A Trade of Blood vs The Tainted Cup: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fantasy
A Trade of Blood
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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Detective Ana Dolabra must prove a condemned man’s innocence and confront a terrifying magical technology in this fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup, winner of the…
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The Tainted Cup
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The Tainted Cup is a 2024 fantasy murder mystery novel by Robert Jackson Bennett. It is the first novel in the Shadow of the Leviathan series and was followed by A Drop of Corruption (2025). The novel won the 2025 Hugo…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate A Trade of Blood highest: A Trade of Blood 4.6 · The Tainted Cup 4.4.
- A Trade of Blood has the widest readership — 9007 ratings behind its score.
- A Trade of Blood runs the darker storyline; The Tainted Cup stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| A Trade of Blood | The Tainted Cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.6 (9007) | — |
| Hardcover | 4.5 (133) | 4.4 (892) |
| Apple Books | 5.0 (200) | 4.5 (542) |
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Reception
| A Trade of Blood | The Tainted Cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 9007 | 892 |
| Editions | 1 | — |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | 34507 | — |
| Reading it now | 3509 | — |
| Written reviews | 2106 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 2163 | 17380 |
| Pages | — | 426 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A Trade of Blood or The Tainted Cup?
A Trade of Blood has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A Trade of Blood 4.6/5, The Tainted Cup 4.4/5).