One of my favourite releases last year was Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Released last week, A Drop of Corruption continues the story of Ana Dolabra, brilliant-but-eccentric investigator, and Dinios Kol, her bisexual-disaster-with-a-photographic-memory assistant.
Picking up about a year after the ending of The Tainted Cup, Ana and Din are called to the edge of the Empire to investigate a murder where the victim seemingly vanished into thin air. Further complicating matters is the fact that the area is not completely under Imperial control—the state is ruled by a King, and various economic and historical matters mean that negotiations are underway to discuss the future of the region (and the murder victim was involved in these negotiations).
The books are obviously influenced by a variety of existing stories, from Sherlock Holmes to Pacific Rim, and they’re not subtle with those influences. However, Bennett weaves together these seemingly discordant inspirations into something that’s completely unique and very entertaining.
While I didn’t quite enjoy the central mystery of this book as I did in The Tainted Cup, I might have enjoyed the book as a whole more. Ana continues to be hilarious—her complete lack of social graces as well as Din’s reactions to her are fantastic. This one also has a lot of political maneuvering and philosophizing that’s handled in an unexpected way, and Din’s developing disillusionment with his job’s impact on the world serves nicely to explore those themes.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the next book in the series.
