Thanks for a good review! When you said that a tree grew out of the murder victim, all I could think was that some evidence clearly was planted 🤣🤣🤣

The way plantlife is woven into the story is pretty cool too.

I appreciate your way of reviewing a book by including what works and what doesn't work (what you wanted more of) with this book - your review creates so much space for individual tastes. I find this very helpful. Cheers :)

Thanks so much for this review it was not on my radar! I will definitely be checking it out

Thanks for the recommendation! Another book that mixed Fantasy with a Murder Mystery is Voyage of the Damned. One of my favorites of this year!

Been a big fan of RJB since The Divine Cities. Can't wait to get around to reading this.

Once again, You gave me a home run. You saved me three years ago after a seven book reading slump with Mask of Mirrors and finally I have finished my first book in 18 months with the Tainted Cup. This is why I appreciate your channel so much, because independent of our opinions and different tastes, I always find something magical through your reviews. Big thank you!

i love this channel so much. my TBR is half just recs from here 🤠

RJB is one of my favorite authors because he’s so imaginative! I think you’d love City of Stairs, based on the way you’ve talked about Godkiller. It has the weird, mysterious magic related to gods, and also a mystery being solved 🙌🏻

I love the way you review books! added this to my TBR

I'm about 70% of the way through The Tainted Cup and it's quickly turning into one of my new favs! Though I definitely understand what you mean by wanting more from the characters. Everything about the book makes me feel greedy for more, lol. Though I understand it'll be the first in a series, so hooray!

LOL. Luna taking all the attention.

Can’t wait to pick this up! Convincing and great review as always

Well said! A really great intro. I'm excited to see what comes next in the series.

AGHHH ive been waiting for this. i started this but had to finish other books so i couldn't fully commit to it so i decided to come back later but ive been wondering what you thought about it! so excited

I loved this book so much that I was sad to finish it. I am hoping for more of Din and Anna and this world.

I loved the Tainted Cup more than Foundryside but I def agree with some of these comments, the story is laid out in a very RJB way and that just works for some and doesn't always hit for others!

It’s on my TBR for the Dewey’s 24 hour readathon this weekend.

I loved this so much more than I thought I would. Ready for the next one.

Am halfway through this one and truly been loving it. Also, the book cover is really beautiful.

Woohoo I’m glad to hear about this book I just recently purchased it over the weekend 😊☕️🕯️📚

The Tainted Cup blew me away, it went straight onto my list of absolute favourite books. I was particularly impressed that both the fantasy and mystery elements were equally focused on and every bit as good as each other.

Luna is very cute. The fluffy tail ❤❤❤ I need to read this book. ❤

Okay, I’ll have to move this up to the top of my TBR

An eminently useful review, much appreciated.

I have just finished it and LOVED it so much! I can’t wait for the next!!

Awesome review and thanks so much Elliot 📚📙📙📚💛💛📖🌸🌸🌈🌈💙💘🦋💐💐💔💔🩵🩵💕💕🌸🌸📙📙💛💜💜📚🌸🌸🌈🌈💐🧡💙💖💖🌈💕💘💘🩷🩷🌸🌈🌈💐💐💐💐💐💕💘💘🩵🩵💚💚💚💚💚

Just finished this book! Just adore it! Can’t wait for the next mystery❤❤❤❤

This is my NEXT READ!!! OMG what timing!

I loved his Founders Trilogy, one of my all-time favorites and I can't wait to read his previous trilogy The Divine Cities.. then I'll go on with this one.

This is my favorite read of the year. I loved everything about this! I cant wait for the 2nd book

This has been on my master TBR and I can't wait to get it. I especially love the naked hardcover. Speaking of the blood of the Leviathan.. it reminds me of the jnin blood in The Stardust Thief, only in that book it's the opposite where the jinn blood makes the otherwise barren desert green and lush.

I just finished it and I didnt think I would enjoy it...but i really did?? It was kinda cozy and i was shocked to be so comfortable reading it lmao

SHOW LUNA BEAR MORE HOW DARE THEE. Also, great analysis as always! Love to hear what you loved and what didn't work for you.

I enjoyed this enough but people on GR comparing it to Knives Out really hampered my expectations because it's nothing like Knives Out in terms of the type of whodunnit detective story Knives Out is. I liked the integration of botany and plants into the story itself but I really didn't care for the wider world, like it just felt like throwing way too many elements in to make this world SEEM more interesting than it actually is and a lot of it just felt out of place when paired with the detective story. I'll still be checking out book 2 when it releases, though; I enjoyed it enough for that.

this book was SOOOO MUCH FUN. i do tend to like mysteries so that part was good for me, but i do agree that it was missing just a little extra thing to make this a 5* read for me, and i gave it 4.5 instead hehe

I love The Tainted Cup! I felt a connection with the character and and the world was amazing and the cover is gorgeous 🌼😊🌈🌈🌈😊🌈💞💛💜💜💜🦋🌺💐💖🌷🩵💘💛🌈🌸🌸💕🧡🧡💔🌺🌺💐💜💜💚💛💛💙💚💜🦋📚📚📙📙📚📚📖📖📖📖📖📚📙📙📙📙📚

I will check it out!

As someone who also enjoys murder mysteries your bug was a feature to me. Since we are in the perspective of the investgator, we should have some distance to the suspects...

This was my first Robert Jackson Bennett and my favourite book of the year so far, partly because it was still fantasy but so different from other things I’ve read

Great Video!

The enhancements and discussion of the longstanding ramifications of them remind me to "The Body Scout" by Lincoln Michel. It is a sci-fi thriller. I would highly recommend!

I haven't read this one yet, but I just wanted to say, I wasn't the biggest fan of Foundryside, but the sequels were really great and very different from the first book. Maybe one day you wanna give it another try. :)

I want to read this so bad! I’ve heard nothing but amazing things!

The City of Stairs trilogy was GREAT, can't wait to get to this one.

I’m currently reading this. Isn’t this just Nero Wolf in fantasy setting? Though it might be interesting to see the slow world building and I wonder if there will be additional “sublimes” be included like Sual from the Wolf series. Wonder also if there will be a “Fritz the Cook” character paralleled.

I'm proud of you reading a book with plants coming out of people 😅😅

I have never heard the concept of not wanting any of the suspects to be the culprit, pretty cool take but i don’t think i’ve read a mystery that made me that invested in the characters

I absolutely am gonna read this

Hey ... We got a Luna look! 🐾🐶👀

This book was a blast. I cannot wait for the sequel

Liked it a lot, if it was a standalone I'd be disappointed but since it's a series I'm okay with leaving a lot of the world building and character development for the rest of the series. Not my favorite book ever, but definitely a 5 star read and the series has potential to be a favorite in the future.

My favourite read of 2024 so far! I loved it 🙂

i like this book.. very interesting world and characters

My mind was blown when I finished this book. Can't recommend it enough.

thank you for comparing it to the foundryside trilogy bc as somebody who just can't seem to get through that 1st book no matter what your vid convinced me to consider giving bennett a second chance here

Really hyped to read it. Just hope there is no romance (not my thing)!

Is Elliot reading The Familiar as well?

NAILED IT - The mystery was muddled and wasn’t engaging

Plot seems to be similar to The Devil and the Dark water

the Tainted Cup was DNF for me. The cover drew me in, but i quickly realized it was not my cup of tea

For me this book was a bit of a confusing read. I liked it but did not feel fully immersed in the story because I had a hard time following what were the roles of the characters in this world. For me personally, if it had a glossary explaining that, it would have been a much better read. I liked the world and the botanical aspect but the official names of their positions in the city really made it harder for me. That being said, I will probably read the next one, maybe........🙃

What's your rating for this book?

So she must be able to see through his eyes?

I was really excited for this book until I heard another BookTuber compare the worldbuilding to Attack on Titan, which isn’t my favorite by a long shot.

If you liked “The Tainted Cup,” you might like “Sky’s End!”

700th like! 🎉

They? multiple personalities?