This story reminded me of part Star Trek, Alice in Wonderland and Columbo. I found that while I was reading the story, I would picture a world that was earth like but the land and oceans were different, and that the society were based on people who were chemically change in order to have specialist who can accomplishes extraordinary things, but sometimes the individual tenacity was more important than the conversion. There are many layers to this story, the first layer starts out with an engineer, who had helped support the construction of the wall that keeps monsters out of the empire, but is killed in a horrible way and as investigators Ana and Dinios start looking into the death they find out there are many people involved in the death and more than one reason for the death. The second layer were the actual council people, who also ended up dead, but you don't know who the bad guys are until the end. And the final layer involves a powerful family member who is the only one left and also know something about the deaths, but doesn't want to tell. One last moment I found interesting were the creatures themselves and how Dinios connected with them. I enjoyed it as the two unraveled the mystery of the death and found the world fascinating and richly described, it increased the enjoyment of the chase. I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for the advance copy of this intriguing world.

This was absolutely phenomenal. Whilst it did feel like a holmes and Watson story set in a fantasy world it also felt fresh and new. The characters are wonderfully written and developed and the world is fascinating. I need more people to read this so I can talk about it with them.

'I pressed my ear to the front door. I could hear one voice within - my master's - but then a second, a man's. One that sounded anxious, even nervous. "Oh, hell," I said. "She's gone and trapped another one..."' If you came up with a list of the most hyped books of 2024 then I'm pretty sure 'The Tainted Cup' would end up very nearly topping it. Everywhere I turned last year I seemed to come across rave reviews of this book and honestly it sounded amazing. A fantasy mystery with a detective duo reminiscent of Holmes and Watson? What more could a reader want? Yet I have to confess that I was slightly nervous picking this one up. Sometimes hyped books let you down, after all, and I'll admit I was sceptical that the promised dynamics would truly be delivered on. Happily I can say that my fears were unfounded and this book was an utter delight. Not only did it give me the aforementioned vibes but it went above and beyond whilst doing so. Truly I cannot believe just how much of a treasure 'The Tainted Cup' turned out to be. Before I say anything else I should probably admit that I've never read the Sherlock Holmes books and judge the comparison mostly on the Robert Downey Jnr/Jude Law portrayal of Holmes and Watson. If we're going by those movies though then that comparison is spot on. Within 'The Tainted Cup' you're given a Holmes type character in the form of Ana. She has a brilliant mind that seems miles ahead of anybody else's, has an uniquely entertaining habit of rubbing people up the wrong way and a mountain of eccentricities that are delightful to read about but undoubtedly infuriating in reality. If done wrong her character could easily leave a person rolling their eyes or tutting in despair but somehow the author has managed to create someone who is utterly believable whilst behaving in the oddest of ways and manages to keep readers entertained whilst driving those around them up the walls. Who knew such a fine balance was possible? Din is our Watson and balances Ana's eccentricities out beautifully. He's rather stoic and keeps a lot of himself guarded. He's a stickler for the rules but undoubtedly highly passionate about what he does. He has secrets and struggles of how own and is intriguingly enhanced thanks to the mechanics of this books world. This is a pairing of opposites that shouldn't work but instead they work together phenomenally, giving the reader delightful moments of banter to cherish and making some scenes impossible to read without a smile on you face. Going into 'The Tainted Cup' I have to admit that what most worried me was how the fantasy world would be portrayed. I'd heard from other readers that it was strong but I was still slightly sceptical of this fact and truly I should not have been as the authors gone above and beyond whilst creating their world. This is a place of mammoth Leviathans that send shudders through your bones to discover. A land where people can undergo a vast range of sci-fi reminiscent procedures to enhance themselves. A world of strange fauna and flora; some of which are vital to the plot. And a place with politics tangled up within its core, entangling with the central mystery of the novel beautifully. The actual case that Ana and Din are investigating is unlike any that I've come across before. It's a unique murder that makes the most of its fantastical world in an undeniably macabre manner. As the novel unfeld this mystery became less personal and grander in scope than I'd anticipated. Its feels very central to the world itself, as things progress, but is followed in a believable manner. Leaps of logic are made, admittedly, but that's only to be expected when you have an investigator with a brain like Ana's and I love how it dealt with some very real world issues in a fantastical way. I'd love to say more - particularly concerning the elements it touches upon - but I feel like all of that is best discovered for yourself. So if you're a fan of fantasy novels and want a new and immersive world to discover whilst following in the footsteps of a highly entertaining detective duo then I strongly recommend checking this out. Even if you're not entirely sure that this one is for you I'd advice giving it a chance as I was slightly sceptical myself only to come away utterly besotted. I truly cannot wait to see what happens next.

My Five Word TL:DR Review : Holmes and Watson, new style I loved this. It’s absolutely brilliant. The mystery and the way it develops is compelling, the two main characters are great, the world building is unique. The writing is a winning combination of just the right amount of description coupled with great pacing and I found the whole thing perfectly divine. Seriously, I’m praying to the Book Gods right now to make this a long series of mysteries because we have this new, modern day, similar but not the same version of Holmes and Watson. I didn’t know I needed this in my life but what did I know? I do. I need it. Give me more of this. Please say there’ll be more. Is it just me or did everyone’s parents say to them if they swallowed an apple seed – ‘oh, you’ll grow an apple tree inside you now’ – or were my mum and dad just raging maniacs. Anyway, it just makes me think that from these little kernels great trees can grow. Anyhow, I digress. As this story begins we meet Dinios Kol, newly appointed assistant to Ana Dolabra, Investigator extraordinaire. Straight away we’re witness to a horrific crime, a man, a guest at a prestigious mansion, has died in the most unusual circumstances. I think he ate an apple seed because he has quite literally turned into a tree – the small piece of his face that can be found hanging amongst the branches has a look of abject terror. So, listen to your parents – is my take out. Seriously, I’m not going to give the plot away, there’s obviously an investigation that leads to much ‘bigger stakes’ is about all you can drag from my closed lips using wild horses. What I loved about this. Everything. If this doesn’t develop into a full blown series then I don’t know why. Just, let’s make it happen. The world here, I don’t even know what to tell you. Ecologically unstable, rife with contagion, populated by people who love augmentations. There are leviathans that threaten the entire existence of everyone. Huge sea walls have been constructed with massive artillery machines aimed out to sea (or inland in the event of anything breaking through). On top of this we have all these fascinating things such as huge mushrooms that are actually air filtration systems – to name just one – will you just read the book already. The people are for the large part obsessed with augmentations, to make them age better, seem stronger, have better spatial awareness, etc, etc. In Din’s case he has been augmented to become an engraver. Using scent bottles to help the memory he basically is able to memorise a full scene to memory and recall it later. This can be used for maps, history, just about anything. So, the world building is pretty cool to be fair but the winning element of this story falls into – the fascinating mystery and the way all the elements come together in such a pleasing way and the two central characters. I’m not going to discuss the mystery itself, you won’t be stealing no spoilers from this quarter. Nope – see above comment and get away with your wild horses. The characters. Yes, they are like some strange reimagined and yet totally unique version of Holmes and Watson. Similar in so many ways – Ana, so intelligent, so quick witted, can absorb inordinate amounts of seemingly useless information, ponders things, usually has a pretty good idea of what’s going on but saves it for the big reveal, she’s easily bored. Not very good at doing the whole ‘people’ thing. Usually makes people annoyed – which probably explains her banishment away from the ‘big I am’ to Littleville. Din, well, on the face of it he might not feel like a ‘Watson’. Watson was a cheery fellow really, very good natured, didn’t hold a grudge, liked to think he could solve things but didn’t really have that knack – and there you go. Din, he’s a good engraver, he undertakes Ana’s instructions to the letter, he relates all the events to her but he doesn’t join up the dots himself. He’s not the same cheery bloke as Watson but he is the perfect companion to Ana, his totally, straight forward, no nonsense attitude playing the perfect foil to her crazy eccentricity. In case you can’t tell from the above I adored this book. I shall undoubtedly be pushing this onto everyone that asks (or doesn’t ask for that matter) for at least the next few years so I shall apologise now for my unadulterated adoration. Buy this. Read it. Talk to me. Pretty please. I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

I do like fantasy as a genre and this book was probably one of the best I have read. Original and likeable characters and what a World. It was a book club choice and scored highly with those not into fantasy, loving it and being surprised. I pre-ordered the next book, A Drop of Corruption, in paperback that sadly just finished that as I was completely immersed once again.