I loved book one in this series, The Tainted Cup, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on book two. The brilliant yet odd Ana and her assistant, Din, are back and in fine form. Now, you have a choice. Either you can read my long rant about how amazing A Drop of Corruption is, or you can skip it entirely and just buy yourself the book.

It’s early yet, but I am confident that A Drop of Corruption will make my “best of the year” list. It was phenomenal. The locked room aspect of the mystery was an immediate draw. The way it was twisted to show off a world that is alien and bizarre in the very best of ways made it even better. I had no idea where the story was going, and I was more than happy to just go along for the ride. And what a ride it was!

I’m a huge fan of the brilliant detective and slightly more down-to-earth assistant trope that can be found in mysteries. Author Robert Jackson Bennett takes it in new and different ways, crafting characters that are just enough of a familiarity to provide an entry point to their strangeness. In fact, as much as I wanted to know “who “done it”, I was more invested in the little tidbits the reader learns about Ana as the book progresses. The bombshell at the end made my jaw drop.

Of course, the mystery itself is just the tip of a very large iceberg. Events from The Tainted Cup have already affected the characters and how they view things, but things ramp up even more as the series continues. This is not one of those mysteries where you can come in mid-series. Start at the beginning. Trust me, you won’t want to miss book one anyway.

The stakes continue to get bigger, both throughout this book and as the series goes on. A reckoning is coming, and the fallout is going to be big. I can’t wait. A Drop of Corruption is an engrossing fantasy mystery that kept me guessing and happily reading.

Thank you to Del Rey and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book. This does not affect my opinion in any way

This is really becoming one of my new favourite fantasy series. I really love the dynamic between Din and Ana and it’s great seeing more of their characters here. As well as this the world is fascinating! The world building is so well detailed and very immersive.

The mystery here is really intricately plotted and always made sense eventually. It’s just so much fun to feel like I’m ahead of the characters and then find out that I was still not quite there. I really can’t wait to spend more time in this world and with these characters and highly recommend this series to everyone.

I was afraid that the second installment of the Ana and Din Mystery series wouldn’t live up to the first book, but A Drop of Creation was a great followup to A Tainted Cup. The mystery this time had even more twists and turns, and even more back story around Ana and Kol.

One thing I love about this series is that the location drastically changed. We were transported to Yarrow, which is not part of the Empire. Getting to see how non citizens see the Empire (which I see as the 3rd main character) and those that work for them was a great way to “show not tell.”

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey, and Robert Jackson Bennett for the ARC of A Drop of Corruption.

A Drop of Corruption is a fantastic sequel and if you enjoyed A Tainted Cup you are sure to also enjoy this. It is a must read for anyone who enjoys Sherlock style detective stories.

Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again with another marvellous fantasy murder mystery. The same beloved characters are back to solve yet another mystery. The banter between the characters is amusing and they dig deeper and uncover further mysteries after a strange disappearance from a locked room. It is such a detailed world and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and following along with the investigation that was unpredictable and that’s just what I like in a good mystery. The clever twists and turns as the story became about something more than a simple murder kept me hooked and now I can’t wait to read book #3

4.5 stars! A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Do you ever read a series and are blown away with Book One and get super excited to read Book Two only to be disappointed that it doesn't live up to how great Book One was?

Yeah, that ain't gonna happen here! This book was even better than The Tainted Cup! We need more fantasy mystery novels like this.

Ana remains my favorite character although we can not disregard the walking disaster that is Din. Dare I say that he's even more likable here.
I did feel like this book was darker than the first and therefore themes here felt heavier, though not in a bad way. The character development was on point. The pacing was great, things just kept happening although I never felt like it was too fast for me to catch up. I took my time reading this because I honestly wanted to absorb and bask in this world. The world building continues to be done well and I'm very excited to read more. That ending OMG totally blew my mind. The author needs more praise and recognition for writing a great fantasy mystery page turner, a feat not easily achieved.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a fun time - it was great to get back and involved with these characters in this second book of the series!

After reading the first book (The Tainted Cup), I was ready to get involved in more discoveries and world building. Din, as the main character we have followed before, really helps to showcase that empathy and heart of the story.

Even just starting the book, you’re immediately immersed into a new location and new characters. There is so much detail in everything, from the smell of something to the look at architecture of a building; the world is drawn so clearly for the mind’s eye. The descriptions of the enhancements of people are so intriguing; makes me wonder what specialty I’d want to have in this world…

The creativity of this world is also very enjoyable; the idea of having enhancements, of larger than life beings and meaningful friendships. Seeing the characters evolve, learn and trust more about themselves and meander the different relationships between people has been enjoyable.

Thank you so much to the author, Robert Jackson Bennett, Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, and NetGalley for the eARC of A Drop of Corruption!

This is book #2 in the fantasy series Shadow of the Leviathan. Book #1, The Tainted Cup, was a 5 star read for me and I liked this book even more! I feel it's important to read the first book for the world building and to become acquainted with the main characters, Ana Dolobra and Dinios Kol. However, I don't feel like you need to do a quick reread before starting book #2 because this book is set in an entirely different region.

A Drop of Corruption is set in a kingdom that promised to join the Empire when 100 years had passed. That time has come. The Empire has sent treasury representatives to negotiate with the king. The action begins with a locked room mystery and a missing man. This brings Ana and Din to investigate. Yarrow is a fascinating place! We learn about the mysterious Shroud where Leviathan are processed to provide augmentations and cures for the Empire.

This book has mystery, betrayal, smugglers, sword fighting, puzzles and a villain that pushes Ana to the brink. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait for the next installment!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House - Del Rey, and Robert Jackson Bennett for allowing me the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication.

It goes without saying that this book met every single expectation that I had, and then some, after I finished The Tainted Cup. RJB writes in a way that tickles my brain just right and really pulls me in. The world building is absolutely unmatched, and the character development is up there too.

Much like the first in the series, A Drop of Corruption is an extremely dense book and it does take a bit longer to read than other books. But I tend to reach for longer books that require deeper thinking, which impacts reading time. It took me about a month to get through the novel, but I don’t regret any moment. I will need to sit on it and let everything marinate, just like I had to do with the first book, and I will likely do a more in depth review after a second read.

I have seen some comments about the characters this time around - Ana is too out there in the second installment, Din is more reserved but acting out... This didn't really bother me, as I feel the RJB is able to paint his characters in a way that leaves just enough want for the readers. I don’t like getting characters at face value that don’t shift/change throughout the story. These characters do, just like people do through their lives, and I appreciate the very real characters I read about in this book.

I’m eagerly awaiting the third installment and I hope that I can get my hands on an arc for it as well. It’s the one book that’s on my radar that I’ll be checking for periodically.

This book, and the series in general, has solidified RJB as one of my favorite writers and I look forward to reading more from him.

Thank you again to NG, RH - Del Rey, and Robert Jackson Bennett for the opportunity and I look forward to more!

It was so intriguing to come back to this world after the first novel. I enjoyed getting to know more about Ana and Kol in this book - we get more and more insight into their pasts and ideas of who they are while still not having a complete picture. The world building in this novel was even more interesting than the first, as we got a look into another part of the empire (or empire adjacent). I can't wait to read more in this world.

Thank you Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing the ARC!

A lot of my qualms about the first book have been assuaged in this second installment. The world was continually explored. The magic system is more interesting now that you get to peak under the curtains. RBJ’s pace in unfolding the world of the Shadow of the Leviathan is pretty unique, I think. It’s slow and methodical, borrowing from the murder mystery aspect of the story.

A few things that I loved in this book:
> The Magic System- I felt like the magic system from the first book was a little bit weak since it’s still being developed. But as the story progresses, a lot of it is fleshed out (literally from the leviathan).
> The Mystery- be it how the murder was actually committed or the secrets from the empire or Ana, there is so much!
> The World- the detail that goes into the story is precise. RBJ weaves the murder, the magic and the history of the Empire very well.

One thing that can turn me off a series or book if the book is too slow or if it’s too fast that you have whiplash. But the cadence throughout the whole story creates a great suspense with the conclusion of book two as a great payout. A lot of the revelations that the book goes through really gets me excited to read the next book already!

The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite reads of 2024, so I couldn’t wait to read A Drop of Corruption. I’m thrilled that this book more than lived up to my expectations. The mystery plot was thoroughly complex and engaging. While I was able to figure out certain elements, I fell to the red herrings for others. There were plenty of characters making questionable decisions which kept readers on their toes. This also had a healthy dose of political intrigue as well. The partnership between Dolabra and Din continues to be a strong selling feature for this series. They are both so different with their out quirks, yet they complement each other as well. I loved that we got another glimpse into who Dolabra is and what makes her so different from others. I also enjoyed the new characters we were introduced to in this installment. It helped keep this book feeling fresh in comparison to The Tainted Cup. Additionally, we got to experience further world building with traveling far from the locations in the first book. In this installment, instead of focusing on live Leviathons, we’re focused on the dead ones used for harvesting at the Shroud. The Shroud was another stand out element in this book with the secrecy surrounding it. Overall, I loved this book, and can’t wait to see what Dolabra and Din get up to in the next one.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this novel!

In <i> A Drop of Corruption</i>, we find Din and Ana in Yarrowdale, where a seemingly impossible crime has occurred. A man has been disappeared, all traces of him vanished, but his room and windows have been locked from the inside with no sign of entry.

That's all you really need to know: Din and Ana are off to solve an impossible crime, and what an impossible crime it is.

Robert Jackson Bennett does such a fantastic job at blending fantasy and mystery, both in the first novel in this series and in this one. Starting with the infamous locked room mystery set up, Jackson Bennett expands out, revealing more of this world than we've previously been introduced to. This is a novel that is rife with politics and mythmaking (particularly of the regal variety), and it is so well done. If I had any critiques, it would be that it's a bit heavy handed, but that did not take away from the story for me.

As with the first novel, I loved Din and Ana here, though I do wish we had learned just a bit more about their characters. I'm hoping as we delve into future books, we get to see more of their personalities outside of their roles in the Iudex.

There's a great secondary cast of characters here. I especially enjoyed Malo, a warden with augmented senses of smell, hearing, etc, who helps them as they unravel what's been happening in Yarrowdale.

As with the first novel, there's a great array of quite nasty body horror as we learn more about the consequences of coming into contact with any part of a leviathan. There's a scene in this that's particularly brutal, but so well done.

I can't wait for future installments!

One of my most anticipated reads of 2025, the second installment of The Shadow of the Leviathan series was just as satisfying as the first. Ana and Din are back, baby, with another murder mystery to solve - this time in the backwater canton of Yarrowdale, full of swamps that are useful for hiding bodies and nestled in the shadow of The Shroud - the mysterious place where the leviathans are harvested for the magic in their blood. Din reluctantly makes a new friend (love Malo), and we learn even more about the politics and societal underpinnings of the Empire. As the investigation unfolds, secrets come to light that could change everything. I’m obsessed and can’t wait for the final installment of this trilogy.

High entertainment factor aside, this book also serves as a welcome and scathing criticism of the focus on authoritarian rule in the genre of fantasy - his author’s note at the end is an absolute must read.

Pub Date: 4/1/25
Review Published: 3/31/25
eARC provided at no cost by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book!! the world building was amazing and it wasn't any less boring than the first, which is often the case with sequels that I anticipate. I can't wait to read the next one. a more detailed review will be posted on my Goodreads.

I loved this second installment as much as the first! We follow Din and Ana investigating another seemingly improbable murder. We meet more unique and charming side characters and get a huge chunk of world-building. I love the how creative this fantasy world is. (It actually reads equally fantasy and science-fiction to me because of all the physical and mental augmentations that are so common in the world. It's just so unique.) We also get more of Din's personal motivations and a bit of backstory and a big revelation about Ana herself. I hope we see more of Malo and my only real disappointment is that we didn't see Kepheus at all (although he was mentioned). Perhaps in book 3... which I am eagerly awaiting.

A Drop of Corruption is the second book in Robert Jackson Bennett's wonderful Shadow of Leviathan series. The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite reads last year and I was so excited to get an early copy of the second book. The worlds Robert Jackson Bennett creates are so inventive. The mix of fantasy and mystery makes for such a fascinating story. In this book we have a locked room mystery. We also get to know Din and Ana so much more, especially Din's personal life and why he finds himself working in this unusual job. There are some truly interesting new details about Ana and how she can do what she does. I don't know if this is a planned trilogy but I would take many more of these books. I can't wait to see where the story goes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the next installment of the Shadow of the Leviathan. As with the first, I think the strength of this one is the inventive worldbuilding, especially in this one as we learn a lot more of the grafts and the other bio-technological advances that the empire uses Titan blood to achieve. The mystery was very complicated and convoluted, which I actually found to be of lesser interest, and I found myself feeling like the book could have wrapped up a little earlier and be overall less drawn out. That said, there were interesting revelations.

Thank you to Del Rey for an advance copy of this book!

Coming off the high of Locklands, I went into Tainted Cup hoping for something that scratched that same itch, so it was no one's fault but my own when it landed left of center (but still highly enjoyable) for me. Now, with more reasonable expectations, I ended up adoring Drop of Corruption. The worldbuilding is expansive and sophisticated and creative, with a function to how each piece works in this world without being either pedantic or reskinning something from the real world. It's hard to get into details about the plot, given that it's a mystery, but picking up on the pieces laid chapters ago was exhilarating - I try not to theorize too much when I read, at the risk of wanting a different story than what the author intended, and what I needed really was what we got here. And the ending has me incredibly hyped for what comes next, what the new overarching plot means for Ana and Dinios.

Moreover, I always read author's notes and acknowledgements. And, though the author's note is dated last September, I do think the story is timely for reading it now, in March 2025. It's important to have stories that poke sidelong at these questions, and it was what I needed right now.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Del Rey for an advanced copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


Robert Jackson Bennett is one of the best storytellers of our time. I’ve read his Divine Cities trilogy, the first of The Founders trilogy, as well as these first two in the Shadow of the Leviathan. They have all been phenomenal. His imagination is unparalleled. All of his stories are unique and his worldbuilding is so in-depth. Every book I’ve read by him is a fantastic experience.

In the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series we follow Dinios Kol as he assists Ana Dolabra in attempting to solve another elaborate crime. The writing style of this book is *chef’s kiss*. I would describe it as historical fantasy. Ana is such a bold character, but I love that we experience everything from Din’s POV.
I love the uniqueness of RJB’s storytelling, while also including a good ol’ classic whodunnit. The story is smartly written and also has an intricate puzzle of a crime that Din has to memorize details to relay back to Ana for her to solve.
I don’t think this book is for everyone, but I definitely think everyone should give it a shot. I personally haven’t read any books similarly written to make a comparison. Robert Jackson Bennett is an auto-read author for me.

WHAT A WELL DONE SEQUEL!!! I am so thankful to have gotten an ARC of A Drop of Corruption.
I love the world Robert Jackson Bennet has created as well as the lovable characters. Ana and Din are quickly becoming a Roman Empire for me.
You are immediately swept into the story and quickly learn about the murder Din and Ana are trying to solve. Many times I audibly gasped and was shocked.
I love how incredibly visual and descriptive the book is.
This is definitely a fantasy mystery that should not be missed!
Thank you to Net Galley, Robert Jackson Bennett, and Random House Publishing Group for allowing to be read and review this ARC!