Continuing in the vein of the previous book, Ana Dolabra, the Empire’s most brilliant and mercurial detective, and her bemused assistant Dinios Kol, must solve a locked door mystery. This time it’s in the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach. However, what Ana and Din first believe to be an abduction turns out to be a murder, one with no discernible method or motive.
Until they realize that this crime may be geared towards bringing down the Shroud, where the Empire harvest the fallen Titans for the benefits their volatile blood may bring. An attack on the Shroud would cause the entire government, no the entire country, to a halt. But as the mystery deepens, and their opponent seems to anticipate every one of Ana’s moves, Din worries that his superior has finally met her match.
“It is good to place oneself before the vast expanse of this world,” said Ana. “The ocean cannot tell the difference between a rich man and a poor one, nor one full of happiness, nor despair. To those waves, all are so terribly small.”
It’s fantastic that there’s going to be a third book in this series, because I did not want this to be the last I read of either Ana or Din. (Though to be honest, mostly Ana; I need more feral goblins like her in my literature.) Ana is even weirder in this book than she was in The Tainted Cup and Din is even more long-suffering, and I am here for it! I like how Yarrow culture seems to be heavily inspired by the Ainu people of Northern Japan. The mystery of Ana and who (or what) she is was a fascinating path to start going down. (Though, really Din, it took until the grand villainous monologue for you to connect what the Augurs were talking about? This is why Ana is the investigator and you’re the walking tape recorder.) I hope that Malo maybe has a cameo in the next book; she’s exactly the kind of no-nonsense salt-of-the-earth person Din needs to to bounce off of. The mystery at the heart of the book was engaging, even when the identity of the culprit became obvious. (Or maybe I’ve just read too many books, mysteries especially.) Interesting that in both books Din gets shoved against his will into going places he really shouldn’t be and seeing things he really shouldn’t see, mostly for Ana’s curiosity. I love how Ana basically all but admits she’s going to keep him as her assistant, come hook or by crook. There is definitely severe body horror in this book; if Jackson Bennett ever wanted a graphic novel of this series, may I suggest Junji Ito? My absolute favorite line in the entire book has, hands down, got to be:
“A fucking note! I feel we needn’t bother looking at faces to find this man, Din! Just keep an eye out for the fellow with testicles large enough to cause back deformities, and we should have our culprit!”
The Author’s note is also not to be missed; not only does it have a Terry Pratchett reference (always a plus in my book), but it has one of the greatest condemnations of Game of Thrones without ever mentioning Game of Thrones by name. I do wonder when exactly the no body hair= data-obsessed, analytical, scientific minds, because I just kept thinking of certain characters as the engineers from Prometheus in Japanese-inspired clothing.
If you enjoyed the first book, I would definitely recommend this one. Especially as Ana has all the enthusiasm for the motive behind the murder as Animal does in The Muppet Family Christmas when he discovers it’s Miss Piggy on the phone.
