# The Tainted Cup ![Book cover of The Tainted Cup](/books/covers/the_tainted_cup.jpg) by [Robert Jackson Bennett](/books/authors/robert_jackson_bennett/) Book 1 of [Shadow of the Leviathan](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/) Awards: [Hugo](/books/by-award/#hugo-award) ★★★★☆ ## Review _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. _The Tainted Cup_ is (and this is going to sound crazy) a Holmesian detective story set in a bio-punk fantasy world based on imperial China, where Kaiju monsters leave the ocean every year to attack the empire's walls. It draws inspiration from Sherlock Holmes, _Attack on Titan_, _Pacific Rim_, [_The Book of the New Sun_](/books/series/the_book_of_the_new_sun/), and surprisingly, local zoning boards.[^zoning] [^zoning]: Not joking! The author, Bennett, specifically mentions this in his afterwards, but it is also pretty obvious from the text itself, in which preservation boards act as an enabler of the larger conspiracy. The main characters are Dinios Kol, a new investigator, and his superior, Ana Dolabra. Kol is a dyslexic Watson with eidetic memory, while Dolabra is an over-stimulated, foul-mouthed Sherlock Holmes. They are called to solve the murder of an imperial engineer, leading them to uncover a conspiracy involving the landed gentry. _The Tainted Cup_'s worldbuilding is fantastic! Most technology is plant-based, and many people have had their bodies enhanced in various ways to better suit their jobs---like Dinios's eidetic memory. Unlike [_House of Suns_](/books/house_of_suns/), the last book I read, the worldbuilding exists in service of the story. The world feels organic because it isn't built through lore dumps but through the characters living in it. Half the excitement of reading _The Tainted Cup_ comes from unraveling the central mystery, while the other half comes from gradually uncovering and understanding the intricacies of the setting. _The Tainted Cup_ also pays homage to [Gene Wolfe](/books/authors/gene_wolfe/)'s [_The Book of the New Sun_](/books/series/the_book_of_the_new_sun/).[^botns] The first chapter, with Dinios's arrival at the Haza manor, mirrors Severian's arrival at the citadel in the opening chapter of [_The Shadow of the Torturer_](/books/the_shadow_of_the_torturer/): an officer of the law with perfect memory arrives at a wall in the mist and finds his way barred by a gate; he is reluctantly let through and finds a body inside. Later in _The Tainted Cup_, we learn that there are immortal Conzulates who, just like [Gene Wolfe](/books/authors/gene_wolfe/)'s Megatherians, achieve immortality through constant growth. Moreover, the theme of "giant underwater monsters trying to destroy the Empire" applies to both the Megatherians and the Kaiju, although the Kaiju are more direct in their actions. [^botns]: I feel like I'm in danger of succumbing to the traditional ailment of [_The Book of the New Sun_](/books/series/the_book_of_the_new_sun/) fans: seeing connections where there are none. I really enjoyed the characters in _The Tainted Cup_ and its unique setting. It's the first part of the [_Shadow of the Leviathan_](/books/series/shadow_of_the_leviathan/) series, and it leaves just the right number of questions about the world unanswered for the next books to explore. I can't wait to keep going in [_A Drop of Corruption_](/books/a_drop_of_corruption/). ## Reviews that mention _The Tainted Cup_ - [_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/) - [_A Memory Called Empire_](/books/a_memory_called_empire/) - [_Metropolitan_](/books/metropolitan/) † _Mentioned via a link to the series._ ## Related Books - [_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. - [_House of Suns_](/books/house_of_suns/) by [Alastair Reynolds](/books/authors/alastair_reynolds/) --- ★☆☆☆☆: House of Suns is a standalone hard sci-fi book by Alastair Reynolds. It tells the story of the Gentian Line, a family of clones who are betrayed, nearly wiped out, and must unravel what happened. - [_The Shadow of the Torturer_](/books/the_shadow_of_the_torturer/) by [Gene Wolfe](/books/authors/gene_wolfe/) --- ★★★★☆: The Shadow of the Torturer is the first installment in Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun tetralogy. It follows the life of Severian, a torturer and executioner on a dying Earth. The pacing is slow, but Wolfe’s worldbuilding is fantastic, crafting a setting that pulls the reader in.