A Drop of Corruption is the second novel following investigators Ana and Din as they try to unravel one other crime. Whereas Ana and Din evoke Holmes and Watson in character, these books are very a lot set exterior of the world during which we reside. Ana is actually agoraphobic, Din is an “Engraver” who has been “modified” in order that he possess excellent reminiscence together with sight, speech, odor of a state of affairs. Din goes out on this planet, absorbs experiences and tales, and brings these reminiscences again to Ana in an try to unravel the thriller. Set in Yarrowdale, a area of the Empire of Khanum that has remained pretty separate, Ana and Din are tasked with discovering the physique of a treasury official who disappeared from an inaccessible, closely locked room.
Within the canton of Yarrowdale, on the very fringe of the Empire’s attain, an inconceivable crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into skinny air—kidnapped from his quarters whereas the door and home windows remained locked from the within, in a constructing whose entrances and exits are all underneath fixed guard.
To unravel the case, the Empire calls on its most good and mercurial investigator, the good Ana Dolabra. At her aspect, as all the time, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Earlier than lengthy, Ana’s found that they’re not investigating a disappearance, however a homicide—and that the killing was simply the primary chess transfer by an adversary who appears to have the ability to go by means of warded doorways like a ghost, and who can predict each certainly one of Ana’s strikes as if they’ll see the long run.
Worse nonetheless, the killer appears to be focusing on the high-security compound often called the Shroud. Right here, the Empire’s biggest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the unstable magic discovered of their blood. Ought to it fall, the destruction can be horrible certainly—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that permits its wheels of energy to show.
Din has seen Ana resolve inconceivable circumstances earlier than. However this time, with the stakes increased than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at each flip, he fears that his superior has lastly met an enemy she will be able to’t defeat.
The thriller that drives the guts of the plot… it’s a scrumptious and delightfully layered puzzle. Tying every step and every revelation into the character of the world itself (Yarrowdale and the Empire), fleshes out the secondary world much more. In different phrases, Bennett items readers with a deeply partaking and immersive world and story.
One thing that makes Yarrow such an intriguing native is that the Shroud, a secretive lab the place the blood of titans (or Leviathans) is studied for scientific and magical makes use of. The person who disappeared has very robust ties to the Shroud. When Din arrives to analyze, the reminiscences and expertise he brings again to Ana factors to greater than only a easy, but confounding disappearance. The investigation results in one thing very far-reaching, with tendrils throughout the Empire. This ingredient ties again into Ana and Din’s edict…their cost as investigators… their cause for doing what they do – to make sure “an Empire value Defending.”
The setting of Yarrow lends itself to claustrophobia in some methods. It is without doubt one of the outliers of the Empire and hasn’t absolutely change into a part of the Empire so Ana and Din are considerably remoted. It additionally illustrates how various this world is… the Empire isn’t as all-knowing and omnipotent as the primary quantity made it appear to be.
Via two books, what I’ve loved probably the most and retains the pages turning shortly is the banter and interplay between Ana and Din… and Din himself. Bennett has carved out two enigmatic characters in his Watson/Holmes analogues and particularly for the reason that story is a first-person narrative by means of Din’s voice, I felt very immersed in Din. That stated, I really feel we’ve solely been submersed about one layer deep into Din. Din has an understated nature and regardless of the augmentations that drive his bodily nature past the bounds of “regular humanity” his ideas belie a considerate, deliberate, and endearing human nature.
Ana is equally fascinating, if just a little extra irritating however that’s by design. I loved how she pushed and challenged Din. Her continuous snide remarks in direction of him are what makes her constructive engagements and phrases to him shine much more. She’s completely good, framed as maybe the sharpest mind within the Empire and this makes the problem of the thriller on the coronary heart of A Drop of Corruption much more fascinating as a result of the elusive perpetrator is a couple of steps forward of Ana’s pondering.
The primary installment of the sequence, The Tainted Cup, acquired each the Hugo and the World Fantasy Award. As a longtime fan of Robert’s writing, I’m enormously happy that not solely did he win the awards, however he acquired them for such outstanding novels. A Drop of Corruption acquired one other Hugo Award nomination and I wouldn’t be stunned if he bought the award as a result of I could have loved the second installment much more than the primary.
Extremely, extremely advisable.
© 2026 Rob H. Bedford
Commerce Paperback | Del Rey Books
January 2026 (Hardcover April 2025) | 480 Pages
https://www.robertjacksonbennett.com/
Excerpt: https://reactormag.com/excerpts-a-drop-of-corruption-by-robert-jackson-bennett/
Overview copy courtesy of the writer
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