A locked-room mystery, a brilliant but eccentric investigator, and a world where magic fuels an empire—this book had me hooked from the first page.

What I Loved:

✔️ Intriguing Mystery – A Treasury officer vanishes from a locked room, and what starts as a disappearance turns into a murder investigation that only gets more complex. The layers of deception, political intrigue, and impossible clues made for an addictive read.
✔️ Ana Dolabra is Fantastic – She’s the classic genius detective—brilliant, unpredictable, and always ten steps ahead… or at least, she usually is. Watching her face a seemingly unstoppable opponent added real tension.
✔️ Din as the Watson-esque Assistant – His dry observations and loyalty to Ana made for a great dynamic. He’s both impressed by her intellect and exasperated by her eccentricities, which added some levity to the high-stakes plot.
✔️ Magic and Mystery Collide – The concept of dissecting fallen Titans for magic-infused power is fascinating. It adds an almost sci-fi element to the fantasy setting, and the threat to the Shroud raises the stakes beyond just solving a murder.

If you love locked-room mysteries, detectives with Sherlock-level intellect, and fantasy worlds packed with intrigue, this is absolutely worth reading. It’s a thrilling, cleverly plotted mystery with high stakes and a compelling duo at its heart.

Grateful to #NetGalley and Del Ray for the ARC!

The second installment of Ana and Din's world and a great followup to the Tainted Cup! Ana and Din are sent to the outer reaches of the Empire to solve the mystery of how a Treasury official was abducted from a locked room.

I am NOT a mystery/thriller reader because I often find the endings and "twists" are really convoluted and poorly laid out. That is not an issue here. It is incredibly impressive how the author manages to weave the fantasy world-building, character development, and mystery plot in one novel. This is quickly turning into one of my favorite series and I am already counting down for the third book!

⌞ 4.5/5 stars. ⌝

ana and din are back at it again! rjb you've mf done it. this world is so unbelievably interesting and full of history that I could never even dream of being this good at worldbuilding. and the personality!!! there was PERSONALITY!!! din, constantly sleep and sex deprived. ana, quite literally losing her marbles alongside her pupil. eating nasty foods, rambling, rambling, lots of rambling. the newest addition to the roster, malo, is a snarky and funny character with a strong backbone. I hope we get to see more of her in the next book.

this was a wonderfully complex murder mystery, so different from the last but it definitely had the same substance (ana figures everything out with her mega brain). the stakes were a thousand times higher, there was court intrigue, political divide, GREED, BETRAYAL I mean cmon. we have a criminal (who is seemingly just as smart, if not smarter than ana herself) on the loose, and who else but din would be better to send right into the middle of it?

you could market this as a horror/thriller and I would believe it. besides the usual body horror that is common in this series, there is genuine dread. fear of the unknown, because it is unknown for basically the entire book! there's a fear of failure—because although we've seen ana and din's exemplary detective work—when faced with a foe such as the one in this book, what if there's just not enough time for them to solve the mystery? that thought was constantly at the back of my head.

now I didn't give this 5/5 stars because as much as I enjoyed the unraveling of this mystery, I didn't enjoy the mounds of dialogue that felt like filler. recall that earlier, I mentioned ana's rambling. it felt very boring to read since it was essentially used as a history lesson, and from my experience reading fourth wing, this is not the best way to divulge info dumps. if you asked me to remember anything she told din, I couldn't. I read it but I didn't actually take anything in. I also think that the final reveal might not be as exciting to some as the last one was. in a way I think this was brilliant because I felt the exact same way that ana did. up until the very end, I was hopeful.

a drop of corruption is just as the name suggests—a complex murder mystery with a dark, sad story at its core. i'm so sad that I actually have to sit here and wait for the next book. it was easier last time, but now I really really need to know where this is heading next!

5/5 ⭐️
This series continues to be exceptional and reminds me why I love fantasy in the first place. And book two just may be even better. Probably because we now have a sense of the world and are growing used to Ana and Din’s….uniqueness.

This series continues with its sequel to show how brilliantly it is written, and how under appreciated it is. Because this series is doing exactly what I want to see more of in books. This author is taking this overdone setup of the Sherlock and Watson-esq mystery but making it fantasy. And what makes this series exceptional is that it feels so completely new. I’m not sitting here going, 😓 uh not this again, I’ve seen this exact thing twenty times in the last year alone. No. Even though this author uses familiar tropes of both the fantasy and mystery genres, they always feel completely new. The world, the characters, the plot, feels completely new and undiscovered for me as a reader, even though if you think about its core components, it’s actually not.

This second book, like the first, brought me so much joy and relief. Where the vast majority of the stories I’ve read over the last few years felt copy paste to the point I could predict what was going to happen by the end of chapter one, this felt like drinking fresh, cold water after only drinking warm tap.
But let’s talk a little about the actual book.

This second book expanded the world. We went to a different corner of the empire. One so different from the corner we were in during the first book. Yet it felt familiar. Despite the landscape and politics being on its surface different, the people and the powers and the dynamics felt familiar to the first book. Which it kind of should. Kind of like how despite outwardly Dorne in Game of Thrones seems wildly different from Westeros, the people and the conflicts and the power struggles are pretty much the same.

While our world expanded, giving us more information about the empire and its history, we also got to uncover a little more about our two main characters. I think I might know what Ana could be? I have theories at least. And Din. Damn, Din went through the Percy Jackson treatment. Remember how Percy portrayed himself as kind of mid. Like he’s kind of powerful and kind of cute. Only for us to get the spin off series where we were gained more povs and through them we learned Percy is actually super powerful and super hot. Yeah Din went through the same thing. At least for me. I totally pictured him as mid. Like so average in looks and experience that he could be forgettable. In this one he gained the name, pretty boy. And Din showed us the skill and competence he has gained since joining Ana.

The mystery in this story was also exceptional. I was constantly left changing my guesses with each new twist and detail. And yet, I never guessed the final twists. Like the mystery and detective work reminds me of why I first loved Sherlock Holmes and mysteries in general. The best way for me to describe my experience is to compare it with Knives Out. That movie series created something so familiar for the genre, yet so new. That is exactly what this book series does too.

At the end of this very long winded review of me trying to preach to you to read this series, all I can do is say once again, this is exceptional. This series’s use of the familiar made it comforting, but twisted everything till it felt completely and utterly new. It was relieving in a world where the vast majority of the books coming out are beginning to feel identical. Like if you’re going to write something, what are you bringing to the table? What is something completely new you can add onto the genre? Instead of giving us something AI probably could spit out.

So yeah. Read this. You won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

...the scope/magical "hidden" [urban fantasy] world with magic-related crimes, sometimes makes the world questionable how hidden the magic is...

...in here I could see it a little bit. With the scope getting bigger, with the crimes connecting to something huge or something that could change the whole landscape of things. I guess it's fine that we're just getting "major" events/cases per book. But it's something that's in the back of the mind. It's unfair to compare it to crime tv shows like CSI where they have dozens of episodes that could have small cases that doesn't really do anything huge, just a complete bottleneck episode. Plus, with the magical world not hidden, makes this one more interesting [compared to Urban fantasy/mystery].

I love the new cast of characters, the new location, and the new weird things RJB have written in here. While the mystery, imo, is a bit easier to solve [by the readers], I just like it being a locked room mystery. But the real strength of this book is the worldbuilding, we have Yarrowdale from the reach of the Empire, we have characters that have new set of abilities, and I think this is a bit more political heavy compared to the first one. I have some minor gripes with the mystery but as a whole it's alright.

With a bunch of plot threads and new characters which could return in the future. I wonder what's RJB plans are, since I've read that he's willing to write more Shadow of the Leviathan novels and this surely doesn't feel like a middle book.

𝒜𝑅𝒞 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌

𝘼 𝘿𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣
by Robert Jackson Bennett
432 pages
Due April 1, 2025

This is a fantasy mystery mashup series that I fell in love with thanks to fellow bookstagrammers.

If you missed 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝘾𝙪𝙥, I am giving you plenty of notice to fit it in so you are ready for its amazing sequel.
Read these if
💪🏻 you enjoy dystopian sci fi fantasy
🕵🏻‍♀️🕵🏻‍♂️ enjoy detective duos
❓like complex mysteries
🧬 enjoy the sci fi elements of sci fi fantasy
🗺️ appreciate complex fantasy world building with attention to political intrigue
👩🏻‍🦱 enjoy rich character development

This has quickly become another must read sci fi fantasy series. I love the eccentric and relatable characters, the interesting modifications they have and the extra added elements of mystery and suspense. These stories are built to be twisted cases that are difficult to solve without the help of Ana and Din.

QOTD: Have you read a book that you would label a genre mashup? What is the title? If you haven’t- what genres would you like to see combined in a book?

Thank you to the author, @delreybooks and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC before it was published in exchange for my opinion.

#murdermysterybooks #scififantasybooks #adropofcorruption #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #bookreviews #newbooks #arcreading #netgalley #dystopianbooks #dystopianfantasybooks #currentlyreading #newbooks

Every time a new Robert Jackson Bennett book comes out, I read it way too fast and then feel something I mostly otherwise feel after eating an entire bag of Cadbury mini-eggs: not regret—never!—but longing to return to the start, to experience the whole thing over again. I want to have both the anticipation and joy of discovery, as well as the satisfaction. I’m sure there’s a word for it in German.

Bennett’s books are, I should emphasize, far better for you than candy, and far more elaborately laid out. They’re smart and complex, a whole meal worth savoring, and yet that obsessive snacking impulse remains. You can’t portion them out or be reasonable about them. They must be devoured.

A Drop of Corruption is delicious, and more, it deserves all the non-food-based compliments as well: it’s propulsive, compulsive, tense and intense, engrossing and even, maybe, a little bit gross.

Yes, there’s a bit of body horror and bio-horror here, worthy of the VanderMeer-est Weird. After the more austere coding-magic of his previous Founders Trilogy, this is very much a change of pace, and it works as well as everything Bennett does, which is to say, brilliantly.

The setting, in case anyone’s forgotten since the first book, is what I’d describe as Biohacked Roman Empire with Occasional Kaiju. Huge creatures called Leviathans attack each year, and would ravage the land and everyone in it but not for the Empire’s defenses. But the Leviathans are constantly evolving, and so the defenses must as well. Using insights and reagents gleaned from the Leviathan’s bodies, plus more from the various biomes of the Empire, society has cobbled together ways to enhance human bodies, minds, and medicines.

Our leading man, Din, is one such enhanced citizen. He has perfect recall, which he uses in the service of criminal investigations, and also in his service to Ana, his eccentric and delightfully foulmouthed boss. Ana is an even more highly-modified savant, capable of absorbing and distilling vast amounts of information. This makes her a brilliant detective, and also an enormous pain in the ass. Especially lately, as Din feels internal and external pressures to leave his current position and take up arms defending the Empire more directly from the Leviathans.

Their current case is so unpleasant that it only adds to his motivation. A murder has been committed in a backwater vassal kingdom, not truly part of the Empire, and therefore even more of a densely political powder keg. The victim, a Treasury employee, should have been a small and mostly insignificant part of ongoing negotiations regarding the autonomy (or lack thereof) of the kingdom, but of course there are overlapping and competing conspiracies. Before long, Din and Ana are mired in plots and in the human misery they both arise from and sink to, mostly metaphorically, but also quite literally. The setting is a swamp, and Din can’t help feeling mired at every step.

Din struggles to accept the many degradations of power, and his own place both repairing and perpetuating them. “I was just doing my job” is so often a scathing indictment of moral abdication, the refusal to take responsibility for choices and actions with real and devastating consequences. But it’s also a reflection on human systems, whether empires or kingdoms or industries, that necessarily remove people from full culpability. Once we step beyond individual subsistence—and really, as humans we were never fully independent of each other, we were always social animals—we bear only parts of the responsibility for the systems in which we participate. And we have never fully figured out how to share out that responsibility, although our imperfect justice systems try.

Bennett has always been concerned with the perils of empire, especially the seductions. Empire can be attractive. It can accomplish so much, propel such development. But that achievement always at a cost, and those who bear the cost do not often see the benefits. More even than the last book, Din must contend with those costs at an all-too-intimate distance. Corruption, greed, hubris, and ignorance; madness, slavery, torture, and death.

“I was just doing my job” isn’t just a feeble defense, though. It’s just as much the humble refrain of the public servant, the person taking on more responsibility rather than trying to accept less. Unsung, underpaid, and certainly under-appreciated, those who repair the breaches don’t just help the empire, according to Bennett. They are the Empire, not just the best but the only thing that makes it.

This picks up the same theme Bennett explored in City of Swords, the second book in his Divine Cities trilogy, about what it means to be part of, and to lead, within an organization that uses violence as one of its tools. This time it’s the justice system rather than the military, and as ever, he has a nuanced view. Ever since Vigilance I’ve been impressed with Bennett’s ability to get at the moral complexities underlying the worlds he creates. He never goes for the simple answer, nor does he fall into easy good/evil dichotomies. I think Vigilance never got much attention because it was so bleak. Here, there’s a bit more hope.

Hope—and a heaping helping of schadenfreude. It was extremely satisfying to read about an idiot ruler and his squabbling advisors all getting their comeuppance. But this is not just a takedown. That would be too easy, and Bennett never does easy. A Drop of Corruption does its damnedest to turn our attention to the true heart of the matter: not kings or traditions, but people, and alleviating their suffering.

In the end, Ana pronounces what I think is the most thorough condemnation of a villain that can be managed in this era. With tyrants as with serial killers, to dwell on their misdeeds risks glorifying them, and there seems to be no satire obvious or brutal enough that some people will not take it in earnest. If evil is banal, then we must find some other kind of insult to lob at the most hideous of the billionaires and despots, and Bennett, I think, has found it. The word is boring. And it’s so utterly true: watching a few tech losers appease tyrants, watching despots try to become kings, watching people who think they’re smarter than they are cut corners and risk others—this is the same shit people have done for thousands of years. It's not special. Dealing with it, we must accept, is generally not special either. Though there can be moments of great glory and searing defiance, mostly the work is that of an exterminator, chasing down the roaches who think they own the place.

Fortunately, unlike so many books in this genre, Bennett actually provides an alternative way forward. As so many fantasy authors are finding, moral complexity on an individual level is no longer enough. There’s a real hunger for works that grapple with what comes after the Dark Lord, what replaces the Mad King and the whole enterprise of monarchy. And Bennett manages to make the building and mending of systems so much more interesting than destruction.

A Drop of Corruption will be published April 1, 2025.

On a technical level, this is probably excellent: the prose is as great as Bennett’s always is, Din’s voice continues to be fun, and as best I can tell (I’m not a good judge) the mystery that needs solving is very well-constructed! Lots of early readers have loved this, and I think I can see why.

Unfortunately…I was really bored. I was interested initially – the first bit of the mystery, trying to find a man who has vanished, had me hooked, though in hindsight I wonder if most of that was just me being excited to return to this world. But I very quickly lost interest. Which is probably on me: I don’t tend to care about detective-y stories, which means this probably isn’t the series for me – but I loved book one so much I expected to enjoy Drop of Corruption too.

I mean, middle books in fantasy series always have this problem: in the first book, we’re learning about the world, which is entrancing with the right storyteller, but book two has to hold our interest without that. It probably doesn’t help that Drop of Corruption takes place outside the empire, in a nation that wasn’t interesting from a worldbuilding perspective (it’s not a Medieval Europe-lookalike or anything, but the trappings are pretty familiar, with nothing that stood out to me). After being hypnotised by the strangeness of this world in the previous book, that made Drop of Corruption a letdown.

An even bigger disappointment was the gradual realisation that no, this book has nothing at all to do with the previous one. This trilogy doesn’t have an overarching plot; Drop of Corruption is functionally a standalone. I know plenty of readers won’t mind this, but I want series that are tied together or standalones with a much bigger plot than this. (Exceptions exist, like the Cemeteries of Omalo trilogy, but that has a magic combination of prose, worldbuilding, and characters that can keep my interest despite the smaller-scale, unconnected plotlines. I don’t care enough about Ana and Din as people to want to read about them for their own sake, and Bennett’s prose is super readable, but not what I’d call beautiful.)

I really felt like the plotline of Din’s debts was a waste of time; it was barely an issue, and neither was Din’s desire to leave Ana’s service and go work on the Walls. (Ana promises at the start of the book that if Din hasn’t seen why what they do is important by the end of this job, she’ll help him go, and maybe I’m just being Very Autistic, but I didn’t feel that Din’s points were ever addressed properly – and therefore don’t understand what happened there.)

All that being said – most people who loved the first book are going to love this one too, I have no doubt. And I’m happy for them! Even I, who didn’t love it at all, feel obliged to give this four stars, because it being wrong for me doesn’t change that it’s (I think) a great example of what it wants to be.

But for me, Drop of Corruption lost or set aside most of what I loved about the first book, and I’m not sure that I’ll pick up book three.

Even better than The Tainted Cup!

I am having so much fun with this series. Even though it is a high fantasy setting with an incredibly detailed world, the tone of the stories reminds me very much of urban fantasy mysteries I've enjoyed over the years. Once again, the plot is a murder mystery, and, once again, the delightfully funny banter between Din and Ana drives the narrative.

Before beginning this series I saw comparisons to Sherlock and Watson and I rolled my eyes and thought yeah, whatever, but it's actually a fairly good comparison in this case. Ana is just as brilliant as Cumberbatch's Sherlock, and even more prone to eccentricities and social faux pas. Din narrates the story Watson-style, recounting Ana's brilliance with no small amount of bafflement, while also showing ingenuity of his own.

The mysteries in both books have been really well-crafted, layered and satisfying. I've gotten much better at discovering culprits and spotting wild twists after years of reading mysteries and thrillers, but I have so far found Bennett's mysteries impenetrable. I think it is because there is so much going on and each mystery opens up to an even larger mystery before it is solved. By the time I got to the "Aha! So it's..." point, Ana was confirming what I'd figured out in the next paragraph.

But while much of this book is fun, underneath it is something deeper-- a criticism of autocracy in a genre enamored by kingdoms and divine rule. The author's note is a must-read.

Now to wait for the next book.

I absolutely loved The Tainted Cup (Pacific Rim plus Sherlock Holmes? Shut up and take my money) I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book and it did not disappoint! The magic system and writing style are so immersive and the descriptions of the contagions had me genuinely grossed out. I was totally stumped with the mystery and the reveal at the end was so satisfying. Ana continues to be amusing as ever and I was glad we learned a bit more about her background. Kol was put through the wringer in this book but he held his own and is becoming quite the investigator - I just hope he can reunite with Strovi soon. Also loved the addition of Malo and hope we see more of her in the future.

All in all, a great sequel and I can’t wait for the next one.

This second story of inspectors Ana and Din doesn't disappoint. The setting moves to a jungle-forested kingdom, Yarrow, as the intrepid duo become mired in an investigation involving murder and intrigue in a harsh, decadent autocratic culture in a state of decline and denial. There are plot developments involving the all-important extraction of materials from leviathan bodies encapsulated in a bio-shroud, involving vast wealth and vitally central to the Empire's survival.

Once more the characters are well-portrayed, especially the leaders of factions in the Yarrow court and the mysterious group of Apoths. We get to see some light and amusing experiences involving Din, and surprising revelations about the nature of the formidable Ana herself. And the clues, mysteries and unveilings of secrets are bound to keep readers, like I was, engaged till the last minute.

This time round there perhaps was a big of a saggy second third of the story, and some of the vivid atmosphere may have been less than in the first book. But on the plus side, the earlier philosophizing of the characters has been pleasingly trimmed and the cracking dialogue is probably even sharper.

Thanks to Netgalley and DelRey for an ARC of this book.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

I was so excited to get this book early from Netgalley! I was so hyped up for this book and it did not disappoint. Most of what I loved about the first book continues in this one. The main characters are dynamic and interesting. Not one part of it was boring. I would have loved to give it fives stars like I did the first one, but I did find some issues.

Sabudara can't speak the main characters language, then near the end of the book all of a sudden she speaks fluently, completely unexplained. If I understood the timeline right only a couple weeks have gone by. I don't think she would learn it that quickly or speak so fluently.

And did I completely misunderstand, but in the first book, Din couldn't read right? He had to sound it out and then remember the sound of what he said, right? Because that is completely gone in this book. I'm dyslexic and could really relate to that part and was sad it was missing in this book.

I even went back through the book and made sure I wasn't missing something.

Despite those discrepancies I really enjoyed this book. I loved gradually learning more about Ana. The ending was unique and unexpected!

The authors note at the end was so good.

The second installment is a fantastic way to round out the story. I wish this could be made into a 10 book series to devour all the mysteries of very unique cases. Th second book follows Kol and Dolara investigating a new mystery in a 'colony' of the Empire just about to join in. The pacing of the book for a fantasy murder mystery was amazing. The characters are also so engaging. Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

A great sequel to continue and definitely got rereadability because of the Detective and mystery solving plot. I love the vibes and Din and Ana's personalities never fail to get me to laugh

✪✪✪✪: the vibes are fun and convoluted (in a good way!)

I loved returning to this world created by Robert Jackson Bennett. I had the opportunity to read the first book in this series last year and, never having read anything by him before, went in completely blind. It turned out to be one of the best reads of the year and this return is no different.

The characters and the world that Bennett creates are so unique at a time when we're seeing a lot of the same characters and tropes in the fantasy world. This world is so new but even from the first book it felt inhabited and it felt easy to understand the world he was building. So to return to this place, so very different (but is it?) from our own, only allows your enjoyment and understanding to grow. And to return to our heroes, Ana and Din, was like coming home.

These two are very obviously a Holmes and Watson-inspired duo, but only in the broad strokes. It doesnt feel like Bennett is "ripping off" those age old characters, rather sipping from the same elixir of inspiration. And it works! They're dynamic is fantastic and they bounce off one another so well. Ana's quirkiness is tempered by Din's solidness. I always love to see what Ana might say or do next.

I do think this book suffers a bit from a mid-story lull, where things are happening but it feels like its dragging out more slowly than the beginning of the story or even the end. But even that cannot take away from how well this story unfolds, the clues it drops about where it might be going, and the relationships between our characters. I cannot wait to see where this story goes next!

Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Drop of Corruption is an absolute delight, blending fantasy and detective work in a way that feels fresh and exciting. Picking up after The Tainted Cup, it follows the sharp and unpredictable investigator Ana Dolabra and her clever assistant, Din, as they unravel a bizarre locked-room murder. The world Bennett builds is so immersive—magic is extracted from massive leviathans, and corruption seeps into every level of the Empire. Ana and Din’s dynamic is what really makes the book shine; their banter is sharp, funny, and full of heart. The mystery itself is gripping, constantly keeping you on your toes, and the antagonist is just as clever as Ana, making for a real battle of wits. Beneath the thrilling plot, the book also explores deeper themes of power and justice in a way that never feels heavy-handed. If you love a mix of fantasy, mystery, and whip-smart characters, this is a book you won’t want to put down.

A winning sequel that takes everything that was great about the first book and ramps it up—more worldbuilding and fleshing out of the Empire, new alterations and information revealed about the titans, and endless banter between characters. Din is going full force chaotic bisexual mess in this book and I didn't know if I wanted to hug him or knock him out so he could get some much needed sleep.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, and most importantly Robert Jackson Bennett for this eARC of A Drop of Corruption.

Ana & Din are back and the Shadow of the Leviathan series continues to impress. The mysteries only grow more layered and nuanced from The Tainted Cup, the characters deal with authentic existential crises, and the worldbuilding continues to seamlessly astound.

I am consistently blown away by RJB, and this book is no exception - I can't wait for book three!

Amazing sequel to “The Tainted Cup.” I absolutely loved returning to the atmosphere of this book and its characters. My library will be purchasing this title and I will be recommending this title through readers advisory.

Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again. A Drop of Corruption takes everything great about The Tainted Cup and pushes the story in an unexpected, thrilling direction.

This sequel shines in its character depth. Din’s carefully controlled façade cracks, revealing raw inner turmoil, while Ana—still as unpredictable as ever—is made more vulnerable, making her all the more compelling. Their evolving dynamic feels like reuniting with old friends, but with fresh layers to uncover.

What I Loved:
✔ A seamless mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and intricate murder mystery—without a single dull moment.
✔ A more complex, layered mystery than book one, packed with unsettling twists.
✔ Din’s struggles with justice and self-worth add emotional weight.
✔ The introduction of Malo—another brilliantly crafted, no-nonsense female character.
✔ World-building that’s eerie, immersive, and utterly unique.

Minor Quibbles:
➖ Heavy on monologues and dense conversations, which slow the pacing at times.
➖ Din’s reading struggles aren’t always consistent, but it’s a minor issue.
➖ Some of book one’s side-character energy is missing, making this sequel feel heavier—but in a way that fits the story’s evolution.

Final Thoughts:
This series is an evolved, mind-bending take on Sherlock Holmes & Watson—set in a world so uniquely crafted. The mystery keeps you hooked, the tension is razor-sharp, and the characters are richer than ever.

The hype is real. A Drop of Corruption is another knockout from RJB, and I couldn’t put it down. If you loved The Tainted Cup, get ready for an even wilder ride.