A great fantasy mystery. Set in an empire where great sea walls are all that separate civilization from annihilation at the hands (claws, fins, etc.) of the titans beyond, Dinios Kol is assigned to assist investigator Ana Dolabra in looking in to some strange and mysterious deaths…which may put the very existence of the empire in peril. Din is an engraver, one who has been magically augmented to have a perfect memory, and Ana is an eccentric if brilliant detective who wears a blindfold. This was my first book by Bennet and it was compelling, if sometimes confusing. I loved the world building and character development (Ana is amazing), although I sometimes felt a bit lost in the names and norms of the world. Overall I’m looking forward to the sequel as well as trying other books from this author.

I am going to be honest. I am ruined. Who let me go this long without having started any Robert Jackson Bennett books? Who let me start with a new series? How am I to keep going knowing that mystery is afoot and I want to be back in this world stat?

“So instead of committing robbery, I made tea.”

A strange murder has occurred and Ana is called in to investigate. Ana is known not only for her brilliance but also her quirks and with her is her new assistant Din, an engraver with his own secrets. Din's job is quite literally to observe and report, as Ana insists on wearing a blindfold and avoids leaving her home. As an engraver, Din has been magically altered to possess perfect recall of the things he observes, suiting Ana's purposes perfectly. The two utilize their unique skills to work toward uncovering a scheme that could threaten the entire empire.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a tad difficult for me to get into in the beginning, but once I was in it, I began to appreciate it's uniqueness and became very curious to see how it all played out. This book mixed a murder mystery with a fantasy world with a splash of Sherlock Holmes level detective work. Bennett has always had a knack for building a unique and fascinating world to be immersed in and I found he did the same here. I am surprisingly satisfied with this novel and excited for the next one.

3.5 stars rounded up. It took me a little bit to understand the world of Daretana, so it was a slow start. The different roles and the fear of the sea creatures was also a little confusing.- they somehow destroyed everything and also their blood provided the magic for human modifications. I enjoyed Ana and Din. And these two characters helped me stay with the story as the mystery unfolded.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Ray for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written engaging fantasy mystery. Once I started it I has a hard time putting it down. The world building was immense. Definitely putting on my recommendation shelf

I’m in love y’all! This is my first book by my this author (how?!) and, bang the gavel, I’m sold. A fantasy mystery with laugh out loud moments, incredible world building, and a bit of a Sherlock and Watson vibe, this was a lot of fun to read. It’s quite complex and I’m definitely going to reread it before the next installment comes out. It’s really cool that this is the first in series but stands alone; that’s so rare! This is one of my best reads for 2024

Before reading this book, I was about to give up on murder mysteries. I haven't enjoyed the last few I read and thought that I just didn't like the genre any more. I'm so glad I gave it one more try! My love for the murder mystery is now revived with The Tainted Cup.

Besides the clever clues and the well-crafted mystery, what I liked was
* The fantasy setting with giant walls, killer plants, and dangerous leviathans
* The unique characters with all their abilities and grafts
* The neurodivergent main characters of Ana and Din
* The adorable romance sub-plot. This is not a romance book. This was a very small but sweet part of the book.

If you like your murder mysteries with a hefty dose of fun and fantasy, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for a digital ARC of the book in return for my honest opinion.

Middle ground for me on this book. I LOVED so many things. A murder mystery fantasy ? Sherlock vibes? 100% here for that. The world building was great and so thoroughly fleshed out. But there was just something missing to me. I cannot put my finger on it but I didn’t connect with the characters. It was a good book! Just not a 5 star for me.

I'm sorry to say this is a DNF at 42%. I held on as long as I could, but I just didn't like this. It shouldn't take more than 40% to get into a world or whatever's going on in the plot, so I'm bailing. This could be a me problem because most reviews are 4 or 5 stars, but that's just not the experience I'm having.

The first 15% was great. I loved the setup of the mystery, the dynamic between Din and Ana (I agree it's reminiscent of Sherlock and Watson's dynamic), and the things that were revealed about the world. However, after that point, it starts to go at a slower-than-snail pace and it feels like nothing is happening at all. The dynamic between the characters and the worldbuilding just wasn't good enough to hold my interest and I found myself counting the minutes for the chapters to end.

I wanted to love this because I've heard such good things and I was excited to get to it, but I could barely get to 42%.

The novel opens with a dead body. It is only the beginning of a mystery. It is a type of Holmes and Watson story with the twist that it is set in a fantasy setting. Well written fantasy detective novels are rare but to my delight this is one. It is a fantastic adventure for all fantasy fans.

I had a great time with this book on my second try! I'm excited for the sequel now. Others have written a lot about this book, so I'll keep my review brief.

I'll admit, this is one of those slower fantasy books. But I'm so glad I gave it another chance and stuck through with it.

The worldbuilding is absolutely amazing. Who doesn't love alien worlds with semi-familiar forms of police governance? (This might or might not be sarcasm.)

And being a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes (the OG and its various iterations), I thought this was a great homage to my favorite duo. Cranky detective and noob assistant? Count me in. I absolutely loved Din's characterization. For technically being the sidekick, he was fully fleshed out and was very relatable. (Who hasn't been the newbie before?)

I actually stopped caring about the main mystery plotline halfway through and just vibed with the atmosphere and the setting. It worked out. The leviathan side plot and the creepy cool trees growing out of the victims definitely kept my attention.

I'd recommend if you're a fan of slower fantasy stories with elaborate worldbuilding (society building?). This isn't a quick read where you're one and done with it. You actually have to think and pay attention.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for this arc.

This fantasy murder mystery was such a fun and original journey of a book to read. I was immediately immersed in this world and enjoyed every twist and turn that was thrown our way. The characters are fun and memorable and I cannot remember the last book I have read that completely took me by surprise by how original and hooked I was from beginning to end. I could not put this put this book down and am eagerly awaiting the second book of this series. If you enjoy a Sherlock Holmes style story in a fantasy landscape, that is a combination of several genres with fantastic themes, then I cannot recommend The Tainted Cup enough. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. My opinions and thoughts are my own. 4.5/5 stars.

What an absolutely fun Sherlock Holmes retelling with one of the most clever worlds I have had the pleasure of reading, with bioengineering that will bring to mind the transformations in the movie Annihilation, mountainous leviathans encroaching on shores, and engineering teams saving the day. The clever assistant and eccentric investigator are sure to charm fans of buddy-cop adventures and murder mysteries.

The Tainted Cup is a Sherlock Holmes-style murder mystery by fantasy author Robert Jackson Bennett, set in a dystopian fantasy world. In the Empire, all civilians live under the shadow of the Leviathans, great sea creatures that seasonally attack the walls and try to come ashore and wreak havoc. Rather than using electricity or metal, the majority of technological advances in this world have been made with plants, whose growth and properties have been altered by the blood of the Leviathans.

After an Imperial officer is killed in a most unusual way — a tree violently sprouting from within his body — Ana Dolabra, a quirky detective with rather unorthodox methods, is assigned to investigate the case. She brings with her Dinios Kol (Din), her new apprentice who is studying to be an investigator.

Ana is a sort of Nero Wolfe -- a recluse who seldom gets her hands dirty with actual in-the-field investigation. She leaves that to Din, who has been biotechnologically enhanced to have perfect recall. (In the Khanum Empire, such people are known as engravers).

Told from Din’s perspective, the reader is quickly immersed in a what he suspects may be a conspiracy as he is sent to the very edges of the Empire. He is completely unprepared for this case initially, but he does his best to relate the facts he has witnessed to his boss, even though he is, I believe, dyslexic. (The word "dyslexic" appears nowhere in The Tainted Cup, but Din's descriptions of his difficulties reading fits the definition.) He encodes memories, recalling them with a smell assigned to each one. This means he can recall with exact precision the way something looks, feels, tastes, and smells, which he then relates to Ana (Think Sherlock and Watson with a much-enhanced Watson).

Ana has her own issues. She is an immensely gifted genius who insists on living mostly blindfolded though she’s not blind. She has a hilariously abrasive personality and avoids meetings if possible. If forced to meet others, she orders them to her home, where she catches and interrogates them like a spider toying with a bug in her web, only releasing them grudgingly.

Din is scandalized, puzzled, and sometimes infuriated by his new superior. But as the increasingly complex case unfolds, he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next. In turn, he wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her searing intellect.

This book took me by surprise. Robert Jackson Bennett is a new to me author who has made me realize that fantasy/science fiction blended with mystery may become my new favorite thing.

The worldbuilding in The Tainted Cup was fantastic. In fact, author Bennett ingeniously uses Ana and Kol's investigation as the primary vehicle through which he develops his world. It's a unique approach that melds the fantasy and mystery genres together in a way I haven't quite seen before.

But the best news is that The Tainted Cup is the first novel in a planned trilogy, the Shadow of the Leviathan series, so hopefully we’ll be seeing more investigations by Din and Ana soon. I’d love to read more and can’t wait to see what comes next.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey Publishing for providing a copy of this book for review.

Atmosphericly, this book delivered everything I could have hoped for. The supernatural and technological side felt very bio-mantically driven with a splash (or gallon) of body horror to color it. Darkly whimsical, we follow Sherlock and Watson-esque duo and they’re called on to solve a series of cases in which trees spontaneously erupt from the bodies of unsuspecting victims. And much like many of the Sherlockian mysteries, the solve is far beyond the typical reader’s capacity to solve, which isn’t my favorite mystery narrative.

Even so I did love the characters, the unique magic, and the dark tinge to the world it takes place in. I’m definitely hooked for book two!

This is a fun murder mystery in a fantasy setting. The story follows Din and Ana as they investigate a series of connected murders. The world-building by the author is fantastic and the alterations of this world are really unique. I loved the relationship of Ana and Din. The characters are so different that they worked well as a team. The humor thrown in made me giggle and was very enjoyable. There is just something about the story that made me not love it. Although the fantasy aspects were great, I did feel a bit confused at times and I thought the story was a bit slow about the halfway point. If you love fantasy and murder mysteries, I think you will enjoy this read.

Do you like Knives Out? Do you like Sherlock Holmes and Watson?

Yes? Then you’ll love this book!

It’s a murder in a fantasy world that focuses on slowly unwrapping the mystery through details not surprising revelations.

While the character development is a little lacking, this book is best taken at face value.

Since Ana and Din are the main characters, if you don’t like their dynamic or as annoyed by their personalities, you won’t like this book.

I want to start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a unique twist on a Sherlock Holmes retelling. I am usually a character driven reader, however the world for this book was very engaging. I loved the use of plants as a form of poison and I genuinely look forward to seeing more from this world and its leviathan.

"We do these ugly, dull things for a reason—to make a space where folk can live, celebrate, and know joy and love."

That quote changed my life, to be completely honest. I’ve never seen the reason for the constant work and suffering we put ourselves through summed up so elegantly, and that is just one of many stunning moments in The Tainted Cup, the first of Robert Jackson Bennett’s newest fantasy series. This story combines everyone’s love for a classic Sherlock Holmes/Knives Out mystery with a lush dark fantasy world, and the meshing of serious plot lines with moments of comedic relief and genuine human connection is signature RBJ.

In Daretana, a city in the empire in which this story takes place, young Dinios Kol is the assistant to the eccentric, reclusive, and overall bizarre investigator Ana Dolabra. When an Imperial officer is killed, the two of them (but mostly Din) are called onto the job. Mixed in with their delve into the schemes and politics of the gentry society is the constant looming threat of leviathans – gargantuan monsters that lurk in the oceans just past the sea walls. It isn’t long before multiple murders become connected to a sudden influx of sea wall breaches, and Din and Ana must work to unravel the mystery before the leviathans make a breach too large for the empire’s defenses to stop.

One of my favorite parts of this story was the magic system. It has two main components: plants that have been altered to serve multiple purposes, such as air conditioning for homes or anti-entry defenses, and then human alterations, known as grafts and suffusions. Din is an engraver, a class of altered human that gives one a permanent eidetic memory. This makes him particularly useful to Ana, as he can be sent out to crime scenes and report back to her without any missing or fallible information. He is exasperated, long-suffering, and, quite honestly, one of my favorite RBJ characters. Din has a dry humor and a soft heart, and is very easy to connect with as the reader. I also enjoyed the other characters – everyone was very memorable and well-crafted, and even those who were already dead when we met them had personalities that showed through in the writing.

The human-based system was very fleshed out, although I do wish there had been more page time for characters who were classes other than engravers, just to be able to see how they all interact in this world. Each engraver we saw had a different method of calling back their memories, which I thought was a very nice touch that gave a bit more identity to each character. The altered plants were another thing I wish we had gotten more of; I expected more prevalence for the plants that, in the beginning, were painted as if they had a lot of relevance to the story.

These are very minor critiques, though, and ones that I am sure will be resolved in the following book. I loved the characters, the magic, and the unravelling of the murder mystery. The Tainted Cup is a great start to an intricate new fantasy series that beautifully intertwines humorous investigator-and-assistant shenanigans with the dark overtones of a greater threat, and as with any RBJ book, I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.