Hello, everyone! I’m so excited to review A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, which was published last week by Del Rey. I ADORED the first book in this series and had high hopes that this sequel would live up to how amazing it was. Did it live up to those expectations? Read on to find out! 🙂

The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire’s greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.

***Thank you to Del Rey for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

There’s only one word that could describe my thoughts on A Drop of Corruption: brilliant. This book was absolutely fucking brilliant. It gets ALL THE STARS! I could not put it down and had a visceral need to know what would happen next. It was the perfect mix of breathtaking fantasy and riveting mystery.

The plot of A Drop of Corruption had my head spinning but in a good way. There were so many great twists and turns that I gave up trying to figure things out. I just went along for the ride, and what a ride it turned out to be. The murder mystery was such an interesting one from the start, and things just got crazier and crazier as the perpetrator’s whole plan unfolded. The pace also never let up. Even in the quieter moments, it always felt like something significant was happening to pull the story forward. I just ate it all up and never wanted it to end despite also wanting to know all the answers. lol.

It’s hard to pick a favorite thing about such a great book. However, the world-building in A Drop of Corruption stood out to me the most. The basics of this world were introduced in the previous book. So, a lot of the heavy lifting was already done, but this story added so much finesse to different aspects that I hadn’t even considered when reading the first installment. My favorite thing, though, was how the information got presented. The story didn’t beat the reader over the head with random information or unnecessary minute details. As the mystery unfolded, so did key bits of the world that added depth. It was all meticulous in how the mystery informed the world-building, and vice versa, but felt natural and engrossing while reading. It didn’t hurt that the magic was just super cool, too.

Unsurprisingly, I still loved Din and Ana in A Drop of Corruption. Ana was still wickedly smart and acerbically blunt. Although, I enjoyed her being thrown off a bit by an (almost) equally smart opponent. The mystery of her mods and history had some fascinating developments, as well, and I felt like we got to know her as a person a little better. Her relationship with Din was also great, and I appreciated how she gave him space to grow and understand how important their work was to the Empire. Din’s POV was such a great one, mostly because he was the work horse doing most of the investigating. I also just liked him. He’s someone trying to get by who gets wrapped up in his boss’s crazy. lol.

I’ll end this review where I started it. A Drop of Corruption was a brilliant read. It had a lot to say without taking the focus off of telling a compelling story. The world-building, characters, and mystery were all fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what Din and Ana get up to next. Therefore, I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett. Have you read it or its predecessor yet? If yes, let me know your thoughts down in the comments! If not, go pick them up right away. 🙂 Happy reading!