A Trade of Blood (Ana and Din #3) by Robert Jackson Bennett
Publication Date: August 4th 2026 by Del Rey
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher
Rating: ★★★★★
My
Thoughts:
Ana and Din are called into a murder investigation in hope
of preventing a war between two gentry families. The daughter of one gentryclan,
the Buravs has been brutally murdered and the suspect is from the other prominent
clan, the Armentas. The evidence against Castus Armenta is strong and the custodi
want to hang him, however there’s a lot suspect with the case.
As usual, Ana mostly sends Din out to gather information and
then he reports back to her. His alterations making it so he can recall and
report all details exactly. Ana gets out more with this case, though. There’s a
lot of action and murders as they investigate, complicating things further.
I enjoyed getting to know more of Din and Ana’s histories.
Din has a surprise from his past show up and I hope this person will be part of
the series in the future.
I want to be a vegetarian after reading this story!
A Trade of Blood is the third book in the Ana and Din
mysteries, and I recommend reading the series in order for background character
information and relationships.
The series is original and imaginative! The mystery is set
in a rich, fantastical world, with Ana and Din in a Sherlock Holmes/Watson or
Hercule/Hastings sort of relationship. Ana is brilliant, with eccentricities that
are hilarious and sometimes repulsive and she connects
things by the thinnest of threads. Din is also a sharp thinker, (more so that Watson
or Hastings) and the two of them are a formidable pair! Villains beware!
This installment was excellent; one I didn’t want to put
down! And now I’m eager for the next one!
5 Stars
Brilliant detective Ana Dolabra must prove a man's innocence to stop a civil war in the third book of the series that began with The Tainted Cup, named an Edgar, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award Finalist and one of the best books of the year (New York Times Book Review, NPR, Elle)—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.
In the canton of Sapirdad, two of the Empire’s most powerful families are moments away from going to war with each other, their hundreds of retainers gathered with swords drawn. If blood is spilt, the whole of the empire may be plunged into starvation and chaos.
To de-escalate matters, someone must do the impossible: prove that one family’s eldest son is innocent of a gruesome and unforgivable murder, despite the incontrovertible evidence against him.
It is with this undertaking that the great detective Ana Dolabra is tasked, her assistant Din at her side—and the two find themselves racing with great speed and little dignity to the scene.
As ever, the impossible proves little obstacle for the deadly combination of Ana’s intellect and Din’s keen eye, and mere hours after riding into the dusty town, Ana glimpses the greater pattern behind the crime. A deeper, subtler web of death is being woven in plain sight, by a mastermind with an ancient magical technology at his disposal.
But even Ana's uncanny insight is of little use when each new suspect she uncovers ends up dead--with each new killing calculated to bring tensions between the two rival clans past the boiling point. And as Din pursues their adversary through the canton's wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses, he finds his loyalties divided in unexpected ways.
