Dinios Kol and Ana Dolabra are back for another chaotic caper in A DROP OF CORRUPTION. According to the author’s note, the story is inspired by the fantasy genre’s obsession with kings and autocrats, particularly in the 2010s. (The political situation here in the US unfortunately, and ironically, proves that some are still enthralled by the idea of one all-powerful ruler taking away choice from the common individual.)

I find stories like these—the ones that interrogate corruption and the dark side of empire—to generally be engaging, and I think Robert Jackson Bennett is one of the most inventive SFF authors at work today. I went in knowing nothing about the plot but, when I started to figure out what direction we were heading in, I was excited.

Overall, I think this is a fascinating, multifaceted mystery that comes together in a satisfying way at the end. The interplay between Din and Ana is once again fun, I loved Malo as a secondary character, and the way Bennett builds on these characters and the world is creative. Secret twins? Magical leviathan blood? Crushing debt? Weird ecological stuff? Medically modified agents of pattern recognition? Yeah, sign me up.

Where I got frustrated, though, was in the middle. The pacing dropped off in a way that made me feel as though it took forever to finish the book, and I didn’t feel that way about THE TAINTED CUP. I wonder if ADOC would’ve benefitted from its predecessor’s page count. Additionally, I understand that, given the suspicion that Ana is actually a remade Khanum, her revelations don’t always make sense to Din. She’s brilliant and observant in ways that Din, and by extension the reader, is not. But I tired of the plot trick after the first several occurrences, where Ana would put the pieces together off-page and surprise! She suddenly has it all figured out in a way that left me scrambling to figure out how she arrived at whatever particular conclusion. And again, I understand that that’s how Din likely felt, too, but I just wanted the author to rely on that a little less and allow Din—and the reader—to better follow along. Maybe I’m just not as perceptive a mystery reader. I’ll admit I don’t read many mysteries. But this kept me from fully enjoying the story.

That said, there is still a lot to admire here, particularly the message being that kings are not what the legends make them out to be: glorious, infallible, omnipotent. I think we could all use more stories like that. And it goes without saying that I’ll still certainly look out for the next book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC.

Please, I just need everyone and anyone to read this series and get back to me. It is my newest obsession, it feels like Robert Jackson Bennett tailored this book and this fictional world to all my niche interests. The world is kind of a bio-fantasty nightmare, where giant leviathans are both a threat to everyone and the source of power that they cannot live without. While the first book introduces our two main characters and the world they exist in, this one explores the fragile relationship their society has with the natural world. It also gets into the flaws of imperialism and monarchy, as our investigators from the empire are sent to a small kingdom due to be annexed, when one of the Imperial officers is found in pieces in the belly of a wild tortoise-like creature.We get Din's struggles with finding his purpose in his job, and how terribly he handles long-distance relationships. We also get more hints-and more questions- about who Ana Dolabra is, and what the Empire might have done to her. The book tackles its weighty themes while maintaining a fun and twisty mystery. I seriously need someone to talk to about this, people are slowly getting it, but it's not enough!

This series was so much fun and A Drop of Corruption was such a great follow up to The Tainted Cup! I loved the fantasy elements. I loved the mystery elements. 4.5 ⭐️!

Huge thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey for the ARC via NetGalley!

I love this world and Ana and Din. I enjoyed this mystery and I didn't predict where this was going. I am so attached to our main characters and I can't wait to continue this series.

A Drop of Corruption is a wonderful follow-up to the first book, The Tainted Cup. I’ve had the same experience with all of Robert Jackson Bennett’s books that I’ve read so far: I sink right into them and want to gobble them up, and this was no exception. To be very reductive, you might say it’s basically Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy world, but I think you’d be doing it a disservice: it’s imagining a whole fantasy world in which someone manufactured to be like Sherlock Holmes has a place and function. It’s not a retelling, not even close.

The world it’s set in is fascinating, and it expands a bit more in this installment, as we explore a kingdom not yet absorbed into the Empire but on the cusp of being so, and also get a step closer to the leviathans that haunt the edges of both books and threaten Din and Ana’s world. Din’s had a bit longer to settle into the work now, so we also follow his struggle with accepting that this is all he can do, that he and Ana will come in after the fact, and cannot prevent murders, only explain them, maybe avert some of the consequences of them and further tragedies.

In this one, Ana has an opponent a bit more worthy of her, as well. I think the only thing that didn’t quite work for me is that I could also make the leap that Ana does in figuring out the culprit and (to be euphemistic about the solution) what Thelenai needs to do, and I don’t think the reader should be able to when it’s described the way it is here. Ana is something else, and if anything the Sherlock Holmes thing also falls apart here, because she’s capable of not just connecting patterns and making logical inferences like anyone can, she’s capable of connecting the tiniest stray facts, seeing patterns that require her to tiptoe right up to total madness.

But overall I was fixated, really loved it. It’s not perfect, perhaps (nothing is), but it was a wonderful experience that exactly matched what I wanted to read right now.

Thank you @delreybooks and #netgalley for the e-ARC. I also bought the book, and not just a copy but the special edition copy from @aardvarkbookclub.

This is the second in a series. I absolutely loved the first book and gave it five shining stars. I also absolutely loved this book and gave it five shining stars. So much so that I’m looking into the author’s backlist and placing Libby holds. I may have also used an Everand credit to buy the audiobook. Look, I already know I have problems. 🫣

I can’t even tell you which book of the series I love more. The answer is both. This is a fantasy mystery/thriller set in Yarrowdale. It’s a fantasy take on Sherlock and Watson. It’s been out since April 1st and the delay in reading is my own recent obsession with cozy everything. This is not cozy. Din and Ana are trying to solve a disappearance turned murder. There are layers to pull back here as the mystery unfolds. I never guessed the twists or the ending. Reading this is like submersing yourself in an entirely different world, with different rules, and different ways of living. It’s an entire experience.

Highly recommend. Also, read them in order. I need another one, stat.

I really enjoyed this book. I’ve grown to really appreciate the characters Ana and Din after having read about their adventures in two books now. I know the author seems to write fantasy trilogies before moving on to a new story, and I’m already anxious, worrying there will only be one more book in this series! The world building in this series is incredible. I want to read more about life in this book’s world and highly recommend this one to anyone who likes a good mystery/crime story (even if you don’t think you like fantasy stories).

My thanks to NetGalley and DelRay for the ARC of A Drop of Corruption, in exchange for my free, unbiased review.

This entire series is smart and very well written. My only beef with this sophomore effort was its length. It took me forever to finish this one. The twists and turns, the ever-expanding cast, the red herrings all began to exhaust somewhat. What began as a locked door mystery proliferates into a heist narrative, then a poisoning, the biological warfare, all in Bennett’s already complex story world. I am still fully on board for his Holmes-Watson queering and disability take, but I will admit to feeling ready to be done with this one by the conclusion.

I am really loving this series and this one was maybe even better than the first! I love the characters and world building, although I do struggle a bit with descriptions of the land and a little bit with the made up language, but I just trust that he is creating this world and go with it! I love Din, because he is the best, and Ana continues to surprise me with her observations and revelations, I am always surprised by who the real” villain is. Very happy to recommend these books to fantasy and mystery readers!

4.5 stars. This is such a good book with amazing word building. I was never confused with what was going on. And the way things are described was very well done. I loved absolutely everything about this book and I am really hoping he is going to write another! I don't want this world to end but I don't think he is writing anymore. I love Din so much and Ana was a very interesting character. I also really like Malo and it seems that if there is another book she will be important in it. I loved the descriptions of all the grafts and I really liked all of the politics. I loved the mystery and I love how Ana reveals everything in the end.

I was very grateful to receive an ARC for this book, but unfortunately it took me awhile to get to it. I loved the first book in the series, the cast of characters makes this series. I did end up liking the second book a little less than the first. There were times in the book I felt a little lost on what was going on. Anna was a little stranger in this book than in the first. Malo was a great side character and I enjoyed her snarky remarks between her and Din. This book dives into what pride will cost you, and the damage it can cost those around you. I think the author did a really great job of showing this. His authors note at the end really makes you think. I look forward to continuing with this series.


Thank you Netgalley for the ARC from Random House Publishing Group.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC.

I enjoyed this book even more than the first in the series! I appreciated Ana and Din’s matured relationship and found the mystery itself not as hard to follow. It was a lot of fun and you should definitely read it if you enjoyed The Tainted Cup!

A Drop of Corruption picks up where The Tainted Cup left off and somehow manages to be even better. From context, we find out that time has passed since Ana and Din's first mystery and they've solved a number of cases together. We catch up with them for a new mystery in a place that's not yet fully colonialized into the empire. Outside the small city governed by the empire, the land and people are ruled by an old-school monarch and nobility. Those at the top have a stranglehold on power and wealth, while those at the bottom live in poverty and slavery.

The mystery, a locked-room disappearance that turns out to be something much bigger, forces Din to cross the lines between empire and monarchy and encounter some of the worst aspects of both. But it's not just a challenge to Din. Their shadowy adversary has abilities to rival even Ana, and the extremes she endures to solve the crime end up revealing a lot about who she really is, both to Din and to the reader.

This sequel continues with everything the first book did well - a perfectly plotted mystery, more insights into this bizarre but fascinating world, and more development for the compelling main characters. But it also touches on our relationship with power and authority. What gives someone the right to rule? Why do we want to believe in monarchs, even when we know how often that power gets abused? Bennett weaves those questions into the plot without lecturing or becoming preachy.

A Drop of Corruption gets five stars from me. Smart, fun, thoughtful, and so well-paced. Can’t wait for the next one.

Thank you to the author, publisher (Del Ray) and Netgalley for allowing me to review this ARC with honesty.

*Ahem* WHY DID THIS TAKE ME SO LONG TO READ!?

Sorry, I loved the first book and this book also had some very fascinating world building that keeps going. I struggled a little bit during the mid section (which I truly believe was a me problem and less the book) but once I got through certain parts, I found myself loving the knew characters like Malo who I hope to see again.

Ana was always a very dramatic character that I can't help reading about but this time I feel like Din took the show with this book.

Lots of fun with this!

My Rating: 4.5 (rounded up)
(cross posted to GR)

I was so excited to receive an arc copy of this book. I loved the first book in this series and couldn’t wait to see how Din and Ana would fare in this one.

I wasn’t disappointed! The characters, the plot, the mind-twisting turns things took - I loved it all.

Thank you Del Rey and Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved this continuation of Din and Ana's story, and our deeper look into how the Empire functions. It was interesting to get to see parts of the world that weren't under empire control, but essential to the functions and life of the society. I liked that we got more of a look into Ana and her unique augmentation in this one, it explained so much but also left so many more questions then answers. Like, why was she chosen? Is she related to the Emperor? And what is her final goal?

I appreciated that we got to see Din be less stuffy and have more ambitions rather than just paying off his father's debt in this one. It was nice, getting to see him as less of a memory recorder and more of a person. I also love that Bennett made him a bit of a man whore.

I can't wait to read more of Ana and Din's story, and of the Empire they live in!

Love it when a sequel is even better than an already excellent first instalment! Not only do we get another mystery with constant twists and revelations that could only possibly be unraveled by the wonder that is Ana Dolabra, but we also get to see a lot more of both Ana and Din's history and a snapshot into what Din gets upto in his time off shift (did I miss in book one that he's a bit of a nymphomaniac?!). My absolute favourite thing about this book though was the addition of a new character in Malo who enters as a warden in Yarrowdale, the latest area our intrepid investigators are sent off to.

There's not much to say without serious spoilers but if you enjoyed The Tainted Cup then read this immediately!! I tonly gets better!

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A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennet is the second book in the dystopian mystery series Shadow of the Leviathan. Mr. Bennett is an award-winning author.

Ana Dolabra, a brilliant, augmented investigator, and her assistant Dinios Kol are sent to the edge of the Empire to investigate an impossible crime. A Treasury officer has disappeared without a trace from a locked room, in a guarded building.

Almost immediately Ana detects that they’re investigating a murder, done by an adversary who moves like a ghost. Worst, the killer is targeting a high-security compound, the Shroud, where the Empire’s greatest minds dissect fallen Titans and extract their magical blood.

I enjoy the high-fantasy in the author’s books and his world building. While I’m not much of a fan for detective novels, I enjoyed the first book in the series,The Tainted Cup, very much. In this installment, the author took a more deliberate, slower approach

The magic of the first book was the banter between Ana and Din, but in A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett Ana shows up somewhere in the middle. The ending is great as Ana figures out who the murder is, but it took a while to get there.

The eccentric detective and their admiring assistant is not a new invention, but it’s done very well. The series is well crafted, layered and each book has a satisfying ending. Mr. Jackson doesn’t leave us wondering about the mysteries of the world he built, and I actually got answers on several of the questions I had.

There’s a lot going on in both books, but I though this book had a lot more information to absorb besides the mystery. Not that I would have figured it out anyway.

The world building gets a bit complicated, and detailed but frankly I really enjoyed that part. The author’s note is also fascinating as Mr. Bennet discuss our fascination with royalty, even though there are more fallen kingdoms than active ones. Fear not though, as Yuval Noah Harrari mentioned in Nexus, maybe with the rise of AI, information and stories can filter to one person, maybe kings and queens of yore will be back.

I’m a huge fan of this book! I’ve loved everything that Robert Jackson Bennett has ever published, and this one was no exception. If you liked the first book in this series, this one will be right up your alley. These characters are excellent, and the mystery at its core keeps you guessing right up to the end. The worldbuilding Bennett does so well is pulled off without a hitch in this novel, and I’m hoping for many more books in this world. Read this!!

This took forever for me to read (forever being 2 months) every time I tried to read it before bed there was a lot more body horror than I was ready to deal with

I didn’t like this one as much as the first one. I can’t even say why for sure, it just never captured my attention fully until maybe toward the end when we were wrapping things up. There are a lot of interesting threads and it feels like it all should be super engaging but it didn’t weave together in the way I wanted.

3.5