A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Publication Date: April 1, 2025
Summary from Netgalley:
In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.
Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat.
ARC provided by Random House via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
This second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series is just as good and maybe even a little bit better than the first book. This series features a dynamic Sherlock and Watson type detective duo in a fantastical world full of a science based magic. The mystery is top notch with lots of twists and turns and suspects and you will always be guessing as to who is the real murderer until the end.
The story is told through the single point of view of Dinios Kol. He is one of the most interesting characters I have come across as he is altered to have a perfect memory and can recall everything that he sees and hears with absolute accuracy. Of course having a memory like that can cause issues when you see some of the horrific things that Dinios has. But you couldn’t have a more reliable narrator. It was a lot of fun figuring things out with him and watching how Ana and him work so well together. Dinios is struggling in this story with whether or not he has chosen the right profession and if what he does is as helpful as Ana keeps telling him it is. Lots of nice growth for this character throughout the story.
Ana is her usual difficult and brilliant self. We do learn a bit more about her background and why she is the way she is, but not quite enough to solve the whole mystery about her. I really enjoy her character and how her mind works. It would maybe be wonderful to see a chapter or two from her perspective, or maybe not. She is a chaotic character and her mind does not always work the way most people’s minds do, so it might be hard to share that headspace. But she is brilliant and I love how she is able to piece things together and find the person responsible for all of the deaths in this book.
What really sets this book apart from other fantasy mysteries is the world building. This world is very unlike our own, yet familiar enough that you never feel totally lost. There is a science based magic which I find most fascinating. The people have grafts and other things done to them to enhance their senses and minds in such a way that they are able to accomplish their work very efficiently. But the world is almost medieval in its class structure and culture. The writing is beautiful and really helps to create this wonderful world. The pacing is perhaps a little on the slow side, especially in the middle, but the action at the end makes up for that.
The mystery was marvelously well done and had me guessing the whole time. I had many suspects and almost all of them turned out to be red herrings, but I had a great deal of fun figuring it all out. The new characters we meet in this mystery were not as well fleshed out as they could have been, but well enough that you could see why they did the things they did.
If you enjoyed the first book in this series, The Tainted Cup, then you need to read this one. You could certainly read this as a standalone, although you might find the world a bit confusing as the groundwork for this magical system is well laid out in the first book. You would be better served by starting at the beginning. I am hoping that his series will be continued for at least one more book. I really want to learn more about Ana and who or what she is.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 
Great Review. I am definitely looking forward to this being released next month.
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I’m sure you will enjoy it just as much as I did.
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