The Tainted Cup

I received a digital advance copy of The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett via NetGalley. The Tainted Cup is scheduled for release on February 6, 2024.

The Tainted Cup is the first novel following investigator Ana and her assistant Din as they solve mysteries in the fantasy empire shadowed by the Leviathans that occasionally invade from the sea. While Ana is the investigator on record, the story follows Din through this first case he has an an engraver. His magical alterations allow him to observe and report every detail he takes in at a scene. This skill is critically important for Ana, who is plagued by eccentricities that make it difficult for her to visit crime scenes and interact with witnesses. The case they are working to solve in this novel centers on an officer who was killed when a tree suddenly erupted from his body.

As our point of view character, Din works well. While he is not new to this fantastical world, he is stepping into a new role, which allows us to start to understand the world of the story as he does. His boss, Ana, is present throughout the story. We see her through Din, who is trying to understand how her brilliant, but slightly off-kilter, mind works. Din also encounters officials and suspects that are not as large a part of the story, but are believable in this world.

Following the plot of this mystery was challenging in a couple of ways. First, we are not only working through a murder mystery, we are also being dropped into a fantasy world. As a reader, this was a lot to process, keeping me from realizing the significance of some details in this new world. The other challenge was our point of view character. Din is making all of the observations and relaying them to Ana. Ana is the one who is putting the pieces together to solve the mystery. This distance kept me as a reader from being able to solve the mystery myself. We were left sitting with Din waiting for Ana to tell us what happened, rather than being able to put it together ourselves. This makes sense in the story, as Din is an assistant on his first case. I hope that as the series progresses, Din will take more of a role in the actual solving of the murders.

Overall, The Tainted Cup was an enjoyable fantasy twist on the typical murder mystery. I would absolutely read more in this series.