Review: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, at Locus

In my review of this year's Hugo-nominated novels, I noted, while discussing Robert Jackson Bennett's A Drop of Corruption, that I had a review forthcoming of its sequel, A Trade of Blood. That review is now online at Locus. One of the things that shines through in that review, I think, is that this series, in which a detective duo tramp across a fantasy-world empire, investigating crimes that imperil this stratified, militaristic society's ability to fight off dangerous monsters, is that three books in, the Ana and Din mysteries have very consistent strengths and weaknesses.

Also in keeping with the previous volumes, the mystery in A Trade of Blood is a bit on the easy side – it does not, for example, seem to occur to a crack crime-solving team like Ana and Din that when the heirs to a vast fortune have all died under mysterious circumstances, there is an obvious sus­pect whom they should focus their investigation on. This is presumably because much of the storytelling blood in the Ana and Din novels flows towards exploring the empire's workings, chiefly the way that it uses the arcane technologies derived from the Leviathans to fuel a familiar – and familiarly flawed – capitalistic system.

The "grafts" that have given Din his enhanced memory – and which in other imperial officers are used to produce heightened senses, increased strength, and extreme mental acuity – have been a recurring focus of the series. They are a barbed gift, conferring abilities while damaging fertility, lifespan, and future health. People with Din's alteration are prone to sinking into their stored memories until they can’t distinguish past from present, a fate that he begins to feel the first stirrings of over the course of A Trade of Blood.
On one level, this is a point in Bennett's favor. It's not easy to maintain this level of quality, producing entertaining and imaginative fantasy world mysteries, over a sustained period of time. On the other hand, this probably means that the difficulties that some readers have had with this series—chiefly, that Ana and Din are willing instruments of empire, always concluding that it is better for their flawed, exploitative society to continue to exist than devolve into chaos—will probably never be resolved. After three books, I think it's safe to conclude that we know what to expect from this series—a good time, but one that requires us not to ask too many uncomfortable questions. (Read the whole review)

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