My mind has been firmly in the territory of thinking about the Hugos lately. Between working on my SECRET PROJECT ahead of Ed going to Seattle Worldcon in August and our Road to the Hugos articles, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes something a “Hugo Awards” book and what doesn’t. I’ve also been thinking about what it means that some authors/series are perennially nominated for the award while others aren’t. I’m well aware that these are musings that puzzle people who have a far better understanding of the science fiction and fantasy publishing business than I and I have no real expectation that I’ll figure it out. However, I think (or at least I hope) that I have recognized a series for being one of those that each of its end up being nominated and that’s Robert Jackson Bennett’s Ana and Din/Shadow of the Leviathan mystery series. And this is me wagering way ahead of time that I think that A Drop of Corruption will be nominated for a Hugo next year.
A Drop of Corruption is probably my favorite release so far this year and that’s no small feat. This year has the final book in Gareth Hanrahan’s Lands of the Firstborn trilogy (The Sword Triumphant) and a new John Connolly book (The Children of Eve) and this book somehow is still in first place so far this year.1 I think the most remarkable thing about this book is that it somehow both tops its predecessor while also making me want to immediately reread that predecessor as well. I finished A Drop of Corruption and then immediately reread The Tainted Cup and did another read through of this one. I can’t remember the last time that a book made me want to do that.2
The general premise of A Drop of Corruption is that Din and Ana are called to Yarrowdale to figure out the mysterious murder of a Treasury officer whose body was found in a river and the murder scene was in his locked room in a tower that was under heavy guard. We are immediately faced with a bunch of questions such as: how did the killer get in and out of the room, how did the body get out, why was the man murdered, etc.?
In my Road to the Hugos review of The Tainted Cup, I talk about how Robert Jackson Bennett threaded the tricky line of creating both an excellent detective novel and an excellent fantasy novel. If you haven’t read that article, you can read it here. I think this book might be even better in terms of how it merged those two genres. The locked room mystery is a staple of detective fiction and it makes perfect sense that would be a territory that Bennett would want to tackle. However, it’s also one of the most easily critiqueable subsets of the mystery genre and one that many authors wait five or ten installments to tackle. I think Bennett made the right decision though and this is a stellar example of that trope and the twists and turns that lead to the solution don’t ever miss their mark.
I also think that this is a stellar fantasy novel and it’s for reasons that the author lays out in his author’s note. I don’t want to spoil what Bennett is trying to say with this book but A Drop of Corruption does interesting things with some significant epic fantasy tropes and both attempts to deconstruct and reconstruct those tropes in interesting ways. This book also adds a really interesting horror vibe to the series that I expect will be used to great effect in future installments of this series. He’s not afraid to show us some of the most monstrous implications of the world he’s crafting and through those moments the stakes are raised even higher.
In my prior review, I also talked a little about how both Ana and Din are wonderfully written and Bennett continues that here. Din and Ana are the best fantasy versions of Archie/Nero Wolfe imaginable and it’s a joy to spend time with them again. This book adds interesting layers to both characters. We get a better understanding what’s led Din to this moment and why he’s found himself working under Ana. Ana, on the other hand, continues to be a mystery wrapped in an enigma and despite the answers we are given in this installment we also get a lot more mysteries. The biggest joy is that we also see the deepening of their relationship. Despite Ana’s, let’s say aloofness, we get to see in this book that she really does appreciate Din and wants what’s best for him. This is made evident by the events of the book’s climax and I forward to see the ways in which their relationship deepens further in future books.
As important as heroes are in detective fiction the villains are equally, if not even more, important. This book’s antagonist is a fascinating one and is a perfect match for Din and Ana. Ana’s strengths lie in her analytical ability and this villain is almost her match in terms of the sheer preparation they put behind the crimes in this book. This character is certainly not the Moriarty or Zeck to Ana’s Sherlock/Nero Wolfe but if they were, I would be excited to see them return.
As I said, I think this book is a shoe-in for a nomination next year for the Hugo. What I’m more interested in is whether it will get Bennett his second Edgar nomination, one of the top awards in detective fiction. The Tainted Cup got a nomination and I feel that A Drop of Corruption is an even better example of the mystery genre so I think it has a chance. If you’ve never read an RJB book you should definitely start with The Tainted Cup but I think A Drop of Corruption will be the book that will solidify you into a fan of his work. This book is a masterpiece and I highly recommend it for everyone looking for either a good mystery novel or a good fantasy novel.
I promise reviews for both of these books are on the way but Gnome/Penguin Wedding and upcoming honeymoon has essentially pushed everything back.
After consulting my notes, I think it might be last year I read The Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell and then immediately went back and read Crucible of Chaos again and then reread The Play of Shadows. So not as long as I thought but still good company.