#for my first Robert Jackson Bennett I had a surprisingly good time with this one

[libertyreads]

Book Review #4 of 2024--

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Rating: 4 stars.

Read from January 17th to 20th.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Del Rey Books for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Tainted Cup is a Holmes and Watson-esque novel that follows investigator Ana Dolabra--a detective whose eccentricities are matched only by her brilliance--and her assistant, Dinios Kol who are called to work a case after a high imperial officer is killed when a tree erupts from his body. As they follow the clues, Dolabra and Kol just might uncover a darker secret than this poisoning. The Tainted Cup comes out on February 6th and is available for pre-order now.

I had such a fun time with this one. I'm a bit of a Sherlock Holmes fan girl so I was worried that picking this one up would set off a chain reaction of disappointment. But the way this story unfolds in this fantastical world and the way the mystery gets laid out for the reader makes it so much more fun and accessible to the reader. In most of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I've read over the years, there would be leaps in logic that were too difficult to follow unless you had very specific, detailed knowledge. And, while Ana does had a little bit of that going on, the author managed to find a way to keep the reader invested and to keep the reader's suspension of disbelief going. The world building and the pace of the story worked really well for me. There was a small section at the beginning where it felt like you were just thrown into the story, but given the fantastical world and how short that feeling lasted I'm going to say that part was still a thumbs up from me.

The characters are probably what I think could have used the most work. We do get some of the Holmes and Watson-esque interactions between our investigator and her assistant but I felt like we could have gone further with it. I still feel like I know so little about Ana. Maybe that's a choice the author made because of her being a representation of Sherlock Holmes. But I just wanted more from her. I also spent a lot of the book thinking there would be some dark reveal about Dinios but it never went in that direction. And I kind of wish it had. He's a little too squeaky clean for me. But know that's coming from a girl whose favor characters are all morally grey.

Overall, this was a fun and engaging read that I think fans of Sherlock Holmes can enjoy while acknowledging that it's separate from the original stories. It always felt like the plot was pushing me to read more and more which made it a faster read than I was expecting.

[rsadelle]

The best books I read in 2019

I read 109 books in 2019. This is just short of twice as many as I read last year, and that made it very hard to narrow down to a small number of the very best of them. Only seven of the books I read this year were things I reread.

Top 7 fiction books/series I read for the first time in 2019

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - Fascinating YA story with incredible worldbuilding around fairy tale ideas in a way I haven't seen done before.

Divine Cities Trilogy (City of Stairs, City of Blades, and City of Miracles) by Robert Jackson Bennett - Totally fascinating, engaging trilogy about a world that's been shaped by a mixture of Gods and imperialism.

In the Woods by Tana French - This book made me feel incredibly anxious in a way that felt all out of proportion with what was actually happening to the characters. I wasn't sure how much I enjoyed that experience, but it did show how good the writing was, and I then read all six of her other books within six weeks.

The Last Day of Emily Lindsey by Nic Joseph - Very good mystery/suspense/thriller. If you can read it unspoiled, I think it's extremely effective. Message/email me if you want the content warnings.

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills - Totally delightful YA novel. Mills's novels are so much fun, I liked that this one had queer characters, and her stuff about fandom is so great.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I'd heard how good this is before, and I finally read it this year for a book club. Lovely, magical story.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - This book was so well written and is really hard to describe. I was especially impressed with her ability to evoke the feeling of junior high without making it feel cringy to read.

Top 5 fiction books I read and then thought about a lot in 2019

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert - Yes, I have this on both lists. I thought about it constantly for about two months after I read it. I later read two other books that sort of reminded me of it and made me think about it again because this was the best of the three.

The Power by Naomi Alderman - This is such a good, clever, enjoyable, and surprisingly funny book. I read it for a book club, which meant I thought about it a lot so I could talk about it, and I've thought about the themes of it off and on since then. Content notes for power and its abuses, up to and including murder and sexual assault.

The Witch Elm by Tana French - This book is very well written and a sharp portrait of privilege. I also found some of it, particularly at the end where we find out the answers to the mystery, really stomach turning. I've thought about it off and on since I read it.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple - In a lot of ways, Where'd You Go Bernadette is the better book, but this is the one I couldn't stop thinking about. The story was so interesting and strange, and I love stories that take place over the course of one day.

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir - I'm not sure how believable I found the plot of this (not so much the what had happened to the characters, but how Essie navigates her way out of it), but it was extremely satisfying, and I thought about it a lot. Content notes for sexual abuse, fundamentalist Christianity, reality TV, and all the manipulation and abuse that comes along with them.

Top 3 non-fiction books I read in 2019

I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum - This was an entirely riveting book, particularly considering it includes a bunch of reviews of hers I'd read before. I found it a slow read in a good way where I kept stopping to reflect on what she was saying. I could spend, like, a year writing commentary about every essay; it's that thought-provoking.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez - This is a well-sourced (there are literally 70 pages of source citation end notes), well written, and absolutely infuriating look at the way we don't do research on women and don't use it when we do. My biggest criticism of it is that she's an economist, so she really thinks in jobs-economy terms where I think one of the solutions is to uncouple surviving, and beyond, to thriving, from employment. We are in agreement that another one of the solutions is for men to step up and do their fair share of the currently unpaid care work/domestic labor that is (STILL) done primarily by women.

Educated by Tara Westover - I couldn't put it down, but take note that it's very harrowing. It was also an interesting contrast to J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, which I read for a book club and found frustrating because I thought Vance never got to the point where he realized just how messed up his family was. Westover is writing from a point where she knows.