Book Review: The Tainted Cup

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is the first of the Shadow of Leviathan series which so far also includes A Drop of Corruption, and will continue. It was pitched to me by a friend who loved the Holmes and Watson vibes of the mystery in a secondary fantasy setting. 

This book follows Din, a magically enhanced assistant to a famed detective, Ana Dolabra. Din can engrave memories into himself perfectly, ideal to walk through a murder scene such as the one at the opening, where a tree has sprouted out of a very important official, killing him. Ana is as eccentric as the Holmes she's compared to, often wearing a blindfold and staying home as often as she can, though when the mystery widens, she consents to travel. Of course, this world is dealing with monsters who appear from the sea (Godzilla meets Eldritch) and that gets in the way of the murder investigation.

This book has a fascinating fantasy world, and you really need to be a fantasy reader to enjoy that element. I see how this series is going to expand easily to more stories in this world. The characters of Din and Ana were both complex and interesting, and people you could root for. I'll probably read book two.

On the downside, the struggle with a murder via magic is that every element of the magic system has to get explained, otherwise the reader who wants to solve the mystery can't do so, or is only fed enough information to solve the mystery, so it becomes too obvious. I think this book erred on the side of the first issue, with a lot more information than we might have needed. As a fantasy lover, I didn't mind so much, but I know a mystery reader who was overwhelmed.


This book is for you if you love understanding magic systems, love a mystery but don't need to solve it before the characters in order to enjoy it, and are looking for a Holmes-Watson type dynamic. It's not for you if you prefer traditional mysteries where you expect to solve it before the characters, if you don't get into fantasy world building or magic systems, or if you prefer a cozier/more relatable detective instead of a genius. 

Have you read The Tainted Cup? How did you feel about the balance of magic and mystery? What did you think of the title by the end? Let's discuss in the comments!