Blog 2: The tainted cup

Welcome back! I finished the tainted cup yesterday evening and I can't wait to talk about it. I'm just going to say it right away, it was absolutely amazing and I loved every single thing about this book. It was my first time reading a fantasy book that had sci-fi incorporated into it, I have read one other sci-fi a while ago; "This is how you lose the time war" by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar which was very popular on booktok for a while. That was my introduction to sci-fi but I was very intimidated because of the complexity and the fact that I was trying a little too hard to understand all the fictional elements that were very clever but also very complicated. That being my first experience with the genre I was a little skeptical and nervous to start this book because I expected a lot of confusing elements and very incomprehensible magic and politics. The book was so very well written and absolutely genius but not in an overwhelming way. I was into the story within the first two chapters and the author just has you hooked from the very beginning. I didn't necessarily feel very attached to the characters because the book is relatively short and the characters are pretty enigmatic and mysterious, which I thought was so perfectly fitting for the plot itself. We follow this story in Din's pov, it's written and first-person and that was yet another thing that made me love this book. I think it was the best choice the author could've made because of how hard the characters are to interpret. The book has a magic system that evolves around nature and the land were on is surrounded by sea walls that serve to keep leviathans and dangerous plants and contagions out. Within the land there are different walls, the closer t the center of the land, the safer and therefore the more luxurious and expensive. The book starts with Din arriving at his first murder investigation. He is led to the scene of a dead man called Blas who has died in a very tragic way: a tree has exploded from his body. Din is under the service of our second main character Ana Dolabra and she guides him in this investigation. She's a very peculiar character who wears a blindfold most of the time and rarely leaves her cot. She's been executed to the outer parts of the land but Din and Ana are forced to head to Talagray to further investigate the crime. Talagray is a part of the land where the Ana is sure to find the answers to the mystery of how Blas. As they investigate in the death of Blas the discover more and more treachery and as the plottwists keep coming you're just led to doubt every single characters trustworthiness. It was such a fun time but I was also genuinely shocked over and over again. I think that one of the most important aspects to a book that determine my rating is the ending and this book had the absolute best one imaginable. Even during the very last 30 or so pages, the twists and betrayals just kept coming and I really wanted to be able to read more. The best part for me was definitely the fact that the book was very action-packed and fast-paced without being too confusing or intimidating. I would recommend this book to everyone who is familiar with fantasy and wants to get a taste of sci-fi without fully committing to the genre. This book has enough fantasy to feel familiar and enough sci-fi to be introduced to something different and new. It's also a great book for readers who are looking for an action-packed book with relatively short chapters and an easy writing style. Yes, there are quite a lot of characters and you might still need to use a little more brain-energy than with a cozy fantasy or a YA book, but for me it worked just perfectly to drag me out of my slump-ish mood. I obviously couldn't rate this book any lower than 5 stars and I can't wait to check out Robert Jackson Bennett's other works, especially the founders trilogy.

Whats next?

I was going to read "Starling house" by Alix E Harrow next, but I went to the bookstore today and my readers dream came true: I found a not-yet-released book: "The familiar" by Leigh Bardugo! It was also the prettiest edition ever, it had black velvet edges and on the hardback is the print of a scorpion. The inside has a green floral-like print and the spine is also so beautiful. I really didn't think I was going to get it though, it was quite expensive (I mean obviously, it's a hardcover) but my dad took it out of my hand and went to the cashier and then I felt guilty so I payed for it myself and I absolutely don't have any regrets. I started reading in the bookstore already and then I continued in the car and even just the first 22 pages were already SO good. I'm pretty sure that that will be my next review, or it might be "House of salt and sorrows" because I'm also still reading that on my kindle and I really enjoy it as well!

I'll be back soon enough, I hope you enjoyed this review and I definitely hope you pick up The tainted cup!