Start with a complex murder case, feature a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson-esque pair of protagonists, and set it in a well-conceived fantasy world full of plant and fungus based semi-science, and I am an easy catch to hook. The Tainted Cup winning this year’s Hugo award for Best Novel didn’t hurt either, allowing its popularity (and positive reviews) to bump it to the top of my reading list — and I am so glad that happened. This story was such a breath of fresh air (which is ironic given how much talk of contagion and toxins it contains). It was not only a lot of fun (as following a mystery being solved often is), it’s also got so many unique and new ideas, especially where it comes to world-building and characters.

We kick things off with an officer having been killed by a tree that grew rapidly out of his body. Right off the bat we know that we are in for something different. Bennett’s invented world is similar to Victorian England (possibly feels like that also due to the Holmes parallels) but also very different. There is the constantly looming threat of attacks from gigantic ocean creatures known as Leviathans, who try to come ashore but are prevented by high sea walls, and an empire whose society is essentially built around protecting their populace from the Leviathans. However, the flip side is that the presence of these creatures, along with many of the substances and chemicals from their carcasses, has led to numerous inventions and scientific discoveries, including most notably the capability to alter humans in amazing and superhuman ways. Protagonist, Din, is himself an “engraver”, augmented to allow perfect memorization and later recall of any scene or experience, triggered by scent association. This obviously comes in very handy for investigating crimes. And as amazing as this ability is, it’s just a small part of the wondrous and clever world-building ideas that Bennett has baked into this story. (I’ll just add that my favourite little detail is that wealthy homes can often afford to have giant mushrooms that cool them by expelling cold air. There are much cleverer ideas in this story by far, but that one amused me.) 

As a fan of world-building in stories, I also loved how the ideas were just thrown out as part of background with only minimal and natural exposition given to explain it all. Many of the terms, and especially some of the ranks and titles of various officers — not to mention their names — were so uniquely imagined that it took a few attempts to understand them from context, and even by the end I couldn’t keep it all straight. But it didn’t matter, because all the rich detail only served to make this world feel real and give it depth, as if it doesn’t only exist within the bounds of this story.

Ana and Din are the leads, being detectives assigned to the key murder case (yes, it’s quickly concluded that someone triggered the plant to grow from the victim’s body — that’s the kind of world we’re in). They are such a quirky pair, not only because of Din’s engraver abilities, but Ana is also interesting, bordering on bizarre, and so much fun. She is a very reputable, intelligent and astute detective, yet she stays sequestered in her office, blindfolded, while Din is sent to the scene of the crime, to interview witnesses and suspects, in order to bring information back to her. I compared Ana in my mind to a younger Helena Bonham Carter, especially for how offbeat and direct she can be. Plus, Ana’s insightfulness allows her to understand Din very well, and the pair have a heart-warmingly strong, yet low-key relationship that is really refreshing. Despite it being tricky to track who is who for a large part of the novel, the secondary and side characters were also very distinctive and well-drawn. Once I got the names straight (or at least figured out from context who we were referring to), the cast really added a lot of enjoyment to the story as Din and Ana proceeded to gradually uncover the case.

Lastly, while the mystery plot contained a handful of good twists, and it was fun to follow Ana piecing things together, for me that was only a portion of what made this story good. I am not the kind of reader who tries to solve cases before the characters do—and this case was no simple solve. However, I think this novel focused most of its energies on fresh characters and inventive world-building, rather than pulling the reader along labyrinthine twists. At least I did keep an eye out for the titular “tainted cup”, expecting it to give away the resolution; but if you haven’t read the book, I won’t spoil anything for you by revealing whether it does. This story is fresh and fun, and this world is intriguing and thrilling. Everyone who loved this book was spot on, and I would recommend this to anyone open to a unique, genre-blending, engaging, brain-tickling, crime-solving adventure.

4.5 stars

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