Book Review: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Tainted Cup is the first in the Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett, the third installment of which is due in 2026. This book had received some high praise and I was eager to read a fantasy mystery after I had enjoyed Josiah Bancroft’s The Hexologists and was awaiting the sequel.

The story focuses largely on Dinios Kol, someone physically altered to possess a perfect memory, who is now assistant to the famed eccentric detective Ana Dolabra. There’s been a strange murder - an imperial officer, killed when a tree sprouted from his body. Dolabra sends her assistant out to the crime scene to gather all the details, which he brings for her to make sense of. This, amid a backdrop of an empire in danger from enormous titans that emerge from the ocean to destroy civilization.

The mystery was a compelling driver - it builds to a satisfying climax and makes good use of the unique features of the fantasy world, Daretana, to keep the story engaging. The world, however, did not pop with vividness as much as I had hoped. The book is a page-turner, for sure, even at 400+ pages, and even though the world building is present, it’s a little on the tepid side. Not enough to keep me from wanting to read on, but enough that the setting didn’t hook me and draw me in. I knew more about the world than I felt or visualized.

It’s a better mystery/thriller than it is a fantasy novel, though the fantasy aspect does give the murder plot a more unique flavor. Plus, there’s a fair dose of character and wit. I don’t usually enjoy committing to a series, but the strength of this novel makes the sequel seem worth reading.