The Shadow of the Leviathan series has been such a fun ride so far—I love a good whodunit, especially one set in a fantastical world. This second installment definitely delivered on the mystery, even if it took a little longer to really get going.

There’s a time jump after A Tainted Cup, and we jump back in with a missing person and a locked-room situation. Din is exhausted (physically, mentally, emotionally—you name it), but there’s no rest when there’s a case to solve. He and Ana dive right in, and once things start moving, the twists and turns don’t stop. The second half, in particular, had me hooked.

My biggest complaint? I wanted more character development. The mystery was layered and fun, but I would’ve loved to dig deeper into Din and Ana outside of just solving crimes. That was something I felt in book one too—these characters are fascinating, and I just wish we got more of their personal side.

That said, this was still a great mystery in an intriguing world, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next book!

I have had this book for a little bit and was always worried about starting it because - gasp - what if it wasn't as good as The Tainted Cup, a book I've been raving about for a solid year? And reader - it was somehow not only just as good, but even better.

I feel like a lot of people have mentioned aspects - Din and his long suffering attempts to deal with Ana, their relationship in general - and I know that this book was a fantasy mystery but y'all, this book is, at points, hilarious, Ana and Din are absolutely hilarious as she's either being her chaotic self or she's reading him for filth and he's just enduring.

The new characters that were brought in (Malo in particular), I'm hoping we see pop up in later books because she was incredible.

But the expansion of the world building is something I was just so incredibly impressed about. Like we already knew about the messy politics and the monsters that loomed beyond the walls, but I loved learning more about the modifications that were made to humans and how they have been treated. I really loved this villain, being a perfect toe-to-toe match (and sometimes, a step ahead) of Ana. And my goodness, I loved learning a little bit more about Ana, even though all that really made me do is crave book 3 but it's FINE I guess, I'll read other books in the meantime.

I recommended the first book to so many people with the vein of Pacific Rim (Monsters) meets Sherlock Holmes and Watson, but I feel like I'm missing the perfect comp for the immense and lush world building. This series is so wonderful, and I cannot wait for the next one.

Also - given *waves a hand at the general world*, the author's note at the end was really a nice touch. Very appreciated.

Anyway, thank you very much to Del Rey and NetGalley for a chance to read and review!

Thank you NetGalley and the author/publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
TL;DR: I liked this series from the first book, <i>The Tainted Cup</i>, but this book made me go from "like" to "love". The writing, the mystery, Din and Ana, and the world building are all pretty top notch in my opinion.

What a world. What a twist. What endless wonders. I love the Sherlock Holmes stories and I love a good mystery. I also love a unique fantasy world. This has both of these.

The world to start with is absolutely wonderful and monstrous and delightful and vaguely Lovecraftian and I absolutely adore it. What an odd premise but my goodness it's genius in the way it's written. Somehow the author does a miraculous job of giving enough details that we can imagine the world and the grafts and the horrors without bogging us down in too many details. He leaves enough to the imagination that it becomes even more real because we as readers have a hand in creating it. Just brilliant.

This continued from the first book, and while I don't think it should be read as a standalone because of the world building and character development, you don't really need to remember much about the first mystery to dive into this. I was nervous because I'd forgotten quite a bit of Ana and Din's first adventure, but I didn't find myself lacking in detail. This is a stand alone mystery and it is so well plotted! First, Din as a character and narrator is fantastic, and Ana with her wit and humor is absolutely the perfect foil for Din's seriousness. Oddly, I also shed a tear or two in this book - specifically at one scene near the end that got me from one single line of dialogue - and that shows the sheer skill of the character building. The mystery was intriguing - I called a few of the twists but missed most of the major ones, even though they were incredibly well developed - although I think honestly, at least for me, the mystery is the bonus prize in comparison to the world.

I also think the themes were so timely and brilliant. The colonial and imperial directives and the various viewpoints and the gray areas on who is good vs bad will leave me thinking about this and specifically, about some of the themes that sprout up in the second half of this book, for quite some time. This is one of those books I want others to read sheerly to talk about the book with them (if you stumble upon this review after you read the book let's talk?!). This is a great fit for fantasy lovers or mystery lovers, for those who enjoy plot driven or character driven stories, and for those looking for a unique world entirely. If you're squeamish, though, or if you can't quite bring yourself to dive into a world so wholly different from your own, this might not be the choice for you.

I really love this series. Ana and Din are the dynamic duo that I crave for in mystery books. Setting the story in a fantasy world is even better.

This sequel to The Tainted Cup goes bigger and more in depth of the world through the eyes of Din Kol (nickname). You will still get the mystery he and his superior, Ana, need to solve and you will still get the righteous humor that Ana is so quick to speak. What you will also get is more growth from the characters and more backstory.

This was truly a great read and I had so much fun with the story. I can't wait to see what happens next.

A Drop of Corruption is the thrilling second book in the series. The brilliant and bizarre Iudex investigator, Ana, and her assistant Din are back in a new territory of the Empire. The fantasy world building is original. The mystery is twisty and layered. The author's note at the end is A+. Loved it!

A high fantasy / mystery - was excited to read this after loving Tainted Cup. A new mystery to solve when a Treasury officer disappeared, leaving no clues as to where it went. The disappearance quickly turns into a murder mystery case. Loved the relationship continuing between Din and Ana. Ana meets her match with this case, and a new enemy that brings high risk to both of their safety.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Actual Rating: 4.25 stars]

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC! I was ecstatic to receive this, as I loved The Tainted Cup! Now onto the review...

Put simply, I loved reading this. This was just as engaging to read as the first one was, and the tone for it was just as consistent. It brought us new characters who were entertaining, and kept developing our MCs, Din and Ana. Ana is still the best part of these books and she definitely didn't disappoint this time around! The book never feels boring when Ana is on page; she really is a one of a kind character. I also love the extra focus on Din's sexuality, even if I thought that some parts were a bit too much. But the fact that he is openly bisexual makes him all the more special to me. His friendship with Malo is also equally sweet as well.

And that ending confrontation? That was amazing, I will admit. Its really the highlight of the whole book.

As much as I did enjoy this book, I still think there were some nitpicks with it. I don't think the mystery was as clicked in enough like the first book, and I think there are parts where the narrative lingers too long. As much as I appreciate a lot of the detail in this book, I don't think much would've changed if it were cut out either. There's also a weird thing going on where the book wants to be against monarchy, but doesn't bat much of an eye towards the Empire and if it does, its often in naive thinking. I don't necessarily think this is intentional, but I think its hard to be against a monarchal social structure while also somewhat sheltering an imperial colonizing Empire. This didn't effect my enjoyment much, but it was something to point out.

Overall, I had a great time with this book! I can't wait for more from Robert Jackson Bennett!

I've seen a lot of people say that they liked this book more than the first one, and I just can't get on board with that. It is by no means a bad book, mind you, but it just felt a bit too much. The case in the first book took quite a few surprising twists and turns, but it was ultimately a relatively ‘linear’ book. This second book’s story, on the other hand, felt very zig-zag-y and the actual crime being investigated changed so often that I occasionally had to remind myself how it actually started. Twists are expected in a detective story, but I felt they were just a bit too numerous this time.
However, I still mostly enjoyed the story, it just got a bit tiresome by the end. I especially appreciated how clearly the magic/technology available was outlined throughout the book, so that the advancements in the case (almost slways) come about through some mechanism that had already been introduced earlier, and not some deus-ex-machina type of miraculous new ability. So, while it was absolutely not possible for the reader to solve the case on their own, every new step in the story was understandable and plausible (I wanted to say ‘nachvollziehbar’ but apparently that’s one of those German words that you can’t easily translate into English so plausible and understandable it is).
As a last note, I really loved the friendship dynamic between Din and Malo, and I gotta say she was probably my favourite part of the book. Ana, on the other hand, was one of my least favourite parts, but I honestly can’t put my finger on why. The body horror from the last book also returns, and is even body horrorier this time around, which I really appreciated but might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

This book is just as good as the first. Nothing felt repititive from book 1, and the mystery constantly had me on my toes. A murder has taken place, but the victim was somehow pulled from a high tower and taken to a lake to be eaten. All without anybody seeing. Nobody in or out of the doors, and the windows remained shut. The only evidence available is some stains on the bed. Our protagonists, Din and Ana, are assigned to the highly unusual case.

RJB is a phenomenal fantasy writer. The world building in this series is amazing. Every time I pick up this book, I am practically sucked into a whole new world. Plus, I'm obsessed with Din, our struggling bisexual king. He's a bit quirky, yet quick-thinking, and pairs so incredibly well with Ana, the Sherlock-esque officer Din is assigned to.

I cannot wait to read more of this series. In the meantime, I absolutely will be continuing to read other works by RJB.

I am really enjoying this series! The protagonists are strange and neurotic, but with admirable integrity. The world is complex and intriguing, and although the pace of revealing the secrets is slow, it's an interesting and satisfying journey. The characters and quandaries of this series are more like City of Stairs than Foundryside, the kind of storytelling I've been hoping for more of from Robert Jackson Bennett.

It’s always scary to read one of your most anticipated reads of the year… what if it doesn’t live up to your expectations?? That’s how I felt starting A Drop of Corruption– I absolutely LOVED The Tainted Cup and really hoped the sequel would live up to the magic and enjoyment I experienced in the first book. Well friends, I am SO HAPPY to report that this book is JUST AS GOOD (if not better?!) than the first book!!! 😍

Just like The Tainted Cup, A Drop of Corruption features an incredibly layered mystery with great characters and excellent world building. I kept trying to guess the solution with crazier and crazier theories, but I was still amazed by the eventual conclusion that was both wildly intricate and completely understandable. I especially loved all of the political intrigue mixed in to this story! It really added depth and relatability to our world. We are also treated to lots of fantastic character building for both Ana and Din. I feel like I know them even better now and I would happily read ten novels about the two of them solving crimes in this fantasy world.

Overall this was an engrossing mystery with fantastic characters in a highly detailed fantasy world. Truly a perfect sequel to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite fantasy series!! I *highly* recommend this to all fantasy and/or mystery lovers out there!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

I could not wait to return to Ana & Din’s mysterious adventure and was ecstatic to receive an ARC of A Drop of Corruption. The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite reads last year, so this one had a lot of expectation to live up to for me, and surprisingly I think it’s even better than the first book. I enjoyed the host of new characters that were introduced, each one unique and interesting as we watch the story unfold and learn more about them. But the amount of world building worked into the mystery really drew me into this latest additional to the Shadow of the Leviathan series. The setting was completely new, but pulled in so much history and lore of the Empire as the mystery built and I loved every minute of it. I already cannot wait for book 3.

This book was such a delight to read! I liked it even more than book one.

In this one, we follow Din and Ana to the outskirts of the empire. There lies a region that is very important for the empire but is technically not yet part of it since it's still governed by monarchs. This makes investigating the new case especially tricky that turns out to be a lot more complex and dangerous than everybody initially thought.

I was barely able to put the book down. Once a chapter ended, I immediately wanted to start reading the next chapters. Everything was described so vividly that I felt like watching a movie, and that despite the fact that RJB invented a world that is so incredibly different from our own. The characters had more depth this time, especially Din. But we also learned more about Ana, even though she'll probably always remain a mystery.

The only thing I disliked about the book was the turn the case took towards the end. I understand the purpose of writing the story the way it was written but I would have loved for it to take a different direction.

Still, I very much enjoyed A Drop of Corruption and I am eagerly awaiting the next novel in the series! 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC.

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

Absolutely incredible. Striking prose, lush world building and immaculate character arcs and mystery. Dinios Kol is my favorite male main character I have ever had the privilege of reading. His commanding officer, the eccentric and highly erratic, Dolabra, brings so much wit to the duo.

I loved every second of this sequel to The Tainted Cup. I can’t wait to see where Din’s next adventure lies.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ana and Din are sent to the farthest reaches of the Empire to solve an impossible mystery—one that turns out to be a murder committed by someone who might even outsmart the duo. And, of course, what would a mystery be without the fate of the Empire hanging in the balance?

The second installment of Shadow of the Leviathan had me intrigued from the very beginning. The plot’s pacing was steady, with just the right amount of tension and mystery, slowly revealing pieces of the crime. I was still guessing whodunit until the very end.

I’ve missed the dynamic between Ana and Din, and their relationship only deepens in this book. The side characters were distinct and added their own twists to the plot. I gave this four stars because I truly enjoyed reading it and will be thinking about it even after finishing. However, I did wish for a stronger connection between the first and second books, beyond just the occasional mention of a character or place in the Empire.

The story of Ana and Din continues! I did thoroughly enjoyed the story in this one. Did partly called it about half way through but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book.

The Good: I like the world. It does feel real and well thought out. The tensions between Yarrowdale and the Empire makes sense and the story weaves itself around that well. I like the character dynamic between Ana and Din. The Sherlock Holmes to Watson if Sherlock was even more eccentric and Watson was a young lad.

The Bad: I don’t really enjoy being in Din’s head. He reads YA to me being impulsive and naive. Ana is similarly not the nicest character to be around sometimes and some of the things seem to be there to be extreme rather than serve a real purpose.

The editing in my opinion can be tighter. There are sections and plots that don’t really need to be there (the whole debt story, I’m looking at you).

Thank you to Del Ray Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. I don’t know why I didn’t like this because I adored the last book in the series. But I could not, despite my best efforts, get into this installment. I may give it another shot in the future, but for now it’s a DNF

5 stars

A Drop of Corruption has stood firm as one of my most anticipated releases of 2025, but I have been holding off on actually reading it out of fear that it would not live up to my expectations. I'm sure that there are other readers out there who might be feeling the same way and I am telling you now that there is no need to fear - Robert Jackson Bennett has knocked it out of the park again!

Everything that I loved about The Tainted Cup is present here in spades - unique worldbuilding, a twisty mystery of the week plot, and plenty of Din and Ana shenanigans. I was pleasantly surprised by the shift from the more militaristic world that we saw in The Tainted Cup to the bureaucratic and political spheres that Din and Ana move in through this novel. It left plenty of room for Jackson to make some wonderfully poignant statements about the nature of empire and how individuals operate within civilized societies. I often found myself having to put the book down despite wanting to read more so that I could really savor the experience of being in this world. Now that I'm done, I will have to wait another year or more to see what new adventures Din and Ana get up to!

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book! I wrote this review voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

I was pleased that the second book in this series lived up to the first. I enjoyed getting to know Din and Ana better and the newly introduced characters (especially Malo), and exploring more of the world. While the character development is fine, the world building is so strong and a real strength of this series; it really makes the story stand out. The dynamic between Din and Ana is excellent, and their characters are unique enough that it was easy for me to pick up the book and remember who they were.

These books are my ideal mystery series, because they fit so well into the fantasy world, which adds a really fun additional element to the story. The mystery was well done although it didn't stun me - I enjoyed the twists and that all the pieces were there for me to fit together. Overall, I felt it was very similar to the first book; if you enjoyed that, I think this will check all of the same boxes.

It was a fun read overall and this will continue to be a series I recommend to people who love fantasy and are looking for something different!

Ana and Din strike again in this hilarious, twisty fantasy murder mystery! After absolutely devouring The Tainted Cup I was eager to dive into the sequel, and definitely wasn’t disappointed. Din is such a delight to be in his head. I love his pragmatic humour, his silence of duty, and his unwilling optimism even when the case throws curveball after curveball. The worldbuilding was inventive and interesting, just like I’d come to expect from RJB’s work, with a secretive, shrouded city, a human flesh transforming blight surrounded by a soggy, muddy world. The pacing was full of twists and subtle reveals all leading to the big moment of discovery in a way I didn’t expect! And as always, Ana is just the perfect counterpart to Din’s reticence with her eccentricity. Loved this instalment and cant wait for the next!