I had ‘Request the next Ana and Din mystery’ on my to-do list when an email asking if I’d like to read it came in. Uh, yes please. I love this series!
So thanks to the author, as well as Del Rey via NetGalley for the review copy.
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.
A Trade of Blood is the next mystery starring the detective Ana Dolabra and her assistant Dinios Kol. In this volume, they are in the canton of Sapirdad, where the two families who basically rule the cattle business are mortal enemies… and so it’s a bit extra mysterious when the son of one is accused of murdering the daughter of the other. All signs point to him being guilty, but he swears innocence, claiming that he has no memory of what happened. It’s up to Ana and Din to solve the mystery!
Just like the two previous volumes of this series, I absolutely loved this story. I love Ana Dolabra so much, and now that we’re three books in, you can see how Din has become more comfortable and familiar with her eccentricities. I thought this volume had Din cracking wise with Ana a bit more than previously, and I was here for it.
The mysteries in this series are always so wild and so unique to this world and the flora and fauna within it that I am completely in the dark until the the answer is revealed. It’s easy to get into the point of view of Din in this way, as he is finding out the situation at the same time we are. This one was no different, though each book in the series takes Ana and Din to a different part of the empire.
I love love love this series. I can’t wait until there is more.
Though, since I live in a town that is rather well known in this area for the smell that comes from the meat processing plant… parts of this one hit me right in the nostrils because oh goodness do I know what that smells like. Poor Din and his poor smell-assisted memory.
I had a full 5/5 stars of a good time with this volume and I will eagerly await more!
superstardrifter 
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