A review by tsunni
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Really unique combo of Roman Empire, kaiju, and mystery. Written and paced expertly and easy to get sucked into, even with all the overly complicated Roman names the story keeps throwing at you. I didn't finish Foundryside, and this book had a similar issue for me where I kept wishing it would dive more into who the characters were, but the mystery and world hooked me completely. It’s too bad, as the story keeps dropping hints about Ana and Din’s backgrounds and we get a few glimpses, but the story never has an opportunity to spend more time there. There’s a bit of lgbt rep but it’s barely there and only near the end, which is in line with how much characterization is happening in general; it was nice to see though, but it’s definitely more of a plot driven book. Lots of elements that tread into possible body horror, but light enough that it wasn’t a big deal for me. Had a great climax and ending but left plenty dangling to explore in book two. Super excited to read the next one whenever it comes out.

Honestly I was picking out my next book from a huge backlog after finishing, and realized absolutely nothing was jumping out to me, because I wanted more of The Tainted Cup’s utterly unique world and nothing else was similar. And this was a 2024 release too, so I have a while to wait. Welp!