432 pages
English language
Published April 1, 2025 by Del Rey.
The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.
“Wonderfully clever and compulsively readable . . . another winning blend of fantasy and classic detection.”—Publishers Weekly
In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the …
The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.
“Wonderfully clever and compulsively readable . . . another winning blend of fantasy and classic detection.”—Publishers Weekly
In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.
Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat.
Amazing job for a second book in a detective series to actually substantively follow on at level. A good time throughout
Another fascinating detective and investigative story involving Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol. It starts with a locked room murder which is, of course, solved within a few chapters. But the repercussions of the murder would build up as the story progresses, until it would involve an attack on the Shroud, the mysterious and chilling artifact that the Empire uses to extract and process the blood of the Titans, that the Empire depends upon for its survival.
Unlike the first book, where suspects are investigated and then revealed as the story progresses, the identity of the murderer in this book is determined 'off-stage' halfway through the book. Instead, it is more of a CSI-type story, where the methods and motive of the murderer take centre stage. As the investigation progresses, we also get to see more of the author's world-building, as more biological augmentations are revealed, all possible due to …
Another fascinating detective and investigative story involving Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol. It starts with a locked room murder which is, of course, solved within a few chapters. But the repercussions of the murder would build up as the story progresses, until it would involve an attack on the Shroud, the mysterious and chilling artifact that the Empire uses to extract and process the blood of the Titans, that the Empire depends upon for its survival.
Unlike the first book, where suspects are investigated and then revealed as the story progresses, the identity of the murderer in this book is determined 'off-stage' halfway through the book. Instead, it is more of a CSI-type story, where the methods and motive of the murderer take centre stage. As the investigation progresses, we also get to see more of the author's world-building, as more biological augmentations are revealed, all possible due to the Titan's blood that is being distilled in the Shroud. And one of those augmentations would give the murderer the ability to predict what Ana would do, leading to a cat and mouse game between two masters of logic and deduction.
If not controlled, the Titan's blood can cause biological corruption and disaster. And it doesn't help that the Shroud is at the edge of the Empire, bordering a corrupt, autocratic kingdom that the Empire is negotiating with. And as the investigation continues, Ana discovers yet more corruption in the bureaucracy of the Empire itself. All of these corruptions would come to a head at the climax of the story, leading Dinios to make a decision about his future that he has been reconsidering after months of working with Ana at what he thinks is an unglamorous job.
While the identity of the murderer is given to the reader, the methods and intent of the murderer could still be deduced from the story, if the reader is attentive enough. This reader was able to make a few logical deductions before their revelation in this inventive story.
A Drop of Corruption was a great followup to The Tainted Cup.
I love the universe, it's so delightfully weird and mysterious. Additionally, I appreciate that Din, despite being A Watson, actually does the majority of solving things and unraveling the story, instead of just floundering around until his Holmes solves everything.
A Drop of Corruption was a great followup to The Tainted Cup.
I love the universe, it's so delightfully weird and mysterious. Additionally, I appreciate that Din, despite being A Watson, actually does the majority of solving things and unraveling the story, instead of just floundering around until his Holmes solves everything.
This book reminds me a lot of the second book in Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy. Both are set out in the hinterlands, with a different focus and locale than the first book, but crucially both are there to establish the thematic question for the series. Here, that question is around the human nature of kings and emperors, and the complicated human desire for them.
Unsurprisingly, this series continues to be solidly in the mystery genre despite being blended with kaiju fantasy worldbuilding. It opens with a locked room murder mystery (and a missing body), has a brilliant Moriarity-adjacent mastermind, and ends with a dramatic reveal. This was true in the first book as well, but I quite appreciate how the details and clues are meticulously laid out for the reader to spot; even when there is a "our investigator must go into a fugue state to find …
This book reminds me a lot of the second book in Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy. Both are set out in the hinterlands, with a different focus and locale than the first book, but crucially both are there to establish the thematic question for the series. Here, that question is around the human nature of kings and emperors, and the complicated human desire for them.
Unsurprisingly, this series continues to be solidly in the mystery genre despite being blended with kaiju fantasy worldbuilding. It opens with a locked room murder mystery (and a missing body), has a brilliant Moriarity-adjacent mastermind, and ends with a dramatic reveal. This was true in the first book as well, but I quite appreciate how the details and clues are meticulously laid out for the reader to spot; even when there is a "our investigator must go into a fugue state to find answers" moment, her revelations are all something the reader could have intuited themselves.
One friend who has been reading this series (and crucially has not read any mystery books) has been disappointed at the "small-ness" of the plot threads, where the climax is a mystery rather than a fantasy escalation, and the terror of the leviathans only looms in the distance. These books certainly do not have the escalation of ideas from his previous series The Founders Trilogy. However, following the Divine Cities example above, my prediction is that the final book is going to satisfyingly tie together the themes from the first two books while answering our questions about the nature of the leviathans and the silent Khanum emperor.
In a weird Empire whose basis is genetic change wrought by titan’s blood and uniting to hold back these same monstrous titans as they try and migrate out of the sea annually, Ana and Din are a Sherlock and Watson pair, sent to solve crimes and dispense justice across the Empire.
This story sees them actually outside the Empire itself, where the titans’ blood is extracted, delving into an incomprehensible crime whose ramifications gradually become Empire-threatening if the criminal is left unchecked.
Absolutely great stuff, and even better than the first in the series in some ways. And the afterword by the author shows just how intentionally he has tackled certain subjects, which is also extremely impressive. I loved every word of it and hope he has a 3rd story in him of equal caliber!
