The Tainted Cup

Robert Jackson Bennett is among my favourite fantasy writers, and has been since I took a copy of The Troupe out of the library and flipped for it. He's put out something like eight or nine books now, and they've all been highly readable, and what's more, highly imaginative. The core fantasy ideas here are plant magic and huge leviathans rising out of the seas (which I think we will learning a lot more about in coming books), but the form of the book is more like a crime novel, as it foregrounds a bizarre murder investigation in this world. The world building and characterisation are top notch. Ana Dolabra and Dinias Kol are two highly engaging characters, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of their cases