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 ...