So far, my only experience with the works of Robert Jackson Bennet comes from Foundryside, a novel I enjoyed and a world I intend to return to, as soon as my messy TBR will allow it, but I have to say that with The Tainted Cup this author was able to fire my imagination even more, so I don’t regret having temporarily forgotten his previous series to launch myself into his newest endeavor.

The novel opens with a most horrific sight: a high-ranking officer is found dead in the mansion of a prominent family, killed by a tree that apparently grew out of his body. The investigator tasked with the case, eccentric Ana Dolabra, sends her assistant Dinios Kol to the mansion for a first inspection of the site: Din is an engraver, an individual altered to possess eidetic memory, and as he and Ana proceed with their investigation, they encounter evidence that this murder might only be the proverbial tip of a larger iceberg, one that might carry a great danger for the empire.

The story itself is much more convoluted and layered than it might look from my short synopsis, but it deserves to be approached knowing as little as possible, to be able to appreciate all its intriguing hints and misdirections. Besides, what makes this novel so fascinating lies more in the imaginative world-building and - of course - in the characters. This is a world where plants are everywhere: they are used as construction materials and they are also employed, together with other natural “ingredients”, in the physical alterations that gift people with special abilities, like increased strength or - as is the case for Din and other engravers - eidetic memory. But they can also produce infestations, a kind of danger that always lurks in the background and keeps people on edge about the possibility of contamination: the anomalous tree growth that led to the initial victim’s demise is indeed one of these contaminations that people are afraid of. And that’s not the only trouble afflicting this world, one in which civilization is threatened by incursions from gigantic sea creatures, called leviathans, against which three concentric rings of walls have been erected, with the ruling power - and the high aristocracy - residing in the innermost one. Leviathans always attack in the world’s wet season, and as the story starts it’s that time of the year, so that the monstrous creatures’ inland forays add another layer of trouble to an already troublesome situation.

Ana and Din are an apparently mismatched but very effective investigative team: she is a bizarre individual, to say the least, one graced with a brilliant mind and impressive deductive powers, but also with a quirky disposition and the habit of going about blindfolded so as not to be overwhelmed by sensory input. To call her “eccentric” would be a huge understatement, but little by little we discover that the surface eccentricity hides a very sharp mind and the ability to draw unexpected conclusions from the collected evidence: she might come across as both harsh and mercurial, and at times she reminded me of the character of Avasarala in The Expanse, but as the story progresses we understand that there are untapped depths to her and also a great capacity for empathy.

Din changes quite a bit in the course of the story: at first he looks somewhat uptight and stiff, but as we get to know him we understand where he comes from and what the source of his constant anxiousness is - besides his humble origins, Din is plagued by what amounts to dyslexia, a problem that affects his work as an engraver and one he has found some runarounds to, but still worries about being discovered. I have to say that his struggles managed to make me root for him quite soon, and to admire his efforts in compensating for this problem.

If Bennett throws his readers into the story with little or no previous information, he manages to bring them up to speed with his world through the investigation itself, entwining the world-building with the accumulation of clues that Ana and Din pursue through a compelling escalation that never forgets its character development while carrying the plot forward: there is a great deal that I would like to learn about this world, its rich background and history, and I more than look forward to learning more with the next books in the series. This first installment proved to be a very powerful “hook” for an equally strong story I can’t wait to see where it will lead me… ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2024/06/review-of-tainted-cup-by-robert-jackson... ( )

amazing world-building, story-telling, character creation, and writing i've seen in a while...

9 characterisation
9 how interested in turning the next page
9 am i likely to remember the story in a year
10 plotting
9 writing ability
9 writing style
9 continuity
10 editorial (publishing) mistakes (lower number, more mistakes)
8 suspension of disbelief (fantasy) - plausible (sf)
8 is the story predictable (lower number, more predictable)
10 am i recommending others read it ( )

This is my first review after a long hiatus from writing them, but I knew that when I came back The Tainted Cup would be one of my first books to tackle. I loved this book so much. So much in fact, I read it as an ARC, and then turned around and purchased it when it came out so that I read it yet again. Our story opens on Dinios Kol arriving at a murder scene. Not your typical murder scene, mind you. Din is presented with a the scene of a man killed by a tree sprouting from his body. Yes, you read that right. Intrigued? What follows is a sweeping story full of magic, intrigue and plenty of danger as well.

I really loved how Robert Jackson Bennett laid out this entire plot. I've already mentioned how quickly it moves, but it doesn't do it at the expense of the reader. We meet Ana Dolabra, Din's boss, and discover that she is an eccentric but utterly brilliant investigator. Our protagonists are tasked with uncovering a most sinister plot, before more people are murdered. If that weren't enough though, Bennett also throws in the very real threat of a leviathan bombarding the city, the further into the rainy season this investigation goes. Ana's intellectual prowess, combined with Din's ability to engrave memories down to the most minute detail, make for a fascinating storyline. This book is impossible to put down once you've started, I can tell you that.

Truly I could gush about the magic system, and the world building, and even the secondary characters for ages. They are all perfectly executed. I'll resist though, and leave all of that for you to uncover. What I will say, is that Robert Jackson Bennett always climbs to the top of my read list because his books are my favorite kind of Fantasy: accessible Fantasy. They are vibrant and fascinating, but also written in a way that any person can come right in and cozy down into. The Tainted Cup is a sweeping Fantasy story, but it doesn't feel cold and unapproachable, and I love it for that. ( )

Kinda like the invisible library meets ninth rain but make it mostly interrogations and boring.
Needed more leviathans. ( )