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I heard you like capsule reviews? Here are some capsule reviews.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Years ago, I picked up an early novel by Robert Jackson Bennett after seeing plenty of praise for his fiction. The book turned out to not quite be my thing — not bad, but also in the “didn’t quite click for me” camp. But I’d been seeing (and reading) plenty of good things about his work since then, and The Tainted Cup won a boatload of awards (and was nominated for a boatload more), so I picked up a copy and quickly found myself unable to put it down.

There’s a lot that Bennett does right here. This is both a fantasy novel and a mystery novel. Finding a balance between these two genres isn’t easy, but I’ll be damned if the solution to the mystery here isn’t eminently satisfying even as the fantastical elements also feel fresh. Here, the fantastical elements involve bodily enhancements, which can increase strength or give someone (such as this novel’s protagonist) flawless memory. There’s also the matter of giant sea walls to keep massive beasts from rampaging through the empire where this book is set. Bennett includes a passing reference to what sexual taboos in this society look like; again, it’s a way that this world feels fleshed-out rather than like, say, medieval history with some of the names changed.

The Tainted Cup is the first book in a trilogy, and there are definitely hints of a larger storyline that will play out on a grander scale. But one of the other things that impressed me here was just how self-contained it felt; in other words, I wasn’t left with the feeling that I was going to have to reserve judgement on this until I’d finished several other books. I enjoyed this immensely, and I’m eager to read what Bennett does with these characters next.

Root Rot by Saskia Nislow

The older I get, the more I find myself puzzled by certain family memories. On both sides, I come from a fairly small family: each of my parents has one sibling, and each of them have two children. But there are some memories I have — including some of visiting my great-aunt in Queens when I was young — where I know that certain family members were there, but I have no idea who they actually were. I can remember the sense of a crowded living room, and I can remember presences there, but I have no idea who some of them were.

Basically, imagine that sensation but as a horror novel and you have a sense of what’s happening with Root Rot. Saskia Nislow recounts a large family gathering; there’s something of a collective narrative voice and a sense of describing characters by their traits rather than by names. It all gives the sense of memories that are slowly curdling into something strange and unsettling. Also, there are weird beings living in the trees and plants that behave like human beings. It’s the kind of work that is well-suited to the short novel/novella form: it’s long enough for its hypnotic qualities to come to the forefront, but not so long that its ambiguity becomes something other than an asset.

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

I knew next to nothing about this book — the first in the seven-book The Sun Eater cycle — before reading it, other than two things: it’s a big deal on TikTok and a writer friend with solid taste had very good things to say about it. A few days after that conversation, a copy of this book showed up in my mail, complete with a new introduction by its author.

That introduction gave me a very interesting window into this book. Ruocchio discussed his passion for science fiction and the writers whose work he admired and was influenced by. Specifically, he pointed to Frank Herbert’s Dune books — and, with that in mind, I could see where Ruocchio had drawn inspiration. What was most interesting about this, though, is that he didn’t draw inspiration where I would have expected: there are no giant worms or millennia-long genetics programs here.

Instead, if there’s an element of Dune that Empire of Silence most echoes, it’s in the political intrigue — specifically, the sense of political intrigue among various wealthy families rivaling one another for power in a distant future. I’m generally up for a good use of palace intrigue — even space palace intrigue — and there’s plenty of that to be found here. Ruocchio’s influences are often clear, but he’s doing interesting things with them, and the result is something that still feels fresh.