Murder Beneath the Empire’s Shadow: A Review of The Tainted Cup

In a world ruled by power and plagued by monsters, one investigation could unravel an empire. Read my review of The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett — a darkly dazzling fantasy mystery.”

Synopsis

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.

Audiobook Review

5 very enthusiastic stars

Many friends loved that story and I thought I would give it a try too. I am so pleased I did!

What I didn’t expect to find is a mix of genres:

-fantasy as you have Leviatan, grafted people to magically alter some parts of their beings (beauty, strength, memory etc);

–historical fiction for the world is loosely inspired by the Roman Empire with legionnaires, centurions etc;

–mystery with an odd pairing à la Sherlock Holmes (Ana Dolabra, the investigator) and Watson (her assistant and engraver Dinios Kol, Din for short).

Usually when an author crams so many different genres together it doesn’t work  but in The Tainted Cup, everything blends seamlessly together and deliver a riveting, unusual and brillant story!

Plot wise it centers around the “who did it”: solving the murders of several engineers in the empire. The death were creative as people died from trees sprouting extremely fast from their chest, impaling them!

What started as an isolated incident in the small town of Daretana spread like wildfire to the walls protecting the empire of the Leviathan’s assaults. When the synopsis talks about a labyrinthine plot it’s exactly what you got! And solving the murder will be part gathering clues and a lot of deductions!

What made this story truly unique is our odd pairing!

Ana has many quirks and is very weird, preferring to be blindfolded to suffering from too many stimulis, low key scandalizing everyone in her very direct and irreverent attitude. She has a keen intellect and dazzled me with her brilliant deductions.

Aiding Ana is Din, an engraver who recalls every details he has seen, heard, touched or smelled thanks to some perfume vials helping him to fix everything in his memory. If Ana is mischievous and maybe debauched, Din is stuck up and prude, yet he also is adaptable and highly resourceful. Often shocked by Ana’s comments, she took a great pleasure to make him blush!

As improbable as it would seem, these two are very efficient together and the perpetrators of the crime won’t stand a chance!

The world building was extremely creative.

I haven’t heard often of grafting people to give them new abilities, nor of recalling things thanks to smelling some perfume (even if Proust hinted at the power of smell). Add to it an Empire constantly threatened on rain season by huge marine beings, Leviathans, trying to breach the protective walls and you have an original universe that I loved learning about.

I listened to that book in a record time, fascinated by Ana and Din’s interactions, appalled with all the murders and completely embroiled in the mystery. That book truly stood out with its originality, solid writing and peculiar characters.

I will totally read the sequel and wholeheartedly recommend this series if you are looking for something original and well crafted.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie