On the outskirts of the empire, Dinios Kol and Ana Dolabra confront a shocking mystery. An officer of the treasury has been murdered, after disappearing from a heavily guarded room with exterior locks and windows still intact. The territory of Yarrowdale is the only Canton free from the Empire’s influence – staved off by a hundred-year treaty that is about to draw to a close. With the horrific discovery of parts of the treasury officer’s remains, Ana and Din realize the conspiracy reaches further than just a simple disappearance. The threat comes from an individual who appears to be steps ahead of them, able to predict the moves of their investigation and all its intersecting figures. Far from the threat of the Leviathans, Yarrowdale still plays a vital part in the empire’s tapestry. Here, the dead carcasses of the Leviathans are hauled to an off-shore compound known as The Shroud – where their inner workings are harvested for their magical properties and transported around the rest of the empire. With an omniscient adversary setting his sights on a necessary part of the empire, Din and Ana have their work cut out for them. Yet it is the past that they investigate that could bring the case and Yarrowdale to ruins.
The Tainted Cup was one of my favorite books of the past year, a series debut that ingeniously blended fantasy and mystery in a punchy yet poignant fantasy world featuring an unconventional investigative pairing. Robert Jackson Bennett serves up his follow-up in a novel no less witty nor utterly transformative. Ingeniously plotted, A Drop of Corruption takes our detective duo far away from the influences of their pesky empire, to Yarrowdale, a canton teeming on the edge of change – to be absorbed into the empire or continue to stand on its own. Corruption and the unsettling biology of the Leviathans take root as investigative assistant Din and the ever-brilliant detective Ana Dolabra delve ever deeper into the strange murder and a new conspiracy that could threaten the safety of Yarrowdale and the entire empire. Snaking back upon itself continuously in Bennett’s typical style, A Drop of Corruption nurtures the flawed reality of those who relentlessly pursue progress within an empire and the costs of those who continue to unearth the corruption at its heart.
Robert Jackson Bennett’s Shadow of the Leviathan series is as powerful and reinventive as the leviathans that wreak havoc on the shores of his flawed empire. In A Drop of Corruption, Bennett takes Din and Ana away from the center of this empire to its outskirts in Yarrowdale where a conspiracy bears unexpected fruit and has unforeseen repercussions. As Ana and Din confront a new case with a confounding center, Bennett draws a tighter net around the workings of the empire and the civil servants who work tirelessly in service to its unending goals. The characters continue to delight – Din, sardonic and chronically tired, and Ana the peculiar and brilliant investigator who continues to call people out so precisely, all while blindfolded. Our assistant and local bisexual disaster Din is back and more chaotic than ever, as he copes with greater financial burdens after the passing of his father and a growing sense of helplessness as he is exposed to the reality of the empire. A Drop of Corruption jumps beyond these established dynamics to delve deeper into the psychology of the characters and the makeup of the empire.
What continues to amaze me about The Shadow of the Leviathan series is the balance it strikes between its cynical humor and the deeper commentary taking place within Bennett’s world. Din’s concerns from book one become more prevalent as his loss, his new financial burdens, and his innate desire to enact change fester a desire to leave his job behind. All of these tempt him away from his work with Ana and this could very well be their final case. Through Din and the other characters intersecting his mystery, Bennett gives voice to the fatigue of unburying corruption that seems unending and only drives dedicated people to corruption or absolute pessimism. The revelation that the people who think they are doing things for the greater good – in service of the empire or Yarrowdale’s independence end up bringing about corruption and causing greater suffering was an interesting link in that chain. A Drop of Corruption continues to emphasize people at the mercy of a system and how this empire only begets further pain and violence. Building a better world is oftentimes a tiring endeavor and drives further cynicism but it is still a necessary one, a tenet at the heart of this mystery. A Drop of Corruption is not just a perfect sequel it is a perfect book. The characters are at their height, the dynamics polished and razor-sharp, and the mystery just as world-altering as its predecessor. Robert Jackson Bennett is a formidable talent and I’ll be needing a million more mysteries with Ana and Din.
Thank you to Netgalley and Delrey for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Trigger warnings: death, blood, murder, violence
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