Robert Jackson Bennett makes it all look so effortless. And what should be rage-inducing as a fellow writer—watching him perform the literary version of firing an apple at an arrow balanced on top of a reader’s head while blindfolded—is instead a true joy to behold. Bennett splits the apple once more in his newest endeavor, The Tainted Cup, a murder mystery fantasy novel that should motivate new readers to indulge in his other works, and leave old readers shaking their head in delight. Here, watch Bennett showcase the strengths that have made him such a beloved writer to many: his sharp eye for character, his wit and thoughtfulness infusing every corner of imaginative worldbuilding, and combining both to create a thrilling, clever mystery that will keep readers on the hook until the very end.
Dinios Kol is an Engraver for the Empire, an enchanted officer of the Signum whose magically engineered body allows him an absolutely perfect memory. A handy ability to say the least, especially when he is suddenly paired with one of the most bizarre, eccentric detectives within imperial ranks: Ana Dolabra, famed for walking around with a blindfold, acting on her seemingly outlandish impulses, and always one rude sentence away from incurring the wrath of her superiors. Ana, who prefers solitude (the better in which to think) uses Dinios as her eyes and ears, his perfect memory capturing everything she needs know. When he is sent to investigate a death within a high-ranking merchant family, he is aghast, witnessing a murder he will never be able to forget: a dead body, made that way, by a massive tree having grown through it—somehow impaled from within. Dinios and Ana must determine the truth of not only this death, but the others just like it that have begun to appear throughout the city of Talagray. There, at the edge of the Empire, there is more than just the threat of mysterious death, but also that of leviathans, massive, monstrous beings that come ashore with only one purpose: devastation.
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The Tainted Cup
Like so many of Bennett’s works, The Tainted Cup holds multiple genres, themes, and vibes at its core, balancing one out with the other. Its first is, of course, the murder mystery, and it delivers from page one, with a tense, atmospheric death, a shaken and young investigator and his tumultuous, brilliant superior. Next is epic fantasy, in this world of massive kaiju and bio-organic magic, infusing everything from human bodies to imperial culture and more. And the third is almost a disaster movie plot, with diligent, honorable, and savvy public servants racing desperately to keep their peoples safe from monsters that might as well be labeled earthquakes, typhoons, and hurricanes. Bennett dances with each of these competing aspects of the novel with practiced ease, dipping into an aspect of the mystery to raise questions about the worldbuilding, then using that fantastical info to draw the readers eye to a stake being raised on the disaster front, which reveals new information about the murder, and so it goes. To balance these robust and complex aspects together in such a way is a tremendous feat, and that he does so while also ably developing the characters of Dinios, Ana, and the others of Talagray and the Signum is, well, like I said above, he makes it seem effortless.
If there is one place that The Tainted Cup goes above and beyond, it is in the characters of Dinios and Ana. As is his wont, Bennett casts a thoroughly intriguing and compelling cast of characters throughout the novel, don’t get me wrong. But the whole endeavor would collapse if our point of view character and his master were not so expertly drawn, if they were not given life in such brilliant, bright strokes by such a steady hand. Nailing the dichotomy often seen between a pairing such as this, Bennett introduces Dinios Kol as straight-laced, efficient, humorless, and anxious above all to prove himself. To show his new master, famed for her unpredictability, that he can be relied upon and survive long enough in her shadow to possibly leave it alive. Ana is that hyper, manic, brilliant wunderkind, using her intellect and her ability to read people to upend the stability that the untouchable rely upon to remain just that. As the novel moves on, though, Bennett adds new wrinkles to each of them, their humanity and complexity growing with every chapter, their relationship growing along with their character development. There is more to Dinios Kol than meets the eye, with secrets even Ana has not deduced, and Ana may not be as eccentric as she pretends, especially with a murderer on the loose.
The Tainted Cup continues Robert Jackson Bennett’s trend of highly original worlds, very readable books, populated by intriguing, expertly written characters, and leaves plenty of room for a second entry into the Shadow of the Leviathan series. If I had my druthers, Bennett would get to write as many of these as he wants, as he’s clearly having the time of his life, and there seem to be many more mysteries left within the Empire for Dinios and Ana to solve. But as it stands, The Tainted Cup is a perfect entry to Robert Jackson Bennett. If this is your first time reading his work, welcome to the club; I promise, you’re not going to want to leave after reading this.
The Tainted Cup is published by Del Rey.
Read an excerpt.
