This was an interesting story! It’s fantasy with a mystery element. The characters were interesting and the plot was complex. I wish there was a bit more world-building earlier in the book and also I didn’t feel very invested in the main character. But overall this was a good read and I think fans of fantasy will enjoy it!

It took me awhile to get through this book but I don’t know why. I loved it the whole time I was reading it.

This book is a fun blend of a murder mystery and political fantasy. I loved the characters and world building. Ana is definitely the stand out character. I’d love to have gotten a better look into her brain although I’m sure that would be a hard task to accomplish. I thought the augmentations were so interesting. And then add in some leviathans! Such a cool world. Can’t wait for the next book.

I received an ARC through #netgalley of this book.

This book was simply amazing and unlike anything I've read before! It was the perfect mix of fantasy and mystery. I was immersed in the story and transported to another world. I found myself not wanting to put The Tainted Cup down.

“The Tainted Cup” (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Fantasy/Classic Detective. Location: The border country of the Empire of Khanum. Time: The Wet Season when Leviathans awake.

THE SERIES: Tall, yellow-eyed, white-haired, eccentric Ana Dolabra(40s-50s) is a brilliant detective. She almost always wears a blindfold, and solves impossible cases without leaving her book-filled room. Dinios Kol (20) is Ana’s new assistant. Din is an engraver, magically altered to remember everything he sees and hears. This makes him the perfect Dr Watson for Ana’s Sherlock Holmes.

THIS BOOK: In the city of Daretana, a deadly tree erupts from a high Imperial officer’s body. It’s terrifying, even in Daretana, which is full of contagions. Ana and Din uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire. They head to Talagray where a Leviathan (mountain-sized sea creature) breached the sea wall. Ana’s mind works amazingly fast. Din is perplexed, infuriated-and in awe of her. How long will he be able to keep his own secrets from her?

Author Bennett has created a Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson duo in a land full of magical enhancements. He builds an amazing world full of shaped life-root and branch, flesh and bone (fernpaper houses, giant mushroom air conditioners). Bennett includes a map and a list of military ranks. His book is an homage to classic murder mysteries in the most glorious, magical way.

It’s 5 stars from me🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️ Thank you Kathleen Quinlan, Del Ray/Penguin Random House, NetGalley, and Robert Bennett Jackson for this early copy. Publishes February 6, 2024.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

I loved this book - the characters, the magic, the mystery - it all worked for me. I love RJB’s writing and this is another home run.

This unusual tale blends mystery with fantasy, set in a heavily fortified empire run by characters who are altered to possess unique skills. The plot involves the apparent murder of a group of Engineers whose purpose is to ensure the security of the empire. Investigating their gruesome deaths is a clever Investigator (who prefers to work blindfolded for maximum concentration). Her rookie assistant, an Engraver, is able to remember everything he sees and hears in minute detail. They uncover clues along the way leading the reader on a who-done-it journey through one of the most inventive settings I’ve ever encountered. Maybe it’s greed. Maybe it’s power. Maybe it’s sabotage or betrayal, or a combination of motives. But the body count is rising, the Leviathans are threatening to breach the walls and the plot could not get thicker! Great read!

"The Tainted Cup" by Robert Jackson Bennett is a fantasy-infused mystery, filled with fantastic world-building, well-crafted characters, and an intricate plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The story unfolds in Daretana, a world teeming with contagions, Leviathan blood, and strange magical changes. When a high Imperial officer is found dead with a tree erupting from his body, the mystery is both terrifying and seemingly impossible. Enter Ana Dolabra, an investigator with an eccentric reputation for brilliance. By her side is Dinios Kol, her new assistant, who possesses a perfect memory and is tasked with observing, reporting, and being Ana's eyes and ears.

RJB's world-building is nothing short of remarkable. He creates a vivid and immersive fantasy world filled with unique elements and a rich history. The juxtaposition of magic and science in this universe adds so much depth to the narrative. In addition, the characterization is exceptional. Ana Dolabra is a compelling and enigmatic detective, reminiscent of the great literary detectives like Sherlock Holmes. Her eccentricities, her insatiable appetite for knowledge, and her unconventional methods make her a fascinating character to follow. Dinios Kol, her assistant, is equally engaging, and the dynamic between the two was one of the main highlight's of the story for me. As these characters dig deeper into the mystery, the surprises and revelations are both satisfying and unexpected. Highly recommend!

I found myself losing track of time reading this book! It was a classic “who dunnit” but with a twist of fantasy and beautiful world building. One major aspect I loved about reading this mystery/fantasy novel is you didn’t know how it would end, and trying to figure out any “twists” was impossible because anything can happen in Daretana! Another aspect that completed kept me entwined with this book was one of the main characters, Ana. I could not get enough of her personality, quick wit, and confidence! I would highly recommend this book to any reader who loves mystery’s, fantasy, or is just looking to get lost in another world.

Not the same as other novel of RJB but his writing style definitely jumps at you. Its a murder mystery plot with subtle fantastical elements. I usually prefer fantasy books with heavier magic systems but I feel that it has a lot of potential to be teased out in the next books.

The magic system is wholly intertwined with the murder mystery and the plot drove me to read this book too fast. A few of my complaints were the character development of Ana and Kol. Ana's background sounds a little sketchy to me. And a mystery feels at times convenient. I feel like, if we got more into Ana's head, it wouldn't feel "too easy". Kol's character arch felt meandering and took a little longer than I like to get to the point.

I would love to learn more about the world's history and especially the leviathans but that seems to be the direction the next book will be!

I have been provided with a review copy of The Tainted Cup from NetGalley for an impartial review. This book was just so easy to get lost in. I completely got lost in the story and I just loved getting to see these new characters come together. I just absolutely love this story and I just didn’t want to put it down. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

4.5 Stars 🌟

This was another first time author for me and I wasn't sure what to expect when I received the ARC. Let me just say this - I really, really enjoyed it.

This is in the fantasy genre but it has some aspects of other genre's as well. It really reminded me of a Sherlock Holmes and Watson type of detective novel and to me it felt more like a mystery novel in a fantasy setting. In that aspect, it really excelled.

The world building was done very easily without too much information that has to be learned. There is a map provided at the beginning and once I took a look at the map during the first couple of chapters, it really helped me to visualize the entire setting.

In the mystery/detective category, some books do a great job of setting the scenes, dropping the clues, and letting the reader follow along while building up the suspense. Other books do a horrible job of foreshadowing EVERYTHING in a way that when you actually get to the "ta-da" moment, the reader (that would be me) looks up and thinks, "yeah, what took you so long?"

Mr. Jackson Bennett did a fantastic job of creating two wildly different MC's. First you have Din, who is the Assistant Investigator (well, apprentice if you want to be accurate). He is relatively new to his position and he has a certain type of skill as an Engraver that enables him to basically have an eidetic memory. His memory does not just include text and images, but it is almost as if he is recording entire episodes with every single detail included. He is the one who goes out to the scene and then comes back to "report" to his Investigator.

Ana is the Investigator and an extremely unique character, and boy oh boy is she a character. She is a bit on the quirky side. Totally blunt and has absolutely no care in the world who she might offend with whatever she says. She is also brilliant. She has the truly amazing skill to be able to take entire sets of facts and somehow put everything in its proper place as she figures things out. The fact that she goes everywhere with a blindfold on is just one of her quirks. Is she blind? I honestly can not remember. Maybe it said one way or another at the beginning, but I got the impression that she wasn't, but decided that if you took out one sense, then the others tended to take up the slack. And boy does she like to cuss. Like I said before, totally quirky.

Anyway, the two of them have a really interesting relationship. The dynamic just works. There is a magic system as well and while there is not too much time spent on the entire magic system, we learn enough of it to be able to explain Din's talent as well as some of the other characters that we meet as they get more and more involved in this case.

About the case, I'm not going to go into it other than to say that I LOVED the way the case progressed. The way Din and Ana worked together to begin to understand all of the clues that began to pile up. At the beginning, Din just brought back the info and Ana would somehow come up with these off the wall conclusions. Eventually we see Din evolve and come into his own as he begins to make these conclusions as he began to put things together as well.

There are also monsters....Leviathans (just wanted to throw that out there) and the entire country is focused on protecting the country from these monsters. Every occupation seemed to revolve around the various responsibilities of defending the sea wall, the engineering aspects of the defenses, the maintenance of the walls....see a pattern? The different residential areas were also interesting (the farther you got from the sea, the wealthier the people).

I enjoyed the entire storyline. There was the perfect amount of build up as we got closer and closer to figuring everything out. And just when you thought everything was solved, nope, there was actually more.

Is there going to be another book? I'm not sure, but I know if there is, then you can count me in for book 2.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Thanks for the Arc!
Robert Jackson Bennett just keeps getting better and better!
In this book he introduces us to an amazing yet disturbing world full of political machinations and a great story set in a world of mutations and danger.
A modern day Sherlock Holmes adventure that I just couldn't get enough of...
Read this! I will be buying the books in this series on day one and diving in ASAP.

A genre bending fantasy, cozy mystery whodunit. Parts of the novel were interesting but the mystery element wasn't well executed- it was easy to get bogged down with characters and details.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. I've only read one other book by this author but have intended to read more. This one has such an interesting magic system. I love the main character's augmentations and how he uses them throughout the book. Ana is delightful (if a little vulgar in her language) and reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. The mystery and how it is solved is so interesting. Definitely would recommend this book!

This book was equal parts chaotic, hilarious, twisty, and a bit annoying. While I loved the story and all the twists and turns and the mystery itself, the number of curse words was incredibly annoying because they didn’t have to be used that often. It as frustrating because the rest of the dialogue was interesting, but it started to feel like a contest as to how many f-bombs Ana could drop on one page. It also was annoying how many different characters there are. Because so much was going on and the world was so huge, it was really hard to keep them straight.

The humor of the story, though, was on point. I laughed out loud so many times, especially with Ana’s different ideas and shenanigans! While I guessed the final murderer before the reveal, I still had a really fun time with Din trying to figure it out!

This took me some time to read because of how dense the mystery aspect was. I really liked the world-building and the characters but once we started getting into the details of all the possible killers and the politics I felt bogged down. I couldn’t follow all the names and jobs of the side characters and suspects, but I was invested enough in the world and story that I wanted to see how it ended. Maybe I’m just not a high fantasy detective fan? It was well written and captivating but I would have enjoyed it more if I didnt get so lost with all the details.

I received this from net galley in exchange for a review.

What an excellent premise in The Tainted Cup. I loved the fantasy duo: Ana and Denios are both great, complex characters. I also enjoyed the murder mystery aspect of the book. I was very quickly drawn into Din's and Ana's investigation. I did also appreciate the world building, but I will admit that it took me a long time to get a good for feel for the world. Perhaps I've been out of the "hard" fantasy reading game for too long, but I found Jackson Bennett's unfolding of the world very confusing. While immersive, more explanation was really needed to help me keep up with the fantasy elements. Once you're into it though, readers will be rewarded with a rollicking mystery and twisting surprises!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

For anyone who likes mystery and a bit of fantasy, then The Tainted Cup is for you. Since fantasy is not in my reading house I really loved the twist of mystery. Since I am not a fan of fantasy based books, Robert Jackson Bennett writes a quick paced novel that had me in it's grip.

There were many clues that culminated into a big finale that still kept you guessing.You never knew what was going to happen and that is the one thing that kept me wanting to keep reading. I loved how the characters developed throughout the story. I was hooked.

Since this is book one where will Mr. Bennett take us on the the next adventure. I guess we will have to read it to find out.

Thank you Random House and Net Galley for the ARC. Thank you Robert Jackson Bennett for bringing me a book that I probably wouldn't read unless I stepped out of my reading box.

Jackson has created a fascinating, and somewhat grotesque, dystopian world in which people and animals are altered to gain abilities and the entire empire is threatened by enormous seagoing leviathans attacking the land while all resources are marshaled to keep them out. In this world Din, the apprentice to detective Ana Dolabra, who has been altered to have perfect recall, is sent to investigate a murder and report back to the detective.

And so begins a beautifully written whirlwind of a murder mystery story.

I really enjoyed the main characters Ana and Din and their relationship. And although there are some gruesome scenes, there's also a lot of hilarious dialogue. The world-building is interesting and immersive although not overwhelming. I would actually have liked a little more explanation as initially I found some parts of the world confusing. However, the mystery and detective work are the focus of the story and those aspects are great.

The book reminds me a bit of Katherine Addison's The Grief of Stones with its intense world building, an investigator determined to do well and to do right, and a somewhat oppressive city setting.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook. This is my honest review.