The Tainted Cup

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

I made this entire series to write this review. The 2024 Hugo Winner is a Holmes and Watson style whodunnit taking place in a fantasy world that blends Area X from the Southern Reach Trilogy and The Lost World–more on the setting later.

There are quite a few “problems” with this book: the mystery bits are transparent, the side characters don’t really jump off the page, and the villains are weak. It’s similar to my review of The Blade Itself in those regards.

But my god there are elements in this book that are sublime. The pacing is the best I’ve experienced in a long time; it never overstays its welcome nor does it rush through important moments. Din, our main character, is wonderful and undergoes a magnificent arc including one of the best executed love side stories I’ve read in awhile. I don’t usually put much weight into setting outside of its impact to the story at hand but I adored this world. It was unique and vivid in ways I haven’t experienced in quite some time. There are so many little vignettes I would like to see from this setting, and I’m hoping we get to do more exploration as the series progresses.

All of that aside, this book knew exactly what it wanted to say and then threw haymaker after haymaker in an assault that would impress Ali. The themes are all nuanced, relevant, and bold. Top to bottom this book is so much fun, so engaging, and so well executed. Its sequel is my most anticipated book of 2026 and I am excited that I don’t have to wait long for it (though I promised my wife I would whittle down the TBR shelf before my next order). Alas, some of those weaknesses prevent it from rising higher, but I would not be surprised to see the next series entry shoot up the ranks.

Final Grade (all out of ten):

Plot: 7

Characters: 7

Conflict: 7

Theme: 9

Setting: 9

Prose: 8

Tone: 10

Quality: 9

Impact: 7

Enjoyment: 9

Overall: 82/100

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A/N:

Over the next ten days I’ll be releasing full reviews of my top ten books of 2025. From there, I plan on publishing a weekly book review. I’m hoping this is a way to keep me reading regularly and academically.

A quick note on my grading philosophy which I formed listening to a few movie critics. I believe that a 7 in any of the categories above constitutes “Good”. Anything above that is something that is above and beyond in any one particular category. I believe this creates a more nuanced evaluation of any Story. Very, very rarely do I give scores above 90 (8 since I started grading books back in 2022). Consider anything a 70 or above the equivalent of 5 stars. You may note that some entries are tied. The tiebreakers are the higher individual score in Enjoyment, then Impact, then Quality, then back up to Plot and descending from there.

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