Robert Jackson Bennett is on a mission to document the entirety of his own made-up world by creating unsettling, weird, fantastical murders that letting him explore it, and I am here for it. This time we’re exploring the complicated and fraught world of agriculture and how it intersects with capitalism, Romeo and Juliet-style. Also, FUNGUUSSSSS.
ALSO! I had assumed that this would only be a trilogy, because his other three series are trilogies, but THERE WILL BE MORE! Maybe a lot more! (More than five, less than ten, he says.) And that is how it should be with a mystery series. I am pleased.
This one follows Ana and Din as they try to contain a bit of an explosive political situation involving two rich ranching families involved in essentially the fantastical version of the cattle rearing business (for food). I cannot go into all the weird details of it, that’s the pleasure of the book. But trust me, watching RJB explore the fantasy economics and ecological ramifications of stuff like this is so very enjoyable. And the mystery is intense! And freaky! He does such a consistent, excellent job of making the mysteries in here great, but also tying them into the worldbuilding, and the thematic work he’s doing of inspecting this fantasy Empire and just pulling it apart from the inside, ethically speaking.
I cannot recommend this series highly enough.
CBR BINGO: You (The BINGO board rules told me I could pick a favorite book, series, or author to use for this square, so that is what I am doing. I will read anything RJB chooses to write. Anything at all.)
