I was very happy to return to by favourite crazy investigator couple and I was not disappointed.

I will never not love the banter between Din and Ana and this time his sister on top. I loved how she roasted him first and ended up being fully invested. And nice to see how she without her modifications still was clever and cunning which gave me quite the idea how Din would have been if he wasn’t modified.

Obviously as always in those series I never ever had a single clue what was going on and ate through this book. It was not a rare occasion that my mouth dropped and I never expected the ending.

And I am absolutely here for the option of a fourth book! Count me in.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC!

A murder that takes Ana and Din to the place where 2 powerful families of Khanum compete with each other in intelligence, wealth, society and hold feud against each other for decades. When an heir from one family murders an heiress from another, an outbreak of civil war is inevitable unless Din and Ana do something about it. The more they investigate, the more they get closer to the web of deaths that appear to be simple but have been instigated brilliantly by someone. And getting to the origin of it all will open up long erased conspiracies that could affect the whole kingdom. This story also takes a little closer to Ana (iykyk).

Yet another 5 star read! The writing was amazing with a brilliant plotline, ever intriguing story, beautiful execution all in all wrapped up with a neat bow on top. No plot holes, great character development, insights into Ana and Din's personal lives and the world building getting grander and grander with each book. According to the Author's end note, Din and Ana's adventure will continue throughout Khanum.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

Rating: 5/5

Where to begin with this utterly enthralling mystery, and my favourite read of the year thus far? Having read several of Bennett's other series and the first two instalments of Ana and Din's escapades, I certainly had my expectations set high, but once again was struck by how original and thrilling Bennett's writing is. A Trade of Blood may well even be my favourite instalment of this series to date, which is no small claim given the calibre this series has consistently maintained across every book that came before it! This truly is fantasy at its most accomplished, and I devoured it the way you devour something you know you'll wish had lasted longer, carving out moments to read wherever I could rather than waiting for a proper sitting, because putting it down for any real stretch of time simply wasn't an option once I'd begun.

The plot, needless to say, like the two previous books was relentless, filled with twist after twist, never once letting me settle into complacency about where the story was headed. It isn't often that I find myself reading fantasy with no idea where the story is headed, but this was impossible to predict, and all the greater for it. The characters are insightful and deeply nuanced, the prose itself flowing and engaging.... and not to mention the incredible world building and originality of the setting built, both brilliant and haunting.

Truly, Robert Jackson Bennett remains, to my mind, one of the most inventive and original voices currently working in fantasy, and it was a genuine privilege to receive this ARC. Ana and Din have become two of the characters I most look forward to returning to, and I am already impatient for whatever mystery next finds them!

Another thrilling adventure awaits with our favourite detective duo, Ana and Din. In the third instalment of the series, a grisly murder between two prestigious landed families draws them into uncharted territory, where long-forgotten gods linger and hostile forests guard old secrets. As a neurofungus threatens to claim minds and blood within the Third Inner Ring, more layers of the Khanum Empire begin to peel away, revealing something increasingly sinister beneath its surface.

Bennett is spectacular at exposing the depths of humanity's hunger for status and wealth, and the ease with which people surrender themselves to the basest cruelties in pursuit of both. Alongside the central mystery, Din is reunited with an unexpected family member, while Ana grows delightfully eccentric—a combination that makes this duo as compelling as ever.

Ana and Din race against time to uncover the truth behind the beast haunting the Canton of Sapirdad, only to find that some horrors are older than memory. This is by far the most gruesome in the series, but Bennett balances the macabre with a masterful exploration of grief and greed in hand, delivering a fantastic mystery that I couldn't stop reading!

I'd absolutely love for more adventures with Ana and Din, please let there be more!

If you've read the previous two books (if not honestly what are you doing with your life) I'd say this is closer in style to The Tainted Cup. A Drop of Corruption took a political intrigue turn, but A Trade Of Blood returns to the good old complex murder mystery setting. Dare I say I maybe love it more than The Tainted Cup.

I won't bother with repeating the synopsis, I'll only say that Ana and Din embark on an investigation that looks like a basic murder but ends up far more complex!

If you love the character of Ana then you'll be happy that (at least she seems to me) to feature more heavily in this book than the previous. We still have Din going off on his own to do the fieldwork, but she's definitely a lot more involved.

Din himself has a bit of a tough time this book, and is still the fantastic character that he is.

As a pairing I really hope there are more books about them. Partly because there is still more we need to learn about the characters and the world, with information slowly drip fed through each book, and partly because they make for such an enjoyable time!

I'm not sure I've read a non-romantic pairing that I've enjoyed as much as these two in a long time. Their banter is unparalleled.

If you enjoyed the previous books in the series, you'll have the best time. If you haven't picked this series up yet, well you really should!

So I begged for this book knowing it would be amazing, and I was right.

The third book (and please please please not the last) in the Shadow of the Leviathan series sees Ana Dolabra and Dinios Kol once again setting out to solve another absolutely insane murder. This time the heir to one of the most powerful families in the Empire has been accused of murdering the daughter of another. His guilt looks fairly conclusive. Or is it?!

Robert Jackson Bennett is clearly a genius/mad man. The world that he has built is so unique and weighty it feels like there is still so much to uncover. Stripping away the excellent fantasy elements these books are, at their hearts, mysteries. And damn good ones at that. Dolabra and Kol may be my favourite detective/sidekick duo pairing. She is brilliant, foul mouthed and crazy and he is brilliant, brooding and beleaguered. The side characters aren’t lacking either and I hope I see more of some of the new characters in future (oh god let there be future) books.

The story kept up a pace like a gallop, the twists were twisting, the ending was brutal and I was cheering one minute and horrified the next.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book. Just do yourself a favour and read it.

A Trade Of Blood is another fine entry in the collection of Ana and Din mysteries, a series that has become a firm favourite over the last few years. Similar to A Drop Of Corruption, this book presents a new case in a different part of the empire, and expands a little bit of wider lore in the process of solving the mystery. I felt the world-building was a little more small scale in this book and a bit more isolated from the wider world, but there are bits of intrigue on the history of Khanum scattered throughout.

Compared to the earlier books, Trade Of Blood has a very unpredictable plot, with lots of surprises I didn't see coming. The pacing of this mystery felt a little different and more reactionary in nature; It didn't seem like Ana and Din were in control of the investigation, as stuff was happening too quickly to move the plot along before clues could be connected together. It's also the first Ana and Din mystery where I worked out the culprit, though admittedly we were far into the novel at that point - I wouldn't have guessed at all from the initial setup! As with the previous installments, the murder scenario itself ties into the worldbuilding seamlessly; this isn’t just a murder mystery with a fantasy aesthetic, and the plot makes direct use of the quirks and features of the world.

I’m wondering what the plan is with this series going forward. On one hand, I’ve been really enjoying dropping back into this world for each instalment, and the mysteries have gained a familiar rhythm and tempo to them. However, I’d love to see a wider underlying plot woven into the stories. Trade Of Blood does manage some good character development for Din and Ana that I won’t describe for fear of spoilers, and it's nice to see some progression in this duo’s relationship. I’m wondering if some of these moments in the book are intended for just a little development, or sowing the seeds for something larger down the road.

Absolutely phenomenal! Probably my favourite book in the series so far.
An amazing story with a finely crafted murder at the core. We learn so much more - about the world, especially about agriculture, but also about the history and evolution of things. We learn more about Din and Ana, and the burdens they carry.
It’s a strange world of augmentation and science, for both the people and the environment. And yet there are many parallels between that world and ours. Progress is a strange concept, when it is often at the detriment of others. And yet it is the path that we seek most often.
I was completely mesmerised and read it in three sittings, it was compulsive reading.

What can I say about this series that I haven't already said before? It's one of my newest favourite fantasy series ever, and the third book doesn't change that at all. In fact, it reinforces SotL's deserved place on my favourites list.
Book three is just as masterfully crafted and excellently written as books one and two, and I liked it even more than two, even. Robert Jackson Bennett simply has the perfect writing style for the kind of story he writes, for the atmosphere, the vibes, the weirdness of it all. Din is a standout protagonist that I just love more and more with each book, and Ana is just one of the best, most intriguing fantasy characters I've ever read. I adore them both and their relationship is and hopefully always will be the heart of this series.
The side characters are, as usual, incredibly well-written complex creatures too. Fotia is one of my new favourites and despite the series' track record of not really following the side characters of previous novels I would love to see her back. Din's new love interest is also his most intriguing one yet, though yes, obviously I still hold the nostalgic little soft spot for Strovi. All of them help enrich the already fascinating world building of the series even more. This time around we get a closer look at the agricultural mechanisms that keep this world alive. It's a really dark and sadly starkly relevant topic that provides a terrifying and fascinating mirror to our own world, as is usual for SotL. The Empire remains full of unsettling darkness and terrible secrets and I cannot wait to explore it more.

There's absolute no criticism from me here, this is as pitch perfect as it gets. I sure hope the author intends to write like sixty more of these because I will obsessively devour them all and love every second of it.

Thank you to Robert Jackson Bennet, Hodderscape, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

My review for A Drop of Corruption and the Shadow of Leviathan series: ‘A fantastical murder-mystery thriller with a Sherlock Holmes-esque FMC and a first-person MMC POV. Each book deals with a mystery but there is overarching larger ‘game afoot’ within the empire. Think Knives Out with an interesting magical system - Benoit Blanc is injected with titan’s blood to ramp up the pattern-recognition.’

A Trade of Blood is the third instalment in the fantasy murder mystery series, Shadow of the Leviathan. In the series we follow Signum Din Kol (an investigator) and Immunis Ana Dolabra (a detective) as they investigate and solve difficult cases of murder in the Empire of Khanum. Din is an engraver, a type of imperial sublime (read: enhanced human) that possesses profoundly heightened cognitive powers - the power to engrave memories and recall them at will. This is extremely helpful as Ana loves to wear a blindfold.

In this instalment, we return to Din’s homeland plains of Tala but not his home. Lacanthim is in the third ring of the empire and therefore far more safe than where Din grew up. He deliberates on whether to return home to visit but decides against it. Well, home decides to visit him in a surprising reunion.

The case seems straightforward: Castus Armenta has murdered Zansay Burav with a flensing knife, most commonly used to gut the overgrown mutant cattle their families profit from. Except, there is a Romeo and Juliet element to the story - both are deeply in love with one another, so why would he do it? Din and Ana must work together with the usual helpful (and unhelpful) locale in order to solve the case and prevent a bloodbath between two feuding gentry clans.

Whilst the first book remains my favourite, I loved the expansion in world-building with new intriguing flora and fauna. The drokha-cats, half-domestic-cat-half-lemur, are altered with a fungal web interred in their brain before being conditioned to work the bean fields. There’s also an otherworldly forest with unsettling trees that cause pain and statues that move yet do not exist (think: weeping angels).

I still love both Din and Ana, who is hilariously rude and blunt. I also love the premise of each individual instalment and the overarching plot across the series concerning the leviathans and the ‘elder races’. I enjoy the nods towards environmental politics and ruling classes also, and leave you with this quote from Ana: “I am not biased against them at all… I am merely biased against bastards. The gentry class just happens to brim over with folk of that particular breed.”

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the e-arc of my most anticipated book of 2026. As always, it did not disappoint.

My favourite duo is back in another weird and creepy adventure where people are dying, Din is experiencing something unsettling and Ana is.. Ana.
“Shadow of Leviathan” is already one of my all time favourite series, I don’t know what Robert Jackson Bennett is sprinkling in these books or what kind of substances he adds in his writing, because this series doesn’t disappoint. I inhaled “A Trade a Blood”. I’m so mad on myself that I finished it in two days, because now I have to wait an eternity for book four. Or a year. (I say with hope in my chest).

So. “A Trade of Blood” is book three in the “Shadow of Leviathan” series and our messed up characters are going to the canton of Sapirdad, where a civil war is almost on the rise. Oh, and there’s a murder, of course.
As in the previous books, the characters are sublime. Ana is still sarcastically funny, still very intelligent and more mysterious than I thought she could possibly be. She’s still weird and brilliant and it’s a pleasure to read about her.
Din is not as depressed as in the previous books, which I’m glad! But he’s still just a tragic bisexual man who deserves the world. I loved that we see more about his life, we spend extra time only with him and that made him grow so much more in my eyes. I love both of them so so much and they’re definitely one of my favourites, if not my favourite duo. They’re just so good together.

”What if, ma’am, you try your combination and it doesn’t work?”
“Well,” said Ana from the shadows, “then I will look like a right fucking idiot, true? A very good thing, then, that I am correct.”

I mean.. do you read this?? This dynamic in a book in our day and age?? Perfectly done.

Regarding the plot, I don’t want to say a lot about it. It’s still mysterious, still creepy and weird and intriguing and fast paced and not boring. The whole book keeps you up and makes you read page after page until you finish the book and regret it because you finished it TOO SOON.

But Robert Jackson Bennett does something special with his worldbuilding, something that makes me gasp in every single book! It’s so satisfying to read a fantasy mystery book where nothing disappoints.
New things in the world with every book we read? Check.
Leviathans that attack the walls that keep this world safe? Check.
Extremely dangerous habitat wherever you go? Check.
And I didn’t even start describing what’s in “A Trade of Blood”. And I won’t, that would be a huge spoiler.

Moving on to the case Din and Ana are investigating, is still an interesting and hard one to resolve. I like that with every case we meet, we learn more about the Empire and what these cases mean for it. It’s just how significant everything that’s happened actually is, because they’re not only murders.
It’s a masterfully designed mystery that keeps you on your toes and doesn’t give you any kind of hint.

Considering everything, it’s safe to say that Robert Jackson Bennett is a very talented author. “The Tainted Cup” was my first book by him and I’ll continue reading everything he wrote and everything he’ll continue to read. “A Trade of Blood” is a well written and engrossing book, about a chaotic Empire where the system isn’t fair and people will do anything in order to rule over others.

”…there shall be no resurrection for you. Save that which is given to the trees and leaves and fauna of all this world, to be fed upon and turned into life anew. And isn’t that holy enough?”

I was so excited to receive an invitation to read and review this title as I had enjoyed the first two books in the Shadow of the Leviathan series so much. The third outing of investigative duo Ana and Din did not disappoint, with the trademark descriptive writing of Robert Jackson Bennett bringing the wonderfully strange environment of the Empire to life once again. From the bewildering and humorous relationship between Ana and Din, to the biological 'magic' system that runs through the world, this is a book that sometimes has you wondering how Din copes and if our plants can do that, but it is also a mystery that is frustrating, twisty and horrific in equal measure. I think this is the strangest one yet, and I loved it for that!

ana and din take on the landed gentry and it was spectacular

robert jackson bennett delivers another masterclass in the ana and din mysteries. i hope he never stops writing these because i will never stop reading them.

he is so good at weaving social and political commentary into this work, through his plotlines and i found it so prevalent in this book! we also are getting more and more snippets into the empire itself and I love it

i can't breatheee this was so good!! as were the others in this series. thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!! (forever grateful i get to read the entire series like this 🫶🏻)

this plot did not attract me much from the synopsis but oh boy once i started reading it was so absorbed that i was up till 2am before i surrendered to sleep. i think what sets this one apart from the previous installments is the creepy elements of it all. castus armenta brutally murdering zansay burav in what seems like an impossibly methodical way, to put it lightly.

(spoilers, but the whole fungus that controls the brain and the killers behind it was absolutely brilliant!!! that is truly one of my real world fears and to tie this into the fueding gentry families and the possibility of fates being responsible (even if it was dispelled) was so cool, yo!! though i 100% called that it was trikao armenta.)

while the other books have touched on it too, a trade of blood directly jabs at real world issues like overconsumption (of meat and various things) and shows us just what could happen to us, very similarly to the empire.

of course ana and din's dynamic is always fun to read, especially now that din is slowly peeling back even more layers into who (or what) ana really is, and her possible family??

speaking of family. i love fotia!!! mvp best character award goes to fotia kol. i love her enthusiasm in helping ana and din's investigation even though she hasn't heard from din in years. her loyalty to her brother and fiance are commendable and i love her spunk. hope we get to see more of her!!!

as always, excited for any future installments to this series. especially with the developments to din's engraving abilities.

ps. my one takeaway from din's new forray into romance is that i will ALWAYS be team captain strovi and i am manifesting so hard that they meet again.

Ana and Din have the makings of another challenging case at the start of this book. A girl from a gentry clan has apparently been murdered by her lover who is from another gentry clan. However these two clans do not have a happy relationship so the possibility of an outbreak of violence is high. Perhaps more puzzling is the fact that the girl, brutally murdered, appears to have made no sound - nobody heard anything until the boy ran screaming from the inn they were in. The mysteries around this incident steadily deepen.

Through the focus on this case, Din and Ana visit, and find out about, some strange places and creatures. There's the ancient forest which is very hard to get into and contains relics of the ancient inhabitants. There's drokha-cats (the area is known for them) who have been trained to harvest crops. These cats have been trained through the use of the guiding web, a particular and strange fungus. As with the previous books this is highly creative. A really fascinating aspect of these books is the augmentations available to various people and also to plants and animals. Both Ana and Din have augmentations which allow them particular insights however they are not the only ones. While Din's observational powers are enhanced - he can recall anything he has seen or heard, Ana's insights and abilities are essential to solving this intricate case.

These stories are very multilayered for me. There is the straightforward crime investigation however there is a continually interesting world building going on across the books. The ancient (& rather different) inhabitants of the land are mysterious… Equally Ana and Din are both characters who have secrets. Din's family has been a barely mentioned subject. Ana is an even deeper mystery. For me, in a ridiculously inventive series, this may well be the best one yet. Do NOT expect "all to be revealed" which leaves me wanting more.

Holmes and Watson with genetic manipulations, Knives Out with gigantic unfathomable sea creatures that threaten all civilisation, Nero Wolfe in a lush world of bizarre fecundity. No spoilers, but if you enjoyed the last two, you’re going to enjoy the hell out of this one.

Alright, I think I am enamoured with Bennett's work. He has a way in making a world very rich and vivid seamlessly, always with a touch of originality. For "Shadow of the Leviathan", this originality lays in the very botanical, verdant world, and he uses it to creates great murder mysteries. But not only that. He also explore deep themes in each book : monarchy in the second book, agricultural exploitation in this third instalment.

I can't emphasise enough how much I love every second when I read his books. Because of the worldbuilding, yes. But also the characters, in all their diversity, their sane and, mostly, insane minds. It's touching and funny, fully developped for the stories Bennett's wants to tell. You can feel the depth of research and interest, without it being overbearing. Quite a feat, honestly. I'm almost jealous.

This third book sees Ana and Din traveling to another part of the Empire, where a young woman from an important family has been killed. The murder seems quite easy to resolve (if there is anything to resolve) at first, but of course, things aren't as simple as they seem. Ana is still very sharp-tongued, but her relationship with Din his stronger now, and the care they have for each other is permeating their interaction. Especially when Din has to face uncomfortable realisation and gets a chance to talk to a family member of his.
Gods I love that guy in all his messiness and exhaustion. I love Ana and the mysteries surrouding her, too, which unveil slowly with each book. It makes for a great cohesive series, even if each murder mystery stands on its own. Every one of them still fuel into our understanding of the Empire, its inner working and history. I can't get enough of it, with all its regents, tinctures and modifications.

As with the two others books of the series, I had a tremendous time reading and engaging with the story's complexities!

I can't thank Del Rey enough for sending me a widget to read this one (my request was still pending). I'll be devouring Bennett's previous work while I wait for the next instalment of the Leviathan to come, because my curiousty hungers.

Yet again Ana and Din are travelling around the Empire to solve a very weird murder involving nobles and the wealthy. Each instalment of this series is such a treat, the main characters slowly unfurling and learning more about them little by little. The side characters that help give a bit more detail on canton/ring/area of the world they're currently residing in. I love how there are small bits of humour mixed in amongst all the creepy crimes and I thought this book worked really well in that it shows the relationship between Ana and Din is developing - they're not friends by any means but there is a growing respect on both sides and an awareness and acceptance of the others competencies that I enjoyed seeing more of. Roll on book 4!

RJB's brain works in mysterious ways, but sometimes you can notice a pattern, the logic behind it and speculate on the inspiration for the plot. For this one, I would guess it was born after an evening of watching Okja followed by The Last of Us followed by an existential crisis. :)

Bare bones: Ana and Din are sent to the canton of Sapiridad, agricultural hub of the empire, set in the third ring of the Empire where a young girl was killed. The girl in question is Zansay Burav, daughter of the powerful Burav family that hold the dominion of beans production. The main suspect is Castus Armenta, the scion of other powerful family in the region- Armentas- the main cultivators of the prized urhosi cows who yield the best cuts for the table. Buravs and Armentas going at each other can plunge the entire canton into civil war which can destabilize the entire Empire, so Ana and Din have a difficult job to navigate among grieving families and high tensions to discover what happened and stay alive in the process.

Opening the story with an epic rant from Ana, I immediately remembered why I love these characters so much. Ana is still astonishingly weird and brilliant and Din is still heroic and hopeless when it comes to certain things romance, but after everything they went through, I can say that in this novel they are working together like a well-oiled machine. Sure Din doesn't really follow advice when it comes to personal things, but professionally they trust each other's judgment completely. And this case certainly put their skills to test since it's a heavier and more brooding affair for several reasons.
One of the things I love about this series is this concentric zone model of Khanum Robert Jackson Bennett imagined- with Imperial Sanctum at the center and then three rings of territory divided by walls. And as we move to different places with Ana and Din, the social structure of the Empire is gradually emerging through each new installment. We start the series beyond the rings at the edge of the seas where wet seasons bring leviathans attacking the walls and destroying everything in their path if they breach through. And if you manage to survive that, it's still not safe because the environment is forever mutated and changed by close encounters with monsters. The second novel takes us to the bay of Yarrow, the annexed territory of old kingdom of Yarrow and industrial hub of Khanum's grafting industry. So, flora and fauna are still as much dangerous, but with added touch of having to reconcile with being integrated into the Empire. And now A Trade of Blood takes us to the third ring where people live a much different life, working on a vast lands in possession of Armentas or Buravs worrying only about their next paycheck. Influential families of the Khanum are mentioned quite a few times in the series, but this is where we see just how much power they can wield.
The reason I am highlighting this is that this dichotomy also impacts the nature of the crime Ana and Din are investigating. If the first two books were set in places where poorest and disenfranchised live and the crimes were the result and consequence of the system in place, then in the third ring we are getting the glimpse of those who benefit from the system. This peculiar crime in Sapiridad is not about people trying to survive this mutated nature, it's about those who are bending it to its will, and in that sense, it's a much more contemplative piece then previous two novels. For example, Armentas are using grafting technology to cultivate gigantic cows, big as houses. Buravs are using grafting technology to cultivate a new species of cats programmed to harvest beans all night. And as you read you are aware that there is something not quite right about this and I think Bennett wanted us to. The nature of the crime is definitely more cynical and this is emphasized by few revelations about the origins of the Empire and how history was made. I believe RJB is hinting that going closer to the center, things will get even more complicated.:)

I had an absolute blast with this book- this entire series is just consistently excellent.

It was love at first pages with this series: I fell in love with its dark and complex world, the mix of fantasy and speculative fiction, and the great characters like Ana and Din.
I was in love with this instalment too — a new mystery, a new part of the Empire, different issues and people.
There’s a continuous evolution in both Din and Ana, and we get to know them better as we read, discovering more about their humanity and what their augmentations imply.
These stories are full of political and ethical questions — the price Ana and Din pay for their augmentations, the power plays, and the multiple layers of a narrative that blends fantasy mystery with reflections on power, greed, and the risks of tampering with nature without understanding the consequences.
The atmosphere is dreamlike and enthralling — not relaxing, but not horror either. It feels like a psychedelic journey you don’t want to leave.
This was true for The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption as well: there’s magic, plenty of science, and a masterful storytelling that makes these novels exciting page‑turners.
If you’ve read the previous books, this is another great one; if not, start now — you’re in for a treat.
Highly recommended. Many thanks for this digital copy; all opinions are mine.