My Five Word TL:DR Review: My Favourite of the Series

I don’t know how it’s possible for A Trade of Blood to have topped The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption but there we are. Bennett is clearly some sort of mind bending magician because this is without doubt my favourite so far, and given that the previous two were both 5* reads for me how do I even begin to rate this! 6 out of 5 maybe.

Anyway, first things first. If you’re not reading this series yet I implore you to do so. Particularly if you love to read a combination of fantasy and mystery. Also, if you are intending to read this series – and how could you resist after I begged you to do so – then spoilers may be lurking below. I always endeavour to avoid spoilers but lets just be honest, the very fact that this is book number three is already something of a spoiler – in that our two main characters are still alive and kicking that is.

So, from the first book in the series I couldn’t help comparing Ana and Din to Holmes and Watson (although only in the sketchiest of ways), the story and characters totally stand on their own but there is without doubt comparisons with Ana and her eccentricity and sharp wit (Holmes) and Din and his ability to bring lighter elements to the story (Watson), now couple that with a mystery involving two warring clans and star crossed lovers and, well, you had me at ‘hello’ to be honest.

In this story our investigators move to the Third Ring to investigate the murder of a girl from one of the powerful clans whilst she was meeting with the eldest son of her family’s arch rivals. There is a long history of hatred between the two families and so in one respect the death feels like an obvious outcome – except the two were actually lovers. Yet, the evidence against the young man is strong and both families are on the brink of war – a prospect that could cause chaos across the empire.

I won’t go further into the plot. Like the rest of the series there is no shortage of leads to follow and I don’t want to muddy the water or give away spoilers.

What did I love about A Trade of Blood.

The relationship between Ana and Din grows more interesting with each instalment. Din in particular has experienced great character growth which gives the two a much better working partnership, whereas at first it felt very much that Din had to be led he now actively takes part in the investigations and comes across as quietly confident. Ana is as eccentric as ever, I felt like she took more of a backseat in this novel but I didn’t mind too much as she still managed to boss everyone about and parade her crazy eccentricity with gleeful abandon.

I found the mystery itself really gripping and there’s certainly no shortage of action, victims or bloodshed in this particular mystery. I was a bit staggered in fact at just how far things are taken in this instalment, I began to wonder if anyone would make it out alive. Seriously, I actually did start to have that horrible sense of impending doom where you begin to dread that a character you like might meet a grisly end.

I will say that Bennett has a fantastic imagination that he really uses to help bring the world to life and build on the aforementioned instalments. If it’s not cats that dancing to a particular tune and helping to harvest beans then it’s dark and foreboding forests with inner pathways that cannot be accessed without strange alchemy. There are many secrets here and little tidbits that hopefully will continue to bear fruit in future instalments. For example, Din is beginning to experience strange episodes that appear to be expected given his augmentations, it doesn’t bode well that he is experiencing these so early in his career. On top of this we learn something of a race, almost god-like, that are now extinct, huge statues litter the forest and everything seems to point to a huge secret, hidden area. Not to mention, the method of murder – what the actual heck, it’s enough to give me nightmares.

To be honest, each of these mysteries, although all self contained and all taking place within different areas of the empire, help to build on the characters and the world they live in. It’s why I love series like this. Each story brings us a few little nuggets about the characters that makes them feel grounded and relatable (well, I’m not sure Ana is supposed to be relatable, or grounded, to be fair).

Sincerely, I hope that many more episodes are planned for Ana and Din and I highly recommend this series.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 6 of 5 stars (I went there)