First and foremost thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Robert Jackson Bennett for allowing to read an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As a huge fan of The Tainted Cup I was beyond excited to get my hands on A Drop of Corruption. Jumping back into this world with these characters was thrilling, and I enjoyed that Bennett expanded upon the world by showing us a new region. This is one thing I look forward to in future books because there is so much world to explore and I adore the way that Bennett immerses us in it. We also got a new character that I felt fit seamlessly into Ana and Din’s dynamic and hope that they continue to pop up in the future.

Now for my one sort of issue with the book: Din’s character. I say sort of issue because I keep thinking about it and going back and forth about my opinion. Upon my initial read I felt that some of his actions felt out of character, but I can also acknowledge that Bennett is building this character just as he builds the world, slowly and with much care. I imagine I will continue to change my mind on Din’s continued characterization, and for the most part I felt that he acted similarly to the first.

The pacing was slightly jilted, I figure this will be smoothed out in edits before publication. Many of the ALL CAPS HEADERS during chapters felt unnecessary since we didn’t jump in time a significant amount and stayed in the same scene. But the end was phenomenal and made my heart race just as the first book did.

Overall I loved this book. Did it knock my socks off like the first one? No, but it may have loosened them, and that’s good enough for me.

I really enjoyed this!
I was a bit worried beforehand if this would be as good as book one, but it definitely was! Maybe even better, since we now know our main characters better.
I was infested from page one, I just needed to know what was going to happen. There were so many things I did not see coming, but they all did make sense. I love the main characters Ana and Din and their relation.

I'm very curious to where book 3 will take us!

While overall I enjoyed the second installment of this fantasy series, I found this book to be a little long and almost overly descriptive. I love the two many characters and their rapport. I think the magic system and world the book takes place in is extremely unique. However, this book was a little long winded and I felt the mystery was drawn out. I will continue to read this series though!

<blockquote> Before there was memory, before there was history, there were the leviathans: the colossal, monstrous creatures that lumbered ashore each wet season and went wandering the plains, bringing death and panic with them. For centuries, the folk of the land lived at their whim, and knew only fear and suffering. </blockquote>

Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again. A Drop of Corruption is an incredible sequel to The Tainted Cup and bears all the stylistic hallmarks that made me fall in love with the first book. From fantastic prose and humour to RJB’s signature worldbuilding, this book doubled down on all my favourite parts of The Tainted Cup and gave me even more. Ana and Din are still some of my favourite characters in fiction and the fantastical twist to a bank heist and murder mystery was an inspired take.
My favourite part of The Tainted Cup was its immersive worldbuilding, and A Drop of Corruption dropped us in a completely different corner of the world, rich with a whole new culture and society to discover. Traveling the nation of Yarrow with Din was so much fun and I can’t wait to keep exploring this world in future novels.
For the first 80% of the book, I thought that it was a step down from the prequel, but the last 20% absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. The revelations and reckonings in the ending were beautifully executed and RJB brought everything together in an incredibly satisfying manner. Ana and Din feel like a modern Sherlock and Watson, and I can’t wait to see what adventures they face next.

This was a highly engaging fantasy mystery novel that is fun to read and easy to devour in one sitting. The main characters are my favorite part of the book, with the two of them having a similar dynamic to Watson and Sherlock. The pacing of this was interesting as the guilty party is discovered quite early but the real mystery becomes unraveling all the potential threats to come. As with the first novel, the final reveal is very shock inducing and dramatic.

I love reading about the interesting magic, secrets of the Empire, and Ana's mysterious alterations that make her the genius she is. Most importantly I love that this book seeks to critique those who hold immense power and want it.

This book returns us to a world masterfully built by the author, and to characters we know but can not fully comprehend. We visit multiple societies with varying degrees of differing attitudes toward physical and mental perfection obtained through extraordinary means, that we get the sense no one fully understands or trusts. The story unfolds quickly with the perfect amount of mystery, contradiction and suspense. Every time I had to put the book down, I found myself looking forward to picking it back up again. I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastical romp and look forward to the next installment.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, it took me a long time to finally get around to writing this review, for a multitude of reasons. I couldn’t figure out a good way to word my thoughts on this book and didn’t want to come off as unfair, so in the end I gave myself permission to move on to other books and it ended up falling to the wayside.

I didn’t like A Drop of Corruption nearly as much as The Tainted Cup. TTC was a five star read for me and is very much on my “top ten books of the decade” list. Everything about it was amazing. So when my request for the sequel was accepted, I nearly cheered. Aaaaaand I was disappointed. The beginning of the book felt off in a way I can’t explain. The characters felt wrong. It wasn’t until about 15% into the book that I felt the book hit
Its stride and the spark came back, and for the entire start it felt lacking. I’m relieved to say that once it got over the road bump, it was an amazing book, but that first 15% knocked it down almost an entire star for me.

I liked the mystery in this book, though not as much as I did in the first book. It’s the setting that made the sequel great. (And the body horror. If you’ve read the book you know the scene I’m talking about. It gave me chills.) Political intrigue, molding buildings, a jungle hiding all kinds of bizarre secrets, and the Shroud all combined to make one solid read. And the tapping language…that was my favorite part. I adored that.

The worldbuilding continues to get better as the series goes on. I have such high hopes for what the next book will bring, and I’ll be waiting eagerly for the third installment. Hopefully I’ll get the ARC of that one too.

Ana and Din return in A Drop of Corruption, the much anticipated sequel to The Tainted Cup. In this novel our protagonists are in an outer province, attempting to explain how a treasury officer was abducted from a locked and guarded room.
To jump to the chase, this book was weaker than the previous entry. The sherlock/watson-esque character dynamics continued to entertain, however the Din’s in this book felt a little disjointed from Din in The Tainted Cup. It felt he’d had character traits added in in order to give him greater room for progress in this novel. The plot also felt convoluted at times, and as with the first book I felt that taking a more micro, low stakes, approach would have benefited the story, instead of forcing a large earth-shatteringly important scandal.
Overall, despite a few character tweaks, A Drop of Corruptions was very similar to The Tainted Cup, and both are worthwhile fantasy mystery novels with interesting settings and characters.

Ana and Din did it again! I really love The Tainted Cup and the moment A Drop of Corruption dropped in Netgally, I just have to request it.

this time we get to see a bit of backstory of Din and his yearnings, and he puked, who is also afraid of so many things.

the world-building this time takes a lot of time for me to digest and it requires my full attention to consume his breathtaking fantasy-mystery story.

overall I really love it and I cannot wait for Book 3.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this eARC.

I read the first book in this series, The Tainted Cup, and loved it. I was immediately drawn to the characters: Din is an excellent POV and it is fun to ride along with him as he adjusts to his new job working for the (in)famous investigator, Ana Dolabra. Speaking of Ana – she is a delicious character, who manages to be erratic without being annoying. I read this book very quickly and loved nearly every minute. I especially appreciated how Bennett was able to build a luscious and compelling world, populated with humans and massive city-destroying leviathans, without overwhelming the reader. We are slowly introduced to the wider world via Din’s perspective: from the augmentations that can be derived from plants and drastically change the physical and mental capacities of people (Din included), to the complex bureaucratic systems that keep the empire chugging along, all of this is delicately stacked together to build a world that I wouldn’t mind visiting for a day. Though not much longer than that.

The sequel does not disappoint. I’m always cautious when it comes to mysteries, and doubly so when they’re set in a fantastical world. It is so easy for writers to stumble upon a great idea and follow it up with either an eerily similar copy or a really shallow new idea that pales in comparison. But Bennett manages it!

Din and Ana seem to be always be one step behind our villain in A Drop of Corruption and the speed that this story moves much faster than the first book. I will say that Din acts a bit foolishly in this story and it was frustrating to see him slipping up. But Ana is in top form all the way through. I absolutely loved how Bennett handled her character development in this book and I am itching for more.

This book doesn’t come out until April 1st (no joke, I promise) but it is well worth the wait.

Another action pack story that has both an amazing world and a great Who done it story, and with amazing new characters. I wish I could see what this world look like with all those unique creatures and unique environment. I enjoyed every new clue and what would happen next and I enjoyed seeing how Ana and Din were going to figure out who did it and where the criminal are. I like that the story reveals more of what the Levithians are, but all I can think of is that some how the people are misunderstanding these creatures. I like following Din and Malo through jungle, castles, villages and other place as they figure out what to do next. This is a terrific story that I hope we see more of.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey and NetGalley for an advance copy of this marvelous adventure who done it story that will keep you on your toes.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Robert Jackson Bennett for the opportunity to review this book. All opinions are my own.

The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite reads from last year so I was extremely excited to get into book 2. We know the setup by now and are into our murdery mystery pretty quickly. Din and Ana continue to develop their relationship and we learn more about Din’s motivations. Din struggles with his place within the Iudex and what he wants from life. And boy does Ana continue with the zingers. Malo is a new secondary character that supports Din and Ana in their investigation. She is a great character and I hope to see more of her. Everyone knows what to expect with a Sherlock Holmes type book, but I think the world really sets this apart from others. It's just so different and I loved learning more about how the reagents work, where they are made and how other countries around the Empire function separate from the ‘gifts’ that Din and Ana have. I will say the murder mystery, while engaging, wasn’t quite as good as the first book. I had a fair bit of the who-dunit part figured out pretty early on in the book. That really didn’t bother me as I am such a character driven reader that I just had to see how things progressed with Din. Another success!

One of my most anticipated reads of 2025, and a follow-up to one of my favorite new fantasy novels!

This sequel to The Tainted Cup is exactly what readers could hope for. Following our protagonists Din and Ana once more, we are introduced to a brand-new murder mystery that quickly evolves into a much more consequential plot, with far-reaching and potentially civilization-ending repercussions. I really enjoyed having the leviathans play more of a role in this book, albeit indirectly, with some very interesting and disturbing consequences. Din's character is developed more, and he is presented as much more a brooding, depressed young adult with no clue what to do with his life. Ana is exactly what I had hoped and expected, based on the first novel, but there were some very intriguing revelations about her heritage and past that I'm dying to learn more about in subsequent sequels! The setting is unique and well-developed without ever becoming bogged down by dreaded info dumps; RJB manages to give us a clear sense of the surroundings woven naturally throughout the story. I did feel that this book had more gore and body horror, which didn't bother me at all, but was rather unexpected and maybe something to consider before reading. Overall, I'm absolutely loving this series and this author! Book 2 really lives up to my very high expectations!

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for my ARC; all opinions are my own.

Simply put, there is truly nothing quite like Robert Jackson Bennett's genre bending series featuring the eccentric detective duo, Kol and Ana!

Set in a unique empire where huge monsters (Leviathans) are both the greatest threat and the unparalleled source of magic. The brightest citizens are given grafts to alter/heighten their features in service to the crown, and Ana Dolabra can see patterns/process mountains of information, while her young dyslexic assistant is an engraver who can remember every visual detail of a scene. In this mystery, the duo is sent to the edge of the empire where a member of the Treasury has seemingly disappeared from thin air. When a body is found in the canal, and additional crimes are committed, it seems a criminal mastermind is working a long-game to thwart the empire.

Higher stakes, more action, new secondary characters, and the hilarious banter between Ana and Kol sets this sophomore book of the series as an amazing follow-up. While each mystery is considered a stand-alone episode, I do recommend reading them in order for a richer context around Ana and Kol's relationship. Engaging, mind-boggling, propulsive, and utterly charming, this mystery series is a stand out, and a timely reminder about the negative affects of imperialism./colonialism and authoritarian rule.

I'm struggling a bit to rate this book. It was one of my most anticipated books of 2025 after reading A Tainted Cup at the beginning of the year. I tonk it's between a 4.5 and a 4.75. But I definitely loved it even more than the first one.

The mistery was more suspeceful and intricate. I loved the darker feel this book had compared to the previous one.

The world building amd the fantasy side were so interesting. The political intrigues where for sure the best part.

I adore Ana. I know is always compared to Sherlock Holmes (I did so myself) but I think she's more unique in her own way. Her relationship with Din is also unique: I think she cares about him in a really subtle way but she cares about him deeply.
And Din, my sweet bisexual child, is really going through it and I felt for him through the whole book.

I can't wait to read the next one, I'll patiently (kinda) wait for it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Robert Jackson Bennett and Random House Publishing Group for a free e-ARC of book 2! I needed a reason to finally read The Tainted Cup, this pushed me to do so, and boy am I glad for it. I quite enjoyed the first book, but this second book really blew me away.

I knew the general vibe to expect after reading the first book - murder mystery, interesting magic, and intriguing world. RJB does a great job of sprinkling clues and curiosities throughout the main storyline, but I also appreciates that he plants the seeds of more questions to keep us intrigued going into the next book. It is these questions from the end of the first book that I hoped would be answered in book 2. They were answered, but of course only raised more questions!!

In this book we pick up a little while after the events of book 1. Din and Ana have worked together on a variety of cases at this point, but come across a doozy of a case in the northern region of Yarrow. It's an intriguing mystery that slowly unravels itself...and of course expect twists and turns. I found myself enjoying it even more than the mystery in book 1. At one point it was giving Annihilation levels of interesting and gave us a formidable opponent for Ana & Din. I also loved that we learned more about Din and Ana, plus it had some fascinating side characters.

I think what I enjoyed most about this book were the questions it posed around the search for power, glory, and riches. How easily people can be swayed or blinded by this and whether or not it's a good idea to give absolute power to any one person, since no one is above reproach. It explores class and society in a really subtle yet profound way, giving kudos to everyday people who keep kingdoms (countries) running. Really curious about how this might come to a head in the future books as we learn more about the Empire.

I love that a weird little fantasy book where people have enhanced abilities made me think so hard. Highly recommend reading this and can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you so much for this opportunity. Loved! Amazing! The plot goes absolutely crazy!! I NEED more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. I loved this book. It was just as good as the first. The world building expanded and everything was written masterfully. I love the pair of Din and Ana. The first book was my favorite and best book of 2024, and this, the second will probably also be my best and favorite of the current year. Bravo to the author. This book was brilliant, and I truly didn't guess the culprit which are the best kind of mysteries.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for an advance copy of the second book in a series of mysterys set in a world of fantasy, mixing magic, monsters, monarchies and murder.

I remember the first books of mystery and fantasy that I read as a kid. I was the kind of child that took to reading fast, starting with the basics reading the cereal boxes, magazines and whatever my parents were reading. I found The Hobbit on the shelf, an old edition and started reading it young. The print was too small for the car ride to the city, so I grabbed another book, featuring six stories about Sherlock Holmes. That was a big month for me. I know a lot of things went over my head, and I am sure I drove my parents nuts, why is this cab so Handsome probably my biggest question. However this set me off at a young age reading fantasy and mystery, and later science fiction, though I can't remember my first sci-fi book. I love when these genes intermingle, two great tastes tasting great together to call on ad from TV. Especailly when the detectives are people one is interested in, set in a world that seems real, even if there is magic, giant monsters, and well the threats that only humans are capable of. A Drop of Corruption is the second book in the Shadow of Levithan series written by Robert Jackson Bennett, and features two investigators trying to solve an impossible crime, and maybe save two kingdoms from being destroyed.

The canton of Yarrowdale is at the furthest end of the Empire, but is a place that is very important to the safety of all in the Empire. Yarrowdale is home to the Shroud, a magical testing area that develops weapons to fight the giant monsters that plague the land. Yarrowdale is in discussions to formally merge with the Empire, and as such there are many discussions about finances. One of these negotiators is found missing, disappearing from a guarded locked room, with the corpse found far away, and not in one piece. A locked room mystery is a little much for the local Wardens, even those with enhanced senses, so the Empire sends their best investigators, Ana Dolabra and her assistant Dinios Kol better known as Din. Soon it is clear that this case is far more than simple murder. The dead man had been in places he should not have been, taking things that could be used as weapons of mass destruction. Soon it is clear to Ana and Nin that a simple case of muder could lead to the end of two Kingdoms, and the answers may lie in the shadows cast by the Shroud.

Robert Jackson Bennett is fast becoming an author that I will drop anything to read. This is the second series I have enjoyed by him, and I still am amazed how Bennett can create a new world that makes so much sense, and how Bennett makes it feel so real. There is a lot to take in about the world the story takes place in, but the book introduces new people to it, describes everything well, and one never feels lost. The mystery makes sense, a locked room murder that expands to something much bigger. A mix of Nero Wolfe, Thieves' World, Lovecraft and a dash of buddy movies. The characters are well-written and develope throughout the book, still having mysteries to be explored in later books. The world, the magic, the ideas, are all fresh, and makes one want to know more. A really stellar series, one that I look forward to reading more of.

As this is the second book, I recommend reading the first, as one should enjoy the story as it unfolds. Also read Bennett's other books, they are quite good. Perfect for mystery fans, fantasy fans, body horror fans, and role players looking for new ideas in their adventures.

Robert Jackson Bennett has done it again. Another murder mystery that draws you in and doesn't let go until the very end.
Ana and Din are back to solve another strange murder with a ghost perhaps...
Excellent world building as always, political intrigue, power corruption, twists and turns that leave you guessing. New characters are introduced, Ana and Din being sassy and clever as always. This book blends science fiction fantasy and mystery well and I can't wait for more.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.