Book Review | The Tainted Cup

When an imperial officer spontaneously sprouts a tree from his body, assistant investigator Dinios Kol is called upon the strange scene. However, as similar deaths start cropping up and engineers begin dying, Dinios fears a larger conspiracy may be afoot.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett weaves an intriguing Sherlockian fantasy murder mystery with a fascinating world for readers to sink into.

In the Empire of Khanum, plants are engineered into light sources and people magically alter themselves with grafts or infusions. For instance, our MC is an “engraver” who can store his memories in vials so he can perfectly recall them later.

I may be biased, but I really loved the cosmic horror undercurrent playing out in the background as well. Every wet season, tides rise and colossal leviathans (sometimes referred to as titans) emerge from the sea and it takes three layers of fortified walls to hold them back. I couldn’t help but think of Attack on Titan here and I’m curious to see how this subplot develops as the series progresses.

Unfortunately, I think the weakest part of the book for me had to be investigator Ana Dolabra. She felt more like a caricature of Steven Moffat’s Sherlock and her anachronistic dialogue sticks out like a sore thumb compared to other characters' antiquated manner of speaking. For instance, she uses profanity like "goddamn" in a world with multiple gods instead of something like "godsforsaken.”

The saving grace here though is that we spend more time with her assistant, Dinios, who I find the more fleshed out of the two. I’m hoping that Ana will get more nuance and backstory in the upcoming books.

Overall, The Tainted Cup delivers a fun and unique genre-bending murder mystery that’s filled with twists and political intrigue.

Thank you, Netgalley and Del Ray, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Details:

Publication Date : February 6, 2024

Publisher : Del Ray

ISBN: 1984820702

Pages : 432

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