Scan barcode
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Medical content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
sarahweyand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Thanks to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own.
The worst part about this book is that I can't consume the sequel immediately. This book has me in a chokehold. This book is my favorite book so far this year and will probably be in my top five in December. I've been looking for this book in stores to buy a physical copy even though I already read an ARC and I don't ever do that with books I've already read. I LOVE.
There is so much about this book that's going to appeal to such a variety of people. There's a mystery at the heart of the plot that is well-thought-out and twisty, a Sherlock Holmes-level detective with a sense of humor to die for, BIG MONSTERS, politics, a very interesting magic/worldbuilding systems, fantastic writing.
I also cannot give enough praise to authors writing a series who keep their plot arcs confined within a single book. Of course, there are overarching plot points and themes that will weave all the books in the series together and compel you to want to read the next book, but the mystery and inciting incident in this book has been solved. I have answers and I can find peace in waiting for the sequel.
Absolutely cannot recommend this one enough - might become a go-to recommendation for me. A real real great time.
The worst part about this book is that I can't consume the sequel immediately. This book has me in a chokehold. This book is my favorite book so far this year and will probably be in my top five in December. I've been looking for this book in stores to buy a physical copy even though I already read an ARC and I don't ever do that with books I've already read. I LOVE.
There is so much about this book that's going to appeal to such a variety of people. There's a mystery at the heart of the plot that is well-thought-out and twisty, a Sherlock Holmes-level detective with a sense of humor to die for, BIG MONSTERS, politics, a very interesting magic/worldbuilding systems, fantastic writing.
I also cannot give enough praise to authors writing a series who keep their plot arcs confined within a single book. Of course, there are overarching plot points and themes that will weave all the books in the series together and compel you to want to read the next book, but the mystery and inciting incident in this book has been solved. I have answers and I can find peace in waiting for the sequel.
Absolutely cannot recommend this one enough - might become a go-to recommendation for me. A real real great time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism and Violence
vigil's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
h0neypie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, and Violence
jodicarelse's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
lyall_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Din’s first dead body would be hard for anyone to forget- an Imperial officer killed by a tree sprouting from inside his body is neither a pleasant nor usual sight- but for Din, it’s literally impossible. As an Engraver, Din’s brain was altered using substances derived from the very goliaths that threaten the empire he serves to be able to remember everything he sees in perfect detail- a useful skill when working as the assistant to the empire’s best (and most eccentric) investigator, the recently disgraced Ana Dolabra. Din took the augments and the job to send money to his family, but working for Ana is not a normal experience- even before the plant-based murder. He’d have enough to handle with weathering her quirks and hiding his own secrets from her sometimes terrifying powers of observation, but the Imperial officer is not an isolated incident. As the conspiracy becomes more vast (and terrifying), the giant beasts bear down on the city’s walls. Din may be able to help Ana expose corruption in the highest levels of power, but only if he survives the threats of plant-murder, regular-murder, and being squashed by a giant monster (not to mention the existential horror of never forgetting a thing).
Creative, engaging, and so much fun! I’ve been recommending it to a lot of people, generally pitching it as Holmes and Watson, but Watson is a dyslexic bisexual disaster with low self esteem and Holmes is an agoraphobic super genius who likes to lock herself in a trunk (mostly the same) and they live in something like the Roman empire but they’re under constant threat from kaiju. Loved the magic system (it leans towards SF with the augmentations but placed in a firmly fantasy setting), loved the characters, loved the mystery.
Also, great disability representation. While I don’t have the experience to comment on how Din’s dyslexia specifically was handled, I can say that the way Bennett handled neurodivergence as a concept interacting with the fantasy elements of the world was GREAT and felt surprisingly real to me. It’s a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t get into details, but something I thought was some allegorical representation of some issues more close to home for me turned out to be literal in the last few chapters and I almost cried. It’s representation that’s neither just slapped on nor patronizing and that’s unfortunately hard to find. It ruled.
Anyway, I’m recommending this book to a lot of people. It’s very early in the year and I still think this will be hard to knock from my top five reads come this December.
Creative, engaging, and so much fun! I’ve been recommending it to a lot of people, generally pitching it as Holmes and Watson, but Watson is a dyslexic bisexual disaster with low self esteem and Holmes is an agoraphobic super genius who likes to lock herself in a trunk (mostly the same) and they live in something like the Roman empire but they’re under constant threat from kaiju. Loved the magic system (it leans towards SF with the augmentations but placed in a firmly fantasy setting), loved the characters, loved the mystery.
Also, great disability representation. While I don’t have the experience to comment on how Din’s dyslexia specifically was handled, I can say that the way Bennett handled neurodivergence as a concept interacting with the fantasy elements of the world was GREAT and felt surprisingly real to me. It’s a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t get into details, but something I thought was some allegorical representation of some issues more close to home for me turned out to be literal in the last few chapters and I almost cried. It’s representation that’s neither just slapped on nor patronizing and that’s unfortunately hard to find. It ruled.
Anyway, I’m recommending this book to a lot of people. It’s very early in the year and I still think this will be hard to knock from my top five reads come this December.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, and Violence
mbomersheim's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ARC Review: What an interesting start to the year!
The Tainted Cup is the first book in the new series by Robert Jackson Bennett, Shadow of the Leviathan. The story follows Kol, an assistant investigator with a perfect memory, and Ana, an investigator for the government, as the two of them are tasked to solve a murder via the spontaneous growth of a plant from the body of another government official, and things turn out to be much more complex than they initially seemed.
I don’t want to say much more about the plot because of fear of spoilers, but what I will say is that this book gives Sherlock Holmes vibes. The writing is very methodical and there are some jumps in logic that I didn’t quite see coming but make sense in retrospect. Some of the descriptions toward the end of the book get a bit gruesome, which I thought contrasted the rest of the writing a bit, but it was nothing crazy. I will say, this book took me a hot minute to get into; there is so much world-building toward the beginning that I spent the first third of the book always slightly confused, but once I began getting it, the story flowed better and captured my attention more. Ultimately, I don’t think this book was really for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not for someone else, rather there were things I tend to look for more in my reading (like more character relationships) that weren’t there. I think the plot left off in a good place for the rest of the series to continue.
This ARC was received courtesy of NetGalley and will be published on February 6, 2024.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: War
Minor: Ableism, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Stalking and Sexual harassment
booksthatburn's review against another edition
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
This follows the trend of the witty, arbitrarily restricted genius of several recent popular iterations of Sherlock Holmes, but with a danger that feels at once too remote and too specific to make a lot of sense to me. I can tell it's aiming for a thing that I don't like, and so I'm not going to finish it. I like banter, I like witty dialogue, but I think I'm finally at a point in my life where I don't like someone explaining to me how smart they are with information I literally had no access to until this moment. The biggest factor in this DNF is I'd started to feel like I wasn't allowed to finish other books until I struggled through this one, and I don't like books that make me feel like I can't or shouldn't read other books. I'm definitely bothered by one character's personality quirk of wearing a blindfold at all times, and treating a refusal to leave her home as an affectation that exists to annoy other people. The narrative calls attention to it but refuses to explain. I don't enjoy being told repeatedly that I don't need to know something, or at least don't get to have it revealed at this time. It doesn't feel mysterious or interesting, just irritating and petty.
This follows the trend of the witty, arbitrarily restricted genius of several recent popular iterations of Sherlock Holmes, but with a danger that feels at once too remote and too specific to make a lot of sense to me. I can tell it's aiming for a thing that I don't like, and so I'm not going to finish it. I like banter, I like witty dialogue, but I think I'm finally at a point in my life where I don't like someone explaining to me how smart they are with information I literally had no access to until this moment. The biggest factor in this DNF is I'd started to feel like I wasn't allowed to finish other books until I struggled through this one, and I don't like books that make me feel like I can't or shouldn't read other books. I'm definitely bothered by one character's personality quirk of wearing a blindfold at all times, and treating a refusal to leave her home as an affectation that exists to annoy other people. The narrative calls attention to it but refuses to explain. I don't enjoy being told repeatedly that I don't need to know something, or at least don't get to have it revealed at this time. It doesn't feel mysterious or interesting, just irritating and petty.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Classism
Minor: Torture, Excrement, and Sexual harassment
lastblossom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
tl;dr
Come for the cool worldbuilding, stay for the twisty mystery.
Thoughts
Is this book really 432 pages long? Because I raced through it in a day, and it felt like it moved so quickly! I've always been impressed with RJB's world building, but this one might be my favorite yet. What do we call a world where plants provide light, vines are cultivated to be deadly security systems, the rich can afford large mushrooms that regulate the air temperature, and the murder weapon is a tree? Ugh, I love it. There are also strong notes of the usual "big monsters threaten humanity" suspects - Pacific Rim, Kaiju No. 8, and most evidently Attack on Titan, but this story chooses to move the first responders into the background and spend more time on infrastructure folks and a detective/assistant pair.
And what a stunning pair they are. Fans of the eccentric detective+earnest put-upon assistant, get ready to enjoy yourselves. Ana is a genius in all rights, but never in too much of a magical way that it seems she arrived at her conclusions unfairly. The clues are always available, and I did manage to pick out a couple reveals before they were dropped. As our POV character, Din is easily my favorite - his dedication to justice makes him very easy to cheer for, and I appreciated that he wasn't portrayed as completely brainless.
Despite all the giant monsters attacking in the background, this is a mystery first and foremost, and I appreciate that the narrative commits to this. I suspect that the mystery and the background plot will eventually merge in future books, but for now, I was happy just to read a really solid mystery with some great twists, and a really cool detective.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own
Come for the cool worldbuilding, stay for the twisty mystery.
Thoughts
Is this book really 432 pages long? Because I raced through it in a day, and it felt like it moved so quickly! I've always been impressed with RJB's world building, but this one might be my favorite yet. What do we call a world where plants provide light, vines are cultivated to be deadly security systems, the rich can afford large mushrooms that regulate the air temperature, and the murder weapon is a tree? Ugh, I love it. There are also strong notes of the usual "big monsters threaten humanity" suspects - Pacific Rim, Kaiju No. 8, and most evidently Attack on Titan, but this story chooses to move the first responders into the background and spend more time on infrastructure folks and a detective/assistant pair.
And what a stunning pair they are. Fans of the eccentric detective+earnest put-upon assistant, get ready to enjoy yourselves. Ana is a genius in all rights, but never in too much of a magical way that it seems she arrived at her conclusions unfairly. The clues are always available, and I did manage to pick out a couple reveals before they were dropped. As our POV character, Din is easily my favorite - his dedication to justice makes him very easy to cheer for, and I appreciated that he wasn't portrayed as completely brainless.
Despite all the giant monsters attacking in the background, this is a mystery first and foremost, and I appreciate that the narrative commits to this. I suspect that the mystery and the background plot will eventually merge in future books, but for now, I was happy just to read a really solid mystery with some great twists, and a really cool detective.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Ableism