The Tainted Cup
core novel 2024 Shadow of the Leviathan
Record
| First published | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.29 (103,512 ratings, collected 2026-08-06) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781984820709 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Where it sits
- Universe: Shadow of the Leviathan
- Series: Shadow of the Leviathan core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2025: won
- World Fantasy Award (Novel), 2025: won; Confirmed via the World Fantasy Convention's own official nominations-and-winners page, which lists all 5 finalists.
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2025: finalist; Finalist, not winner -- the 2025 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel went to A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. An earlier secondary source claimed The Tainted Cup won this award; corrected after checking Reactor's own award-winners report directly.
Notes
- From the series record (Shadow of the Leviathan): An ongoing fantasy-mystery series (Del Rey / Hodderscape) set in the Empire of Khanum, protected by sea walls against leviathan attacks, whose leviathan-derived technology grants investigators enhanced senses. Per this project's standing in-progress-eligibility rule (in-progress series remain eligible for ranking and are not penalised), this universe is admitted despite being unfinished. Internal chronology equals publication order; no dispute found. A Trade of Blood's release date (August 4, 2026) has passed (2026-08-06), confirmed via multiple contemporaneous review posts.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Shadow of the Leviathan: position 1 of 3: next A Drop of Corruption (2025)
Sources
- The Tainted Cup (Wikipedia)
- The 2025 Hugo Awards: The Tainted Cup Wins Best Novel (Penguin Random House)
- 2025 WFC Nominations and Winners (World Fantasy Convention)
- 2025 Locus Award Winners (Reactor)
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