The Tainted Cup is my first book by Robert Jackson Bennett. I own his Founders Trilogy, but I haven’t read it yet. I am really excited to do so now. I went into this book pretty blind, and I’m glad I did. It’s a murder mystery with a whole unique fantasy world!

The world-building in this book was easy to follow. Considering it’s a unique world, I was surprised I didn’t get lost. It might be my heavy fantasy background. There are leviathans trying to break down the walls and take the cities. They have learned to use the leviathans blood to make all kinds of enhancements. It’s a really cool aspect of the story and where the murder mystery comes in. There are two different stories going on- the leviathans and the murder mystery. I think Bennett did a fabulous job working both of them together. I never had issues with the pacing, and read this one rather quickly.

My favorite thing about this book are the characters, Ana in particular. She refuses to leave her home and always has a blind fold. Yet, she sees and knows things that are almost impossible. Is she mad, or is she just a genius? The way her mind worked throughout the book was so fascinating, and this could be my psychology background talking. She was also very witty and helped break up of the tenser moments. Din is her apprentice in training, and I loved their relationship. His story was interesting, and I was happy with his character growth in the book.

I don’t want to talk about the murder mystery too much. I refuse to spoil anything, but I want to say that it was great! I’m pretty good at figuring these out, and there were things that surprised me! I love how we get a wrap up at the end. If there are future books (I hope so), it they would be a different case.

I had such a great time with this book, and I cannot wait to read more by Bennett! The heavy fantasy world really made the murder mystery a bit more fun. I really hope to see Ana again and her antics. If you are fan of either genre, you would enjoy this!

Many thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for an e-arc! All thoughts and opinions are my own.