It's Elementary Dear Reader

Rating 4.5/5

The game is afoot once more! Honestly it has felt like an age since I delved into The Shadow of the Leviathan universe (2024-) and I’ve been raring to get back to it ever since. Like its predecessor, The Tainted Cup (2024), A Drop of Corruption (2025) it did not fail to please, offering a riveting investigation filled with humour, suspense and an expanding universe with ever-growing characters.

Set around a year and a half after the events of The Tainted Cup, readers find Signum Dinios Kol and Immunis Ana Dolabra in Yarrow, investigating the curious death of an Empirical treasury officer. What they uncover is a treasonous plot that could threaten the future of the empire. Problem is how do you catch a murderer, who is always two steps ahead and just as smart as the investigator?

As mentioned, the story takes place in Yarrow, a tributary state to the Empire, responsible for its scientific studies on the colossal leviathans, who threaten their shores and provide the materials for their genetic modifications. From what I could perceive, there is a kind of symbiotic relationship between Yarrow and the Empire. They have a mutual dependence. But as readers learn there is a building tension beneath the surface that could threaten to disrupt the established order of things.

To me, the change of setting was both refreshing and a little boggling. Refreshing in a sense that it shined a different light on the Empire, introducing themes of colonisation, boggling, because it provided more lore, history etc that I had space to secure in my memory vault. Though it’s only been a year, I did find my knowledge of The Shadow of The Levithan series to be a bit rusty. Thankfully this didn’t cause my attention to astray and once I delved further into the story my love for the biopunk mystery was re-ignited.

Especially once Ana Dolabra was on the scene.

She has become one of my favourite fictional investigators in a fantasy.

I love her inquisitive and blunt nature. It always puts a smile on my face when reading her interactions with other characters, who are often left baffled and/or in awe at her methods of deduction. She also carries this sense of mystery about her, her abilities and alterations, which Bennett has a talent of feeding to readers in drips, continuing the speculation of who and what she is.  While I won’t reveal any spoilers, I will say A Drop of Corruption does expand on these speculations, which are mind-blowing and expose a vulnerable characteristic to Ana. 

Of course, this batty Sherlock is nothing without her Watson. Like The Tainted Cup, the narration is told completely from the perspective of the engraver, Din, who acts as readers’ observer within this strange flora-constructed world. In A Drop of Corruption its apparent that Din has developed a slight maturity in his role as Ana’s assistant. He is becoming far more accustomed to her mannerisms and methods, though that’s not to say there aren’t funny moments where Ana surprises him. In comparison to other mysteries I’ve read, it’s also nice to see a formula that does not have the partners becoming lovers and sticks to this mentor/student bond that is growing between the Signum and his Immunis.

Asides from Din and Ana there is also another character I felt deserved some recognition. Malo is introduced to readers as a Yarrow native employed as a Signum for the Empire. Throughout the story she assists Din and Ana in their endeavours and acts as their guide. My impression of Malo reminded me a lot of Sorcha, the protagonist from Bennett’s Foundryside trilogy, which I started reading earlier this year. She’s snarky, almost roguish and as equally as intriguing as Ana. Considering the implications made in A Drop of Corruption, I wonder if Bennett intends to create a spin off starring Malo. If so, I would be all on board for the idea. However, until then we will have to make do with A Drop of Corruption, whose characters and storyline infect the readers’ every thought blossoming inside, providing laughs and suspense.