It is great to be back in this world that I discovered last year when reading the first book of this series, The Tainted Cup. There I met the eccentric crime solving genius, Ana Dolabra, and her assistant, Din Kol. No ordinary world, this steampunk empire has been changed to revolve around the presence of Leviathans: gigantic, aquatic monsters who threaten to come ashore and wreak havoc on humans. The society lives in perpetual vigilance, trained and ready to stave off Leviathan attacks. In the mean time, Leviathans (also known as Titans) have contributed immeasurably to their society by the harvesting of their body parts, used by human society for all kinds of wondrous purposes, including healing, altering the physiognomy of people, and giving them super-human abilities/qualities. Kol is an “engraver”: individuals who can encode memories of a time and place while experiencing it to be later recalled exactly. While that is an incredible asset and skill to use in crime solving, it is Ana’s wildly unique and erratic behaviour that steals the show. She’s always a step or two ahead of the clues, and will inevitably solve the case as well. Her resemblance to Sherlock Holmes is unmistakeable.

This time, the discovery of the remains of an imperial delegate, who was visiting the kingdom of Yarrow for negotiations, kicks off an investigation that digs deeply into the empire’s own agents and with the royal court of Yarrow itself. There are so many twists and turns along the way, it’s almost impossible to solve the crime on your own. Much of what I like best about this series is the building of the world that these characters inhabit, full of organic super-science. Technologies such as moss that can preserve organic tissue intact for an indefinite time to deadly mutagens that can turn a human body into a mess of tubules and/or vegetation, to chemicals that can compel you not to reveal certain secrets. It’s a wonderfully imaginative world, where I can’t help but mentally gape at the bizarre-yet-logical techno-organic items that are dreamed up by Bennett and placed here. A new invention at the centre of this book is a hyper-secure facility known as The Shroud, where scientists (aka apoths) study and extract from Leviathan carcasses (specifically their powerful blood) in order to produce reagents, formulations and other biochemical substances and technologies to improve humankind. The place is very strange, like a clean lab for the bizarre, and yet utterly fascinating. Everything that happens at The Shroud is so fun, mysterious, and mindbending, that I absolutely wish someone would adapt this book series, so I can see all this weirdness come to life (I nominate director Guillermo del Toro for the job!)

While I was not fully enamoured by Ana in the first book, this time her eccentricities seem to grow and expand. She continues to operate without sight, wearing a signature red blindfold in order to keep her visual stimulation non-existent, and to focus more on the case at hand. She’s so effective that everyone indulges her whims, and acknowledges her different-ness (and that is great to see), knowing that she will ultimately solve her case. Perhaps Din and the others may second-guess her sometimes, and wonder if she’s really asking them to do what she’s asking them to do. Her unfiltered way of speaking, and her extreme quirks are part of her charm as a character. Even though Din is the reader proxy and the core perspective, Ana is definitely the star of the show.

As the mystery plot progresses, it gets hard to keep track of all the clues and tidbits of information, so I don’t much bother. However, that can still leave a reader a little lost trying to figure out connections, motivations, and meaning. Thankfully, there were quite a few scenes where Ana would help us along, recapping for Din, fellow agent Malo, or any other character who needs to be reminded of what’s happening and what’s at stake. I loved this feature of this book as it kept me going even when the plot truly thickened, and took twists and turns into new storylines. Being able to follow helped me engage with the story better and I was all-in as we raced through the last third. This recapping really helped when we were introduced more deeply to the members of the Yarrow royal court. It was fun not only to read about how oddly flamboyant the Yarrow people are, with coloured makeup on their faces and other cryptic backstories about the characters that we see on the main stage, but a royal setting added an extra dimension to the story by offering new types of cultural details, and a different menu of motivations — especially for the potential villain.

While the story was really interesting and I was very much engaged throughout, I admit to finding the reveals — the ending where the crimes were solved and the villains unmasked — to be a bit anticlimactic. Nevertheless, I think this book was seriously redeemed by some reveals in the finale (and the epilogue) and how it was a lovely character moment between the two leads. I don’t know how much of these hints and teases will be explored in the next book, A Trade of Blood, or in the rest of the series (for however long it might continue), but it feels like we’ve only explored a small part of this world, and there’s still so much more territory for our two intrepid guides to lead us through. I’ll pause a bit before taking on the next book so I can savour it all the more when I get to it.

4.5 stars

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