# A Trade of Blood

![Book cover of A Trade of Blood](/books/covers/a_trade_of_blood.jpg)

by [Robert Jackson Bennett](/books/authors/robert_jackson_bennett/)
Book 3 of [Shadow of the Leviathan](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/)
★★★☆☆

## Review

In _A Trade of Blood_, the third book in Robert Jackson Bennett's [_Shadow of the Leviathan_](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/) series, Din
and Ana travel to Lacanthim to stop a brewing clan war. Castus Armenta, heir
to a powerful cattle clan, has been caught literally red-handed after the
murder of Zansay Burav, the daughter of his family's only rival.

The case isn't as simple as it seems. Castus and Zansay were having a tryst
and planned to run away from their families. It's _Romeo and Juliet_ at
first blush, so much so that Bennett lampshades the
comparison through Ana, who calls the situation "derivative".

But the story is far from derivative. The simple murder quickly spirals into a
conspiracy involving mind-controlling fungi, cattle the size of houses, and
the mysterious Daljen---an ancient Khanum tribe that disappeared hundreds of
years before the rest of the Khanum vanished.

### The World

Din is much improved in this book. In [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/), he was depressed and
trying to recover by whoring around. He's back on his feet, more competent
now, and his powers are changing in ways that mean he is running out of time
but are also making him a better detective. And we're starting to learn about
his family and history. But Ana recedes into the background a bit in this
book. She has always been the stronger character with the more distinct
personality, so sidelining her is taking away part of what makes the series
work.

The worldbuilding is darker in this book because it asks explicitly what it
costs to keep the Empire going. That's the main theme: sacrifice. Din has
sacrificed his humanity to provide for his family. The gentry sacrifice their
children and their mental health to provide meat for the Empire. The Empire
sacrifices the land itself. The Daljen enslaved people they considered lesser,
and Din now worries the Empire is headed the same way with its Sublimes.

I'm beginning to think that "Leviathan" in the [_Shadow of the Leviathan_](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/) doesn't just
refer to the giant monsters, but to the state itself, as in Hobbes's _Leviathan_. Looking back, each book examines a
different part of how the Empire works: [_The Tainted Cup_](/books/the_tainted_cup/) asks what the state owes
its people; [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/), what bad rulers do to it; and _A Trade of Blood_, what
it consumes, both literally and figuratively.

### Losing the Surprise

But the worldbuilding feels like filling in details now. It doesn't surprise
me the way the earlier books did. [_The Tainted Cup_](/books/the_tainted_cup/) had the advantage of showing us
the world for the first time. Every detail was new and exciting: buildings
grown, not constructed; horrifying plants and fungi that can kill just by
breathing them in; people modified to have perfect memory or amazing eyesight.
And just as the mystery is starting to wind down, a leviathan smashes its way
into the story! By [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/), I'd already seen half the things that make
the [_Shadow of the Leviathan_](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/) series unique. The world felt more familiar, and exploring it
was less exciting. _A Trade of Blood_ has that same problem. The mystery is good,
but without the new-world excitement or the climactic leviathan, it has to
carry most of the narrative. It doesn't quite pull it off, and the pacing
feels slow. Halfway through, I could tell a few more twists were coming, but I
was ready to be done.

This book made me ask myself: do I even like mysteries? But I must! Doyle's _Sherlock Holmes_ books were some of the first I read
on my own, and I'm enjoying [Wells](/books/authors/martha_wells/)'s _Fugitive Telemetry_ right now. As I mentioned
in my review of [Bradbury](/books/authors/ray_bradbury/)'s [_Fahrenheit 451_](/books/fahrenheit_451/), I like books
with clever structure. I enjoy unraveling the puzzle, as in Faulkner's _Absalom, Absalom!_ and [Banks](/books/authors/iain_m_banks/)'s [_Use of Weapons_](/books/use_of_weapons/). Maybe that's it: _A Trade of Blood_ has neither the clever structure nor the pace to carry the whole book on
its own.

### Other Books

This book reminded me of several others. Din recalling what he's seen or heard
in a sort of fugue state is similar to how Johnny recites stored data in [Gibson](/books/authors/william_gibson/)'s [_Johnny Mnemonic_](/books/burning_chrome/#johnny-mnemonic). In fact, Din's sacrifice of
his humanity and bodily autonomy for his family's survival is the exact
bargain [Gibson](/books/authors/william_gibson/) explores with Johnny, and also with
Molly and Case in [_Neuromancer_](/books/neuromancer/). The new voice in Din's head reminds me of
the multiple personalities sharing Susan James's mind in [Watts](/books/authors/peter_watts/)'s [_Blindsight_](/books/blindsight/). Ana's question about how much
suffering the Empire will tolerate for its own comfort is similar to the one
in [Le Guin](/books/authors/ursula_k_le_guin/)'s _The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas_. The destriers are a direct
reference to the same not-quite-horse beasts in [Wolfe](/books/authors/gene_wolfe/)'s [_The Book of the New Sun_](/books/series/the_book_of_the_new_sun/). The Touched Site---hidden in a forest that makes people unnaturally afraid
to enter and containing contamination from powerful beings---is like the Zone
from [Arkady](/books/authors/arkady_strugatsky/) and [Boris Strugatsky](/books/authors/boris_strugatsky/)'s [_Roadside Picnic_](/books/roadside_picnic/).

I really enjoy the unique world that Bennett has built, but
the more familiar it becomes, the more the mysteries have to carry the series.
I'm worried about what that means as we go forward. Still, I liked _A Trade of Blood_, and I'm hoping the next one gives us some new strange things and
a leviathan.

## Reviews that mention _A Trade of Blood_
- [_City on Fire_](/books/city_on_fire/)†
- [_A Desolation Called Peace_](/books/a_desolation_called_peace/)†
- [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/)
- [_The Tainted Cup_](/books/the_tainted_cup/)†

† _Mentioned via a link to the series._

## Related Books
- [_The Tainted Cup_](/books/the_tainted_cup/) by [Robert Jackson Bennett](/books/authors/robert_jackson_bennett/) --- ★★★★☆: The Tainted Cup is a fantasy detective novel set in a world where humanity is on the brink of destruction from giant Kaiju. It follows investigators Dinios Kol and Ana Dolabra as they try to solve the murder of an engineer and uncover a conspiracy that runs far deeper.
- [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/) by [Robert Jackson Bennett](/books/authors/robert_jackson_bennett/) --- ★★★☆☆: A Drop of Corruption, by Robert Jackson Bennett, is the second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series. This time, Din and Ana track down a murderer in the northern Kingdom of Yarrow whose brilliance is almost a match for Ana’s own.
- [_Fahrenheit 451_](/books/fahrenheit_451/) by [Ray Bradbury](/books/authors/ray_bradbury/) --- ★★★☆☆: Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, is a classic novel about the homogenization of mass media and our collective flight from intellectual challenge. It follows Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books for a living, as he slowly realizes he must stop.