Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Tainted Cup

I took this book out from the library while away, didn't finish it, and picked it up from my library the day I landed. I love the world building and the bureaucracy of it, even if I still don't know what the hell the colors mean (I'll get there!). I adore Din and can't wait for him to come into his own- I absolutely love reading a well choreographed fight, and I do presume

everyone is a little bi until proven otherwise,

so it was nice to be right :) Ana is hysterical and had me laughing out loud more than once. The side characters were also great, and you really feel for all of them, including the titans! What the hell is up with that and WHY do they have faces?!?!? I think the mystery was decently done, and there was enough given away that I could anticipate the twists, which I love! Readers should be able to solve it! Needless to say I will be picking up the next installment the second it comes out <3

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assembledbats's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I think my favorite part about this book was the worldbuilding. I also enjoyed the characters and I got caught up in the mystery, but the world itself was so unique and dense that it's what stuck with me the most. Between the giant, bio-engineered air conditioning fungus and the quakes caused not by plate tectonics but by giant leviathans approaching the sea walls, this is a fantasy world where it's easy to remember that it's not OUR world, no matter how human the people seem.

And even though the people are also bio-engineered to a degree, they do feel very real, with human desires and fears. Most (if not all) of the characters we meet have changed themselves to at least a small degree, and it often seems like they felt they had to in order to get ahead in their world. The modifications they make to themselves made me wonder if I would want any of the modifications. Some people change their physical strength, others enhance their memory, and still others increase their mental aptitude for things like math or science. But the downside is that everything comes with a cost, and many of the modifications will shorten lifespans or cause mental breakdowns in later life.

If there's a downside to this book, it's that the people felt too normal compared to the setting. Yes, they are modified and super-strong or super-smart or have perfect memory. But during the scenes when they were all sitting around talking, it was easy to see them as just people. The setting, in contrast, was so much more alien.

All told, though, this was a really enjoyable murder mystery, and I'm already looking forward to the sequel. There's so much more to explore in this world, and I am really interested to see where Bennett takes his characters next. This was my first book by Robert Jackson Bennett, but it certainly won't be my last.

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heather667's review against another edition

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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

4.5

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lbelow's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

4.75

An excellent book and a compelling start to a new series! I'm not often one for Sherlock/Watson duos because a lot of authors take that kind of "smart" to mean "callous". And there's no denying that the Sherlockian character in this book is weird AF (and I suspect on the autism spectrum due to her sensory issues), but she also does things like take the time to check in with Din after he's had a near-death experience. The other thing I loved: the disability rep. Din is dyslexic and that reflects in how he navigates the world as well as the workarounds he comes up with to capture information.

This world is just as weird and unique as its main characters. And it's introduced with just enough finesse for the aspects of the world explored to tie back to the plot. As for that plot, some of the twists I guessed, and at least one important piece I did not. With the way that information is presented in this book, that makes me excited to reread this and pick up on the clues I missed during the first pass.

I recommend this book and will be searching out more by this author!

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hyuzen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A fantastic, deep, well-realized setting. This would apply to Robert Jackson Bennett's Foundryside just as easily as The Tainted Cup. He's adept at digging into the minutiae and logistics of the world's he creates. In this setting, an Empire uses concoctions developed from attacking Leviathan's to augment and modify humans. The empire's citizens are instrumentalized into tools to sustain the empire.
Din, the main character, has been granted a perfect memory, which he uses to gather clues for his boss, and investigator. What starts as a kind of Holmes and Watson pairing looking into a murder starts to tease a bigger mystery that looked like it may delve into a conspiracy against the empire itself but eventually turns out to be slightly more mundane and grounded. That's not necessarily a knock against it as it keeps the stakes relatable. Told in first person perspective we learn about the secret disability Din manages that may make his job difficult.
The groundwork for the romance is better established compared to Foundryside which I appreciated.
As someone with perfect memory investigating a murder, Bennett dwells on the gore and violence, trying to make it stick in your mind the way it will forever be lodged in Din's. An improvement on the prose in his previous trilogy, but still nothing incredible.
But Din is a fairly dry character, fitting into the Watson mold. Sancia was a more interesting character to follow.

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was my first time reading Robert Jackson Bennett, but I've heard lots of good things about their writing. This didn't disappoint. I really enjoyed the "biopunk" universe where technology was based on plants and biology. I liked Dinios Kol and Ana Dolabra very much, which I had been a little worried about before reading. They charmed me quickly and I enjoyed their conversations. I wasn't really trying to solve the mystery, but I did manage to put together some pieces for myself before the reveals. When I talked about it with my friend, they said that sometimes fantasy mysteries are a bit easier to solve because the author has to explain how the world works, and what they are required to point out and explain for things to make sense tends to be relevant to solving the mystery. I listened to this on audiobook and thought the narrator did a great job, but I do think it made it a little harder for me to follow all the unusual names and keep things straight. With regards to content warnings, there is a fair amount of body horror and gore, but (extremely mild spoiler)

there was one weird gross sexual scene that I'm not sure how to accurately content warn about. I'll file it under Sexual Harassment I suppose? I found that scene unsettling.

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vigil's review against another edition

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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

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