Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

49 reviews

octopus_farmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

A fun mystery!! I couldn’t guess much in the first half - lots of worldbuilding and set dressing. Creative world and neat characterization. The title sucks though. Completely inscrutable until the end when

the plot is revealed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Infertility and Vomit

iaraya's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

heather667'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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use

caidyn's review against another edition

funny 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? Yes

4.0

Oh this was a fun start to a new series. The world is super intriguing, and I enjoyed the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

eviethebookworm's review against another edition

dark funny 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? No

3.0

A solid science fiction murder mystery! Attack on Titan meets Sherlock Holmes meets Star Trek. 

I do however have a major gripe with Rob’s use of the adjective ‘queer’ throughout the book. Especially considering there’s LGBTQIA+ representation, there’s certainly an awareness as to the connotations of using it as a way to describe strangeness. I would have rated this novel higher had there been more care during editing to whittle it out of the manuscript more (because I KNOW that there would have been so many more instances of it). 
But alas, it cropped up seven times in the span of 170 pages or so. And that’s only after I got annoyed enough to start marking them! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse and Vomit

errie's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kayteaface's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

mar's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

OKAY. BANGER

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Bullying

lbelow's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use