{"id":601,"date":"2025-01-26T03:12:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T03:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/?p=601"},"modified":"2025-06-24T21:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T21:01:59","slug":"a-drop-of-corruption-robert-jackson-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/?p=601","title":{"rendered":"A Drop of Corruption – Robert Jackson Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Robert Jackson Bennett (RJB) was introduced to me last year by his pub team and NetGalley. I have eagerly been awaiting his latest installment in the Shadow of the Leviathan<\/em> series, and it did not disappoint. A Drop of Corruption<\/em> is another exemplary mysterious fantasy novel.\u00a0Five stars!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dinios (Din) Kol and his master, Ana Dolabra, have been sent to another far-reaching corner of the realm to investigate the remains of a treasury staff member that have been discovered. Upon discovering that he didn\u2019t merely lose his way and meet with an accident, but instead vanished from a locked room on the top floor, they realize that their case may be more complex than they thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As their investigation goes deeper, the trail leads to a secure compound called the Shroud, where dangerous magical research takes place on the massive leviathans that come from the sea. It looks like the culprit is bent on the Shroud\u2019s destruction, which would turn it into a massive bioweapon that could mean the end of the empire. Although Ana and Din are a formidable team, as evident in The Tainted Cup,<\/em> the killer always seems to be five steps ahead. If they fail, their world may never be the same again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said at the top, I\u2019ve been anticipating this second book in the Shadow of the Leviathan<\/em> series. RJB seems to like writing trilogies, but if he wants to try his hand at making this into a full-blown series, he\u2019s got my full support. I like his characters, his world-building, and his complex plots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess I\u2019ll lump the world-building and plot opinions together because I can\u2019t fathom how RJB crafts a robustly complex plot in an entirely made up and complicated magical world. I couldn\u2019t even create a complex plot that lies within our normal world. There were twists and turns in both the way the magical world of the Empire functions and the mystery plot. I\u2019m still reeling a little bit from the final revelation of the mystery, and I\u2019m just in awe that RJB could conceptualize it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll make one more note on the world of the Empire: I can\u2019t picture things in my head for anything. I generally interpret things as literally as possible, so when I\u2019m trying to picture an entirely fantastical world, I\u2019m probably not doing it justice. However, I think I do picture the parts that RJB intends his audience to visualize. For example, at one point Din made a very disturbing discovery, and I saw<\/strong> it, thanks to RJB\u2019s vivid writing. Other details of the Empire are still murky, though; I had a lot of trouble picturing the Shroud, but I would attribute that to me having no reference for the vastness of it rather than any lack of descriptors on RJB\u2019s part. All that to say, his world-building is really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew Din and Ana from The Tainted Cup<\/em>, so I was more familiar with their characters than if I was reading this as a standalone. *Note: It is much more enjoyable to read The Tainted Cup<\/em> first!* Din is much more secure in himself in this book, which is great to see. He\u2019s confident, asking the right questions, and is seeking out affection from others. It\u2019s implied that he and Ana have had other cases in between these books, so I\u2019m sure that\u2019s helped his development, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ana is as mysterious as ever, but it\u2019s so fun to read how everyone reacts to her and her antics. She\u2019s so quirky and sometimes disgusting, but she\u2019s a good companion to Din. We do find out a little more about her at the end of the book, but only in theory. There was a main secondary character, a local named Malo, who was instrumental to the case and who kept Din steady. She had a sense of humor and was a good addition to the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, I\u2019m so glad that NetGalley and Random House reached out to give me an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own and have been given voluntarily. I said it above but I\u2019ll say it again: if RJB wants to make this more than 3 books, I won\u2019t stand in his way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Jackson Bennett (RJB) was introduced to me last year by his pub team and NetGalley. I have eagerly been awaiting his latest installment in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, and it did not disappoint. A Drop of Corruption is another exemplary mysterious fantasy novel.\u00a0Five stars! Dinios (Din) Kol and his master, Ana Dolabra,Continue reading “A Drop of Corruption – Robert Jackson Bennett”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[515,52,490,492,516,491,296,489,493],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-drop-of-corruption","tag-book-review","tag-fantasy","tag-fantasy-mystery","tag-five-star-review","tag-mysterious-fantasy","tag-new-release","tag-robert-jackson-bennett","tag-shadow-of-the-leviathan","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/A-Drop-of-Corruption.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}