tropes? Just, so fun). But then there was the new character, Malo, whom I loved from her first appearance on the page.

Very well constructed mystery elements, excellent fantasy writing, and now I must wait on tenterhooks for whatever comes next (I hope it comes soon).