I never know how Robert Jackson Bennett is going to surprise me but I know I will be surprised and have a lot of fun.
Foundryside is one of my favourite fantasy series, a sort of technofantasy.
This one is a mix of classic Holmes/Watson couple of detective and steampunk. There's an impossibile crime even for a fantasy and I couldn't stop reading and being entralled.
Loved it and hope, can't wait to read the rest of this series
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I’m sorry. But this book just wasn’t for me. I only got about 15-20% through and had to put it down.
I didn’t like the writing, the characters or the world building (or lack of it I should say).

The writing and dialogue is clunky at best. I know with fantasy you need to go in with an open mind and accept the made up words/items/locations/species but this felt like I needed to have the authors notes next to me to refer to what they were talking about. I’ve never had this problem with fantasy before.

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, in this case they are right.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An EASY 5 stars for me!

From the description I wasn’t sure whether I was going to love this (it felt like it could go either way) but boy am I glad I decided to give this a punt!

The world building was quite simply top tier. Complex, developed, unique, and utterly captivating. Likewise the magic system felt really well thought out (no vague all powerful and conveniently ‘random’ distributions of magical power). Characters were similarly well-developed and nuanced - no boring one-dimensional characters here. The plot also had me hooked and while I was able to predict quite a bit there were a couple of twists and turns I didn’t see coming which was a huge win for me!

I feel like I want to put together a longer review but honestly I have nothing else to say - I loved it. It had pretty much everything I look for in a book:
- Interesting and developed world building (including some believable politics)
- Clear and ‘realistic’ magic system
- Nuanced and likeable characters
- An engaging plot
- Good pacing (I feel like the pacing was really well managed actually)
- Well written

There will definitely be some further books in this serious, and I will absolutely be looking out for them as I want more already!
I also hadn’t read anything from Bennett before, but you had better believe I am going to look through the rest of his books because this was genuinely a brilliant read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

This was truly fantastic! Plot, pacing and characters all were top notch with never a dull moment.

The setting and magic system was as unique as it gets, add to it a few cynical characters and a mind boggling mystery and you have got a book which is equal parts entertaining and immersive.

Truly, looking forward to what's next in this series.

This has blown me away in an unexpected way!

Fantasy meets Sherlock. And the best kind of quirky Sherlock!

In "The Tainted Cup," we accompany Din, an assistant investigator with a perfect memory due to magical alterations, as his mentor Ana tackles a mysterious murder that unravels into a larger conspiracy.

Fantasy murder mysteries are a joy, and this one is no exception. The captivating storyline intertwines corruption, treason, and political structures, exploring themes of class, economic oppression, and a unique plant-based magic system. The rising tension keeps you hooked, both in the murder investigation and the evolving world. The ending is satisfying yet leaves room for further exploration.

My first dive into RJB's work, and the praised world-building is evident. The magic system, involving grafts and alterations for diverse skills, is uniquely entwined with a world relying on plant and mushroom-based technology. The seamless integration of magic into society feels realistic.

Characters like Din and Ana are instantly endearing. Their mentor-student dynamic adds intrigue, with Din's perspective allowing surprises and moments of tension. The central cast's collaboration on the investigation creates a cozy, albeit gruesome, atmosphere. The book offers excellent disability representation, particularly for dyslexia, and a subtle touch of romance that even a romance skeptic found cute.

With a blend of mystery, magic, fantasy politics, dark themes, humor, superb writing, and a hint of romance, this book provides a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. I eagerly anticipate the sequel!

I have made an executive decision of making my his one my first five star read of this year. Any book that keeps me up until almost 3AM on a week night more than deserves the status!

The Tainted Cup is an excellent detective mystery novel set in a fantasy immersive world. It is the perfect mix between Attack on Titan with Sherlock Holmes, a combination that I never imagined it would work but it does, brilliantly.

The characterization, world building, and humor made this a unique and entertaining read that kept me hooked until the end. And even beyond, if there was a continuation available right away.

Something that, for me, deserves some relevance: The existence and acceptance of neurodivergence, queerness and/or just being different is flawlessly incorporated. It’s not loud, it’s not too much, it is just there without drawing undue attention to it.

My favorite character, and the one who left me with more open questions, is Ana. She is brilliant, full of mystery and in a society that is unnaturally enhanced, she doesn’t lose track of what it means to be human:

”The person an enhancement is paired with is just as important as what enhancement they get. And we get some say in what kind of person we are, Din. We do not pop out of a mold. We change. We selfassemble."

I’m very curious to how this series will continue. In this book, the murder mystery took a main role while the fantasy side of the story mostly functions as a backdrop of the plot. We only get leviathans from afar. I can’t wait for further development of this world and to see where the main characters end up.

I really liked the concept of this world and how there is a blend of sci-fi elements mixed in with the fantasy murder mystery.

The characters all felt very dynamic and I loved the interaction between the two main characters, Ana and Din. I really appreciated how the relationship was that of an older woman training an apprentice, and how sassy Ana.

My main let down was the pacing. I felt like the middle of the book could have benefited from more plot progression or mini reveals that would lead you on more consistently to the big murderer reveal.

Overall I really enjoyed Bennett’s writing and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes as I think the characters have a lot of potential as well as exploring the world that has been created.

Another excellent book by Robert Jackson Bennett. It's a good and entertaining story with multidimensional characters and cool twists. I enjoyed reading it and appreciate the well-thought-out plot and the author's ability to keep the reader engaged. Worth a shot. Longer review to come.

A decidedly fun read that kept me entertained and engaged throughout. I think naturally when people pick this book up they will describe the Holmesian character of our investigator Ana, and our Watsonesque assistant, Kol. They may also describe the Carroll feeling world-building, Kaiju monsters and on and on. All of these elements were wonderful on their own, the characters and central mystery were very fun to unravel, the world-building was bizarre and seemingly fresh in modern fantasy. Nevertheless, my one major criticism is that all the components of the novel never felt like they fitted together for me until towards the conclusion. Instead, it felt like a list of inspirations and ideas being introduced to me as they are. If I was to describe this book, I would simply do as I did above and list a series of other concepts and creations that feel Frankenstein-monstered together to create the world. However, as I said, this was until towards the conclusion, where as we stayed in this world longer, things became to coagulate and congeal into a homogenous whole. This gives me great hope for the following entries in this series and I believe I will look to continue! Also Robert Jackson Bennett proved himself to be one of the very few authors who can swear in his fantasy books and it feel completely organic and not make me cringe lol, and that is truly one of the best compliments I can give.

Above all else, this book is really good fun. A brilliant fantasy mystery drawing on cyberpunk trappings - a secondary-world Sherlock Holmes with a dash of Neuromancer and The Locked Tomb. Ana and Din owe more than a little to Holmes and Watson, but Bennett takes a long list of influences (in the acknowledgements, Nero Wolfe and Hannibal Lecter are also cited) and works them into something which feels fresh. There’s a lot of humour to be found even among the despair of a civilisation constantly on the brink of utter destruction, and hope amid the onslaught of the leviathans which threaten the empire and its people. This first book of a trilogy wraps up its central mystery while setting the stage for more.

As soon as I finished this book, I wanted to start it all over again. That’s how much I loved “The Tainted Cup”. This is how you write a mystery-fantasy. The genres are mixed perfectly, there’s no too much mystery or too much fantasy.

A mix between Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Attack on Titan, in a dystopian world where leviathans are threatening the Empire’s peace, a duo of great detectives are trying to figure it out who killed a high imperial officer and the way they did it is the strangest of them all - with a tree erupted from his body.

That’s it. That’s the plot. Now read it again and tell me you’re not curious about this book. How can you not be?

Ana Dolabra is a brilliant and quirky detective. Very excentric, smart with a plain-speaking style and unusual methods. It’s very very hard to not love her immediately. She has a blindfold over her eyes almost all the time and she doesn’t need to be out of her house to solve her cases. She is very well constructed, very sarcastic and foul-mouthed, and she may be the only one who can solve this case and what is hidden behind it.

“-Now that I think about it, Din, I just might be going a little fucking mad in here.
-Very sorry to heard that, ma’am.”

Her assistant, Dinios Kol, is an engraver - he has perfect memory. He is very good at observing people and actions and he can remember ANYTHING. The duo is perfect and the characters are made for each other. We don’t know a lot of things about them, but I am sure that the author will explore more of their pasts in the future books.

“I reminded myself to hold my head high, to keep my expression scowling and stoic, like a real assistant investigator might. Then I had to remind myself that I was a real assistant investigator, damn it all.”

What I loved the most in “The Tainted Cup” was their relationship. I loved how well the complete each other and how well Ana knows Din. Their banter was amazing and funny, and even if she’s the boss, Ana never acts mean or superior towards him. I liked how she always asked for his opinion and how she always listened to him.

“Din, I am blindfolded, so if you’ve nodded you head, I’ve no fucking idea.”

They are some of the best characters I’ve ever read about. I love how the author showed the difference between their ages without making Ana look and sound old. She’s wiser than Din, but that doesn’t mean that she steals his winnings. I have a lot of thoughts about them, but I think it’s best to let you discover by yourself.

“-It pains me to say that it’s all far more tolerable when you’re around. You’re so grim and so serious and so full, Din, that you keep me very grounded.
-I will attempt to take that as a compliment, ma’am.”

The plot of the book is very complex, the story being more plot-development that character. The pacing is well-done, with great mysteroes, great twists and discoveries. The writing is easy to read, short chapters and great descriptions of the world, the story is very engaging, with puzzles and hints everywhere. And Ana seeing them all.

The book is definitely high-fantasy, but if you love fantasy AND mystery novels, this is perfect for you. My expectations were met and exceeded, with a lot of political intrigue and strange characters. I won’t even try to tell you about the flora and fauna in this book, because it’s just so interesting. I was reading and I couldn’t stop thinking how much I love it. The worldbuilding is very “Attack on Titan” inspired, which helped me a lot because I just started watching it! So it was easy to imagine the high walls and the cities and the houses inside those walls.

“What was the point of fetching food or fixing up your house of caring for your family when a titan could break through the walls and kill you and a thousand other like you in a matter of hours? What was the point of doing anything, really?”

It’s an unique adventure and book, and I was sad to see it end. I preordered the book immediately and I’m thinking of rereading it because that’s how much I loved it. I mentioned in the beginning of my review something about leviathans, creatures you don’t meet often enough in books. These are the Titans you meet in the story that are a threat to the Empire and its people. Although we don’t see Titans in action, only once or twice, I’m very curious about them, especially about something in particular. At the moment, they are a background plot and I’m sure we will meet them again in the sequel.

The ending left me with a lot of questions, but in a good way. I loved how everything about the murders turned out, but the story does not end there. More mysteries about the Empire and its people will come out and Ana, together with Din, will figure them out.

“The Empire is the people next to you, and before you. Bodies in boots on the wall, taking up posts served by the ancients. We are the fulcrum on which the rest of the Empire pivots. And we are all made equal and common in that service, and before its long history. Though perhaps I’m being sentimental.”

I had a lot of fun reading this one and I’m very glad I received an arc. I can’t wait to own the book as well, because the covers are just great. I chose the UK edition, because there’s a small Ana and Din with his hat on the cover, and I love them so so much.

Effectivement je n’ai pas encore terminé la trilogie des Maîtres enlumineurs, mais que voulez-vous ? L’attrait de la nouveauté, le train de la hype, ou alors c’est peut-être parce que j’ai demandé le SP sur Netgalley et qu’on me l’a envoyé ? Nous sommes de petits êtres faibles, nous les blogueurs. Voilà donc mon humble avis sur The tainted cup, le nouveau roman de Robert Jackson Bennett à sortir en VO le 6 Février.

Quand un officier est retrouvé mort avec un arbre qui a poussé de l’intérieur de son corps, on va faire appel à Ana Dolabra, une brillante et excentrique enquêtrice, pour découvrir ce qui s’est passé. Mais ce sera aussi la première enquête de cette envergure pour Dinios Kol, le nouvel assistant d’Ana qui a des pouvoirs d’ « engraver », sa mémoire parfaite peut retenir tous les détails d’une scène de crime, chaque phrase d’un témoignage ou chaque son entendu à un moment donné. Ensemble ils vont creuser de plus en plus cette affaire et mettre à jour un complot mettant en danger la sécurité de tout l’empire.

Comme promis dans les présentations du bouquin, on a là un roman policier qui s’inspire en partie de Sherlock Holmes, avec cette enquêtrice de génie, asociale, qui se permet des excentricités et s’amuse à déstabiliser son petit monde à chaque phrase. Son Watson est donc notre Dinios, qui sera le point de vue suivi par les lecteurices ici, assez récemment employé pour assister Ana et même encore un peu stagiaire sur les bords. Ce duo fonctionne évidemment très très bien et nous permet de suivre cette enquête pleines de révélations, de dangers et de rebondissements. Parce que l’aspect policier fonctionne extrêmement bien, le dosage des révélations et le rythme de l’enquête sont parfaits, on avance, on trouve des indices, on déduit, on récapitule, on s’adapte et on survit. C’est logique et naturel, on suit ça avec grand plaisir, l’auteur a bien bossé ses classiques et livre une partition exquise dans un genre pourtant casse-gueule. Il s’amuse à empiler des mystères les uns sur les autres dans une histoire à tiroirs avec des multiples mystères, de multiples coupables et des déductions improbables qui se tiennent pourtant.

Mais bien sûr ce bon Robert ne s’est pas arrêté là ! Parce que pour enrober tout ça nous avons un monde de fantasy extrêmement bien construit avec un empire qui se protège derrière plusieurs grandes murailles. Se protège de quoi ? Des léviathans immenses qui tentent régulièrement de percer les défenses humaines pour tout dévaster. Toute la société est construite pour résister à ces attaques, les ingénieurs et les « apothicaires » sont super importants dans ce petit monde. Niveau ambiance, on est aussi dans le dépaysement avec une atmosphère tropicale, on entre dans la saison des moussons au début de notre aventure, il y a une importance certaine des plantes et des champignons dans toutes les composantes de la société, les éclairages, les bâtiments, etc… On sent un univers pensé entièrement sur des piliers différents du notre, et ça se ressent dans plein de détails.

L’auteur utilise aussi ces éléments organiques pour nous proposer (encore) une variation fantasy de certains archétypes de cyberpunk puisque beaucoup de personnages, dont Din, sont « augmentés » par des procédés non technologiques, avec des substances, des parasites ou des spores qui boostent la force, la mémoire, l’odorat, etc… Tout cet univers est cohérent, inventif, dépaysant, et enrichit l’aspect policier autant que ce dernier l’enrichit. Ce n’est pas juste un décor pour mettre en scène un banal crime passionnel au milieu des champignons et des léviathans, non, tout est lié, l’enquête va mettre en valeur le worldbuilding et le worldbuilding va nourrir l’enquête pour nous emmener loin dans le délire de Robert jackson Bennett, et c’est un vrai régal.

J’ai adoré The tainted cup, j’ai suivi une enquête passionnante pleine de surprises et de dangers, je me suis attaché à ces personnages savoureux et hors-normes, à cette ambiance étrange et mystérieuse, à cet univers constamment au bord du gouffre. J’ai déjà hâte de découvrir la suite, et croisons les doigts pour qu’AMI soit déjà sur le coup pour une VF (même si l’année sera déjà chargée en Robert avec Les cités divines).

A fun murder mystery uncovering a series of murders. These murders are the central point of the plot. Following Din and Ana along was exciting, especially the character of Din. His view was enjoyable to read through. I enjoyed the uncovering of the main plot of the several murders and how they all linked together at the end. The Imperial overarching worldbuilding was great. Din and Ana's interactions were stellar and comedic. Some noteworthy characters were Miljin and Uhad. The last minute romance was sweet and only somewhat unexpected as a little clue had been given prior.

However, despite these points, I found the writing to be dry and overall this novel was longer than necessary in my opinion. This aspect lessened some of the enjoyment, while the concept and some elements were intriguing, it was a little dull at times. This may be due to me not being familiar with the writing and craft as it is the first novel I have read of this author.

Nevertheless, I am tentatively looking forward to reading Din and Ana's next adventures. 3.75⭐

A Sherlock Holmes style mystery set in an empire under siege full of magic, deceit and murder. A unique and engrossing take on a classic crime story. I've never read Robert Jackson Bennett before but I'll definitely be picking up his backlist now.

I’m not sure that Robert Jackson Bennett has it within him to write a bad book. This, the start to his next series, does not disprove this hypothesis. In fact, it fully confirms it for me. I just might say that The Tainted Cup is my favourite yet, but that might well just be recency bias. Either way, it’s already made its way onto my best of 2024 list.

One thing that stands out for me about Bennett’s books is just how creative his fantasy worlds are. I don’t think there are many, if any, current fantasy authors who are doing it like he is. In The Tainted Cup, we have a Pacific Rim-type world, where an Empire is constantly under threat of attack by giant titans which come from the sea. Mix in a little murder mystery, some political machinations, and a genius (albeit incredibly frustrating) detective, and that gives you this book.

I have, in other reviews, said that I don’t often like the genius detective trope, where our genius detective oh so geniusly uncovers the truth (like a genius) because of some deductive leaps they’ve made that the reader has no chance of following because aspects of the mystery are not shared. I think where Bennett has succeeded in this is firstly that any deductive leaps that Ana makes are not out of the realms of possibility for the reader to guess. And secondly, that she’s so utterly exasperating for everyone around her that you can tell, even though she is a genius, she’s not being fawned over for it. And, a lot of the time, she delights in being difficult and annoying! Which, frankly, is just a lot of fun.

But Ana is not the protagonist of this book: that title goes to Dinios Kol, a character who it took only mere pages for me to fall in love with. I think Din might be my favourite of all of Bennett’s protagonists (again, this could be recency bias. Maybe I need a reread to ascertain the truth…). Din has, he believes, somewhat duped his way into Ana’s employ because of (redacted secrets here) and the story is not only a murder mystery, but also a balancing act for him, trying to hide the truth from Ana. Their dynamic too is very fun and I can only look forward to more of it in the next books.

What elevated this book for me, though, I have to say was the sheer anticipation of what Bennett can do expanding this world. This feeling is, I think, based on his previous works, where he lets you think you have a handle on everything and then blows it all up in your face with a sudden reveal. Everything you thought you knew turned out to be wrong. And The Tainted Cup, as a series opener, gives tantalising hints of what’s to come on that front.

So if you start any new series this year, let it be this one. You won’t be disappointed.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In The Tainted Cup we follow Din, an assistant investigator who is magically altered to have a perfect memory, as his mentor Ana is called to solve a mysterious murder, which they soon realize is but a part of a much bigger conspiracy.

Whodunnit type murder mysteries in fantasy settings are so much fun, and this one is no exception. The mystery itself is so intriguing and thrilling all the way through, as Ana and Din discover all sorts of corruption and treason, and it's very tightly woven with the political structures of the world, with themes of class and economic oppression, as well as the magic system based on plants and people biologically altered to have different skills and superpowers. The building tension towards the end, both within the murder investigation and in the world around them, made this book impossible to put down from beginning to end. I loved the ending, as well, it wraps up the plot of this first installment so satisfyingly, while also very clearly leaving more to discover within this world.

This is my first RJB book, but I've heard great things about his world building, and after reading The Tainted Cup, I'm bound to agree. The magic system, with grafts and alterations used to create people with all sorts of different skills, like super strong warriors, language and math geniuses, or Din with his perfect memory, is so cool and so unique, and ties nicely in with a world where all technology is based on plants and mushrooms. I also love how the magic and world building is present through all aspects of society in a way that feels very realistic.

As for the characters, I got really attached to both Din and Ana immediately. Din is as wonderfully normal as Ana is wonderfully eccentric, and they make for the perfect pair of mentor and side-kick. I also enjoyed that we're following Din's perspective, as it left room for intrigue and surprise around him not always knowing what Ana has already figured out, and also because he, as the assistant, gets in a lot more trouble. Aside from these two, there's also a central cast of people of different expertise working on the investigation, which was cozy, in a way, even though their work is quite gruesome. There's also excellent disability rep, especially for dyslexia, and just a smidge of romance. Not even enough to call it a romance subplot, because there's not really any plot, but it is really cute. And that's coming from me as an avid disliker of romance.

Overall, this book has everything: mystery and magic and fantasy politics, dark themes but also a bit of humour, great writing, lots of tension, and a little romance. Literally what more could you possibly ask for. It's been such a fun reading experience, and I can't wait for the sequel!

Two things to start with: the first is that this author wrote one of my all-time favourite fantasy trilogies (Divine Cities), so I was always going to be happy to try this book out, and the second that I'm always up for a good fantasy/detective story if I can find one. It's been a couple of weeks since I finished reading The Tainted Cup, so it's had time to percolate and I find myself dropping my initial 4* rating to closer to 3* (it would probably be 3 and a half, if GR allowed).

The basic premise of the book is that our main character (Dinios Kol) is a medically-altered individual whose job it is to go to crime scenes and literally remember every detail about them and every word spoken by a witness. He's newly assigned to an eccentric investigator (Ana Dolabra) who mostly refuses to visit the crime scenes herself - when the author in his postscript mentions Nero Wolfe, my brain went 'of course!' as it does have shades of Wolfe sitting in his office and sending Archie Goodwin off to do stuff and find people. The latest crime involves a man who has been horribly killed by a similarly-altered plant erupting from his body which is, as Din and Ana are about to find out, only one of a number of similar murders.

This is all set against the backdrop of a world where gigantic monsters regularly threaten the sea walls and those same monsters are also the source of much of that world's technology and development. There's also a solid political storyline running through here, with Ana herself being sent to an obscure town as an apparent punishment for overstepping in a previous case and a powerful family attempting to interfere in the investigation.

All in all, I enjoyed The Tainted Cup and look forward to seeing where else this series goes, but it doesn't currently have quite the impact on me of this author's earlier series. Another review I read complained about the romance sub-plot and I have to be honest, I thought it was quite sweet and low-key, especially in comparison to some of the instalove that often pops up in genre books.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

I was drawn to the Tainted Cup with the allure of ‘Sherlock Holmes fantasy’, and I think that is a perfect description for this novel. The dynamic between the brilliant but flawed Ana Dolabra and her new understudy Dinios Kol absolutely matches the Holmes and Watson relationship. In the first few chapters, you learn that Ana seems to struggle with sensory overload, and so relies on Dinios to visit crime scenes, interview witnesses, and report all information back to her. Dinios is an engraver; a person with a grafted alteration to allow him to remember every detail they see and hear. Ana can quiz Dinios about minor crime scene details in her own time (eg. was this window ajar? What hand did the witness wear her watch on? How many paces wide was the bedroom?) and make connections that no one else had thought to make. Aside from being a formidable crime-solving duo, this is an excellent method of displaying a neurodivergent character in a natural way, celebrating their strengths rather than focusing on them overcoming their weaknesses.

When a recent case transpires to be part of a much wider plot against the empire, the story turns into a mystery on a much grander scale, while maintaining that classic Sherlock feel; Ana is always several steps ahead of the rest of the cast and the reader, and I found the revelations of what she’s pieced together and what she’s known all along (without thinking to tell anyone else) to be well crafted and often very funny!

Make no mistake though – this isn’t just a murder mystery wearing a ‘fantasy’ hat. The world created in the Tainted Cup is absolutely fascinating! The world map at the start shows a land with an unusual East/West focus, with the richer members of society wanting to live as far inland as possible, away from the deadly Eastern Seas. Similar to Attack on Titan, huge defensive walls protect the empire from the colossal titans that are dredged up from the ocean depths and hurled at the walls every Wet season. The world features a ton of corrupt politics, and classist prejudice based on how many walls you can afford to live behind. The descriptions of the titans are awe-inspiring, and this factor alone wants me to revisit the world in future books. The altered individuals known as Sublimes is another interesting factor at play in the world – though I didn’t feel this was as well fleshed out as it could have been, the idea has plenty of potential. I want to hear more about how people live with these life-altering changes outside the context of a murder mystery.

This is a fantastic and engaging first novel in what I’m hoping will be a long and successful series, and I’m eagerly waiting for more instalments!

This is my new obsession and personality, I need more books in this series YESTERDAY.

This book has:
- absolutely unique biopunk world where people fight mostly with blades and cannons, but they use complicated piping systems for baths and fungi for air-conditioning;
- an empire with a strict governing system divided among various departments, that is separated from the sea by an enormous wall, which guards it from gigantic leviathans coming out of the deep (strong Attack on Titan vibes this one!);
- society where people can undergo physical procedures that improve their strength, dexterity, memory, sensitivity etc.
- wonderfully rich and well-paced plot that would be enough for at least three different books;
- complex and witty murder mystery, that evolves into something MORE;
- brilliant Sherlock & Watson duo, whose relationship is engaging and entertaining.

This book doesn't have: FLAWS.
Seriously, it ticks all of my boxes. I loved it.