Review: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of his book via Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, and while this can be read a standalone I would recommend reading [book:The Tainted Cup|150247395] first.  It was a nice introduction to the world and the characters of Din and Ana and how they interact to solve crimes.  The novels act as companions, following completely separate incidents with interconnected characters and themes and the author does a fantastic job giving you enough background information in this novel so you don't feel lost.  It has been over a year since I've read book 1 and I felt like I had a nice refresher on the world and the characters.  The world is strange and complex, and the author does a wonderful job detailing out the setting for this murder mystery.

As with the first book, Iudex investigator Din is sent on a mission to uncover clues when a murder under strange circumstances occurs in a small village on the outskirts of the Empire.  Yarrowdale is a strange place, but it is very important to the empire, and when officers of the Treasury disappear and are found murdered only the best are sent to find out what happened.  His superior officer and mentor Ana, trails behind him to conduct the investigation in her strange methods.   Once in Yarrowdale, Din meets up with Malo, a Warden who aides in the investigation.  Malo is surly, but she takes her duties seriously especially when the precious reagents produced in her homeland are in danger.  As Ana, Din, and Malo investigate the murder of the treasury officer, they uncover a much larger plot that puts not only Yarrowdale, but the entire empire in danger.  They must quickly find the culprit and stop him before he does more damage.

This was an excellent adventure!  As with the first book it weaves several genres into a Sherlockian style mystery.   I loved the fantasy setting and the characters.  We meet new characters with new augmentations.  In this world people can choose to under go procedures to permanently enhance their abilities like Din's ability to remember everything for his position as an engraver or take tonics to temporarily enhance things like wakefulness or stamina. I'm not sure how many books there are going to be in this series but if Din and Ana are investigating I'm going along on every case with them.  In this installment we get to know more about Ana's abilities, even if she doesn't come right out and say what they are.  Ana's methods are strange and she is able to draw conclusions from the most disparate information, but in this particular investigation and with Din's engraver abilities she is able to piece together the solution in a way we haven't seen before.  I won't spoil Ana's abilities, but she did tell Din she would reveal her enhancements when the time was right.  We also learn more about the strange leviathan creatures that threaten the world and what is done with them at the mystical place called the Shroud.  

There is so much going on in this book, but I never once felt overwhelmed or confused.  The author does a great job with the pacing and keeping the reader engaged and connected to each of the plotlines.  With such a complicated storyline and so many offshoots it would have been very easy to lose sight of what was going on, but RJB kept things connected and brought things together in the end in such a great way.   We get a great reveal as one would expect in a mystery, but along with the investigation we also get eerie emotional movements as well as excellent fantasy elements.  We get more information about all of the abilities people can have and we get more development into Din and Ana's relationship.  There were some great side characters that both helped and hindered the investigation.  The author does a good job feeding you information throughout leaving clues along the way.  I loved this book and the series has quickly become a favorite to recommend to other mystery and fantasy fans!

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Review: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I did opt to listen to the final version of the audiobook upon publication.  As always all opinions are my own.  The audiobook is fantastic, the narrator does a wonderful job with the many characters, given each one a unique voice and accent.  I found this very important as there are many players in this mystery and having them each have a unique voice made it very easy to keep track of everyone.

This was fantastic!  I don't think I've ever read a fantasy mystery, and if I have it wasn't anything like this.  The author paints a vivid world of flora and fauna that are so unique.  The characters are equally interesting and people can undergo augmentations to heighten their senses, assist them in their daily jobs, or to look more aesthetically pleasing.  Our cast of characters are mainly members of the military, our main character Din is an apprentice assigned to eccentric Senior Investigator Ana.  Din is her eyes during the investigation, while she pieces together the intricate puzzle involving a murder, high society, and strange creatures that threaten humanity.

This has a bit of everything.  If you enjoy a good mentor-mentee detective type mystery with an intricate fantasy element this is the book for you.  If you don't like books with complex plotlines and a long list of characters, this may not be the book for you.  This has great elements of political intrigue and conspiracy as well.  It was such a great mash up of so many great things.  This has such great world building, the materials, people, and other entities of the world are describes so well and are often made of unexpected material or altered to be more appealing or used in unique ways.  The plot moves at a great pace as well and there are nice elements of humor and action to keep the reader interested.  I couldn't put this down!

This is currently showing as a trilogy, however this doesn't end on a cliffhanger.  The main storyline ends with the promise of Din and Ana to have future investigations.  The current mystery has been solved and I'm so looking forward to seeing what kind of adventures they get into next  This world promises to have lots of mysteries to uncover.

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