Arc Review -- A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett
A Trade of Blood
by Robert Jackson Bennett
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| 4 stars Table of Contents: Thank you to Delray and Netgalley for the copy to be able to review. All thoughts are my own. First thoughts: I missed Ana’s personality so very much. While she is brilliant, her slightly grumpy and sarcastic demeanor just brings the right level of lightness to stories of murder. Otherwise, these somewhat graphic fungal descriptions might be too dark. |
In this third adventure with investigators Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol, a murder most foul has struck two feuding noble families. A dead young woman and a man caught covered in her blood after fleeing the scene. While the case seems clear-cut before Ana even arrives, which makes her very cross from the start, matters quickly grow more complex. What cunning hand manipulated the events that might lead these two high families to war?
Drawn by cartographer David Lindroth
The story takes place in the Third Ring, within the canton of Sapirdad. This is the breadbasket of the entire empire. Specifically, though, the city we are in is a ranching settlement. The two feuding families handle cattle and the crops that those giant cows eat. The lands were described as very flat and fertile. Though I don’t remember many times the book mentioned rain before the end, the streets of the town always seemed to be described as muddy or walking over muck.
Possibly the location with the best description and where you could feel the atmosphere was the Old Forest. This is a section of altered trees grown by the ancient peoples of Khanum. Getting near the trees gives one immense feelings of unease. The Apoths Kol talks to says this is due to the pheromones released by the trees themselves. There are paths, though, to shrines in the forest that pilgrims might take. It only requires wearing a scented face covering for most to be able to take these paths.
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Okay, I’m starting to maybe get a feel for how characters are going to be written in this series. This could just be on me and the way I’m reading it, but it seems that we are never going to get great depth of characters. Sure, we will see through Kol’s eyes, hear his thoughts, and know his mental state. Also, there was a definite bit of character growth in book two. However, it doesn’t feel super deep. It feels like we know his emotions but don’t feel them from him. Hopefully that makes some sense.
Dinios Kol has adapted to his role as Ana’s assistant much better in this outing. From the start of the book, he gives off the long-suffering servant vibes by vaguely agreeing with Ana’s annoyance while trying to nap. This is not to say that he is still in opposition to his job as before, just that he seems to be able to balance the mental load better. However, the “maturation” of his abilities that happens early on here seems to greatly spook him. Kol believes this is just another step closer to the madness that all engravers face. Though as that is still probably decades away, it seems actually a little odd that a youngish person would worry about that as much. Well, he worries about it and then doesn’t think on it again for much of the novel before then worrying about it again.
The final chapters of the book are also more clues about Ana. Kol and another officer find hidden details about the ancient race within the old forest. Then there are cryptic things said by Ana throughout the story. The pieces are all very fascinating.
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The base elements of the case will sound very familiar to certain stories. However, as with each of the cases they take on, there is an element of the bizarre (even in this fungal fantasy world) that quickly makes the story stand on its own.
Two noble families, rivals for land and power in the cattle trade. A strangely improbable murder, with a clear-cut assailant at hand. The how it occurred quickly becomes more important than the who, though. Those loyal to both sides are quickly gearing up to escalate the matter into open conflict. At least that is what the description told us.
At certain points, the beginning and a very specific (but spoiler) part of the story, the workers of each family were disrupted. During the beginning, they were openly willing to clash as the description led us to believe. Then it was pretty much daily life going on. Din mentioned a few times that the drovers and field hands seemed to still be working and relaxing in their off hours as if not surrounded by so much death. Making the threat of warring clans somewhat of a moot point.
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The real meat of the story is, as ever, the investigations. It was interesting that Ana was called in on a seemingly normal case that still turned into one so unique. In this instance, the young killer introduced had no memory of his actions. From there, the oddities only continued to confuse the puzzle.
Similar to how each book takes us to a new location of the Empire, we are also introduced to new wonders of the fungal science used. In this case, it is intertwined with the livestock trade and involves creatures that sound very similar to raccoons (they called them cats, though).
I do wish maybe I had refreshed myself with the last book before diving into this one. However, I believe it has been the case with all of these books that the fungal cause of each murder is determined relatively early. In this, we then follow Kol and Ana as they figure out how it was possible and where the source was located. The who behind it was actually sadly straightforward for the most part.
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*Average Goodreads rating at time of review.
**All quotes shown are from the review copy.
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