The Conductors is one of those historical fsntasies that manages to enact such careful and clever world-building that you can't quite shake the feeling that history was a magical place, after all. This post-Civil War mystery envisions a world brimming with both exclusionary white imperialist sorcery and Black sigil magic using constellations. The magic systems map well onto sociopolitical realities and extend them with the flick of a wand or brewing of a potion. It's a great story from either the historical perspective or the fantastical one.

Our protagonist, Hetty, was formerly a conductor on the Underground Railroad with her husband. Now, the pair use their magic and wits to solve mysteries that the police won't as a service to the community. When a friend shows up murdered, their investigation reveals the hidden life of the victim as well as the secrets of the other friends that make up their found family. The whole group is endearing and multifaceted, even as they each slide in and out of suspicion for murderous activities.

Beyond the loveable side characters, a friends-to-lovers romance between Hetty and her husband-of-convenience, Benjy, was a sweet counterpoint to more nefarious goings on and was emotionally well-developed. I was cheering them on as Hetty realized how deep her feelings go. The messaging about family was also moving, as Hetty carries on her long search for her sister, who was separated from her when they ran from slavery. In short, this book boasts complex characters, stunning world-building, and a twisty mystery. It wields historical and social commentary with dexterity even as it offers an epic romance. I highly recommend it.

I really tried to get into this book. I lost interest .
I think some people would enjoy it but it’s just not for me.

I admit I had a hard time with this book. The premise is so interesting and the story started off so well, and I loved the combination of a real historic event with fantasy elements. I've never read a fictional story set during the times of the Underground Railroad (or at least I can't remember one), Sadly, I didn't enjoy the world building and the magic system too much. The magic was never properly explained, so while we know that white people can use sorcery and black Americans, who are banned from using wands and sorcery, can use celestial magic. But how any of this actually works? I have no idea. There is also an overabundance of dialogue, and I know this is a weird thing to say because who doesn't love dialogue? But the dialogue in this book often consists of the characters repeating what we already know, telling someone else about what they, and we as the readers, have already learned. That is pretty boring and I caught myself skipping a few lines here and there.
The main character, Hetty, has so much potential and I really do like her. She's a protagonist I enjoyed following and I wanted her to succeed. The other characters, sadly, weren't fleshed out at all - I honestly had a hard time distinguishing between them. There was just no meat to them so I simply didn't care. The same goes for the romance between Hetty and her husband Benjy. While I really like the concept of two characters that once married for practical reasons and then develop romantic feelings later on, I just didn't feel the chemistry between them.

I really wish I liked this book more because there is so much potential here, but in the end, I had to force myself to finish the book because I wasn't excited about the murder mystery aspect of it either. This is a debut novel and it reads like one, but I'm sure that with more in-depth exploration of the world, the magic system and the characters this could turn into an interesting series.

The Conductors takes what could have been a heavy story of Underground Railroad conductors and shifts the focus from life under slavery to what life might look like for those conductors once slavery has ended. Plus, there's magic! Glover has crafted a compelling duo in Hetty and Benjy, a married couple who insist they're really just close friends. The focus of the plot is a murder mystery that would be exciting even on its own, but the issues of a community still recovering from enslavement and its assorted traumas give greater depth to the story. This was a very enjoyable read, and I am very much looking forward to reading Benjy and Hetty's next adventures in the sequel.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2021/03/03/the-conductors-by-nicole-glover/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

4.5 hearts

When I saw the blurb for <strong>The Conductors</strong>, I knew I wanted to read it.  I have always loved stories about the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.   The story being from the point of view of a conductor only made it better.  The story alternates chapters from the past 1858-1865, with the present (1871). We also get magic and a murder mystery in this diverse world.

The main character and point of view is Hetty (Henrietta).  She and her sister, Esther, escaped but got separated.  Hetty is a magic user and Esther is a healer.   She found Benjy who became her husband, and is also a magic user.  Benjy and Hetty were conductors with her primary purpose being to find Esther. The relationship between Hetty and Benjy is beautiful in its growth.

Now Hetty and Benjy are settled in Philadelphia, where she is a dressmaker and he is a blacksmith.  She is still hunting for Esther.  But now one of their friends, the first man they conducted to safety, is murdered.  They use both magical means and regular investigation tactics of interviews and collecting evidence to try to solve the murder.  However, the murders continue.

<strong>The Conductors</strong> has so much to offer!  I enjoyed the development of their circle of friends and learning about the magics.  There is also the issue of being in a group of people who won't go to the police for help.  I am thrilled it is the start of the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/308870-murder-and-magic" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><strong>Murder and Magic</strong></em></a> series.  <strong>The Undertakers</strong> is scheduled for a November 2021 release.

The Conductors takes place in an alternate U.S. after the civil war in Philadelphia. Hetti and Benji are a magic using married couple who are former conductors on the underground railroad who now use their talents to help people and solve mysteries. I am only half way through right now but wanted to write a review as yesterday was the publication date. I am really enjoying this book. The mystery is compelling, the magic systems are interesting, and I am loving learning more about Hetti's backstory. I do believe this is a series i will be continuing on with.

Escaped slaves and former Conductors in the Underground Railroad, Hetty and Benjy Rhodes used their magic and wits to help slaves escape and evade pursuit by sorcery-wielding hunters. The Rhodes’ Celestial magic, and those of many other slaves) is spell-based and is invoked through sigils, and is forbidden and punished by slave owners, and sneered at by whites, who believe their sorcery is far superior.
Hetty and Benjy bear scars from their years of slavery and from wearing magic-inhibiting collars, which they shed once they escaped. They live together in Philadelphia, and are married for convenience. Hetty works as a seamstress and dress designer, and Benjy as a blacksmith.
Their friends, many of them former slaves, too, are amongst the different economic classes in Black society in Philadelphia. In addition to their jobs, Hetty and Benjy look into various matters for their friends, including mysteries.
This story has them investigating when one of their friends, Charlie, is found murdered, and the two begin using their connections and skills to search for answers. And like all investigations into the past actions of their dead friend, Hetty and Benjy unearth all sorts of resentments, secrets, and problems amongst people they thought they knew.

I was a little surprised to find as many editing errors as I did in this ARC, and these kept taking me out of the narrative, which was a pity, as this is an enjoyable story for its two main characters, and its historical details.
I liked Hetty with her prickliness, her self-confidence, her care for her friends, and her doggedness when protecting others or searching for answers. She’s not the easiest to get close to, and her tendency to dismiss or judge prevents her sometimes from seeing or understanding the actions of her friends, which does affect their investigation.
Benjy is sweet, really strong, perceptive and good humoured, and he loves to read (so of course I love him).
The two have a good working relationship, with their comfortable interactions showing a mutual respect(and maybe something more?) and their respective physical, mental and magical skills nicely complement the other’s. And that becomes critical as they’re faced with many lies and threats as they attempt to figure out who could be committing the murders.
I really liked how author Nicole Glover worked the mystery together with the magical, historical and economic details, with nothing overwhelming or detracting from the narrative.
I liked this story a lot, and would love to spend more time with Hetty and Benjy, and their community.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was initially drawn to this book with it being compared to both Octavia Butler and Victor LaValle; two authors that I have recently discovered and love.

That being said, I just felt like this story did not live up to my expectations, which is largely due to the fact that this is really a slow burn story with a magical system that really is not straightforward.

I think that Hetty was a fantastic character, and I definitely appreciated everything that she did in order to help enslaved Black folks as well as free Black folks trying to find answers when no one else cared. While there were times that some of the scenes were a bit difficult to read because of the pain and trauma, I definitely think that they really highlighted the necessity of Hetty’s work as well as her craft.

I was definitely intrigued by both the murder mystery plot that was taking place in Hetty’s current time line in Philadelphia as well as the flashbacks to Hetty’s time on the plantation with her sister Esther. It offered such a dichotomous setting while also showing the limitations that free Black folks still faced.

My biggest gripe with this book is the pacing. The first 30% of the book was fascinating as we learn Hetty’s history, the plantation life, and get glimpses of her magical abilities. The last 30% of the book was high octane as we finally get the answers that we’ve been desperately waiting for. The middle 40% of this book was just a slough for me. I found myself speeding up the audiobook just to get to the more exciting things.

I feel like if I had read a physical or digital copy of this book that it would’ve probably been a DNF for me merely due to pacing. However, I love Bahni Turpin as a narrator, and she was the main reason that I pushed through.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Librofm for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

The Conductors is the start of a new Historical Fantasy series by debut author Nicole Glover. It's a novel that I'd heard some other authors talking about a bunch of months back, and so I placed a request on NetGalley hoping to get early access. The book combines a noir-like murder mystery plot with a historical setting of post-Civil War Black Philadelphia and adds in magic as a very real and known part of this version of our world: magic of course, that is practiced differently by Blacks and Whites (with threats of imprisonment or death for Blacks to appropriate White magic, of course). The combination of subgenre I like (Noir) with fantasy and real world elements combined to really intrigue me.

And The Conductors very much delivers on that promise, consisting of a mostly excellent murder mystery plot, with a really strong protagonist to go along with some very solid side characters, all reflecting the real life situation facing freed Blacks in Reconstruction-Era America. It's a story that drew me in from the start, with the storytelling creating a world that feels utterly real and a plot that pretty much worked from beginning to end. And best of all, there's places for this story to go in the future, with a sequel apparently due to come in November, and I cannot wait.

------------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
Hetty Rhodes escaped from slavery with her magic, but lost her sister Esther in the process. Afterwards, searching for Esther, Hetty, along with a fellow escaped slave Benjy, became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad, using her and Benjy's magic to help other slaves escape to freedom in Philadelphia. But Hetty never found Esther and the war ended with supposed freedom for all the slaves.

Not that Freedom has given Blacks in Philadelphia, or elsewhere in the US, lives anywhere close to perfect - Whites still bar them from their own parts of society, banning Blacks from practicing the wand magic of sorcery that Whites use full well, and are certainly willing to kidnap Blacks or worse for their own purposes. But still, the Blacks of the city have formed their own community and have established lives for themselves, through it all, and find happiness where they can.

In this city, Hetty, alongside her now-husband Benjy, uses her magic and skills to help her fellow Blacks with their problems, problems they all know the authorities have no interest in dealing with - crimes, kidnappings, and even murders. But when on of Hetty and Benjy's friends is murdered - and worse, marked with a cursed seal of magic from their plantation past - Hetty finds herself dealing with a mystery that makes her question everything and everyone she cares about...and the life she thinks she understands....
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The Conductors is told from the third person view of its protagonist, Hetty, as she investigates the murder mystery she comes across, one that makes her question everything she knows about her friends and what really goes on in Black Philadelphia, just like in a typical noir. It contains flashbacks to Hetty's past to show what made her who she is, with the flashback interludes placed in specific spots to tie into Hetty's present actions. And like many a fantasy noir, there are multiple magic systems involved, with our protagonist and her allies using their own magic in various ways to help each other, when the institutional law will not.

The difference between this and typical fantasy noir of course is that the setting is Reconstruction-Era Philadelphia (specifically, Black Philadelphia), and while this world features magic and our world does not, all the existing prejudices and discrimination and worse of our world make a major impact. So of course, the Whites have their own magic system that they ban Blacks from learning or using. Of course, Whites turn a blind eye to harms done to the Black community - when they're not the one committing them, like trying to kidnap Blacks for the purposes of slavery in name only.

And then there are the less obvious implications for many people. So you have Blacks with lighter skin who will attempt to pass to try and avoid all of the above, even if it prevents them from associating with their own friends and family. You have freed former slaves who may have had families in the past who were long lost and are then forced to choose between starting a new family or trying to find the old....and hoping that their old family hasn't started a new family in their stead. And you have freed Blacks who take advantage of "freedom" to try and jump as many levels in society as they can quickly vs others who don't quite trust the possibility and are more cautious. It's a tremendously real setting and Glover makes the realities of it to the reader very clear.

That setting would be wasted if this book didn't have great characters, particularly its protagonist (again, this is a Noir) and it absolutely does. Hetty is a really fun protagonist - a woman who cares for people but still pines for the person she's lost in her escape - her sister - and who insists that her relationship with Benjy is entirely for appearances only. She's self-assured enough to quit her stitching job with the confidence that she can make money stitching on her own, so when she faces a new request for help, be that tracking down a missing girl or solving a murder, she leaps right in - little questions asked (no matter the danger). Her husband Benjy follows her lead, using his strength to aid her while remaining kind, while Hetty's group of friends - who of course become suspects in the main plot - are all really well done, especially as more and more about them is revealed. It's a great cast of characters and I really loved Hetty, Benjy, and their friends and I look forward to seeing more of most of them as the series continues.

Really the only negative I can say about this one is that the motive behind the revealed antagonist is kind of underwhelming, and some of the red herrings brought up by the plot don't quite make sense in light of it. But everything else is done so well, with this world being so fresh and yet real in its rooting in history, and a marriage of genre to history in a way that I haven't seen often done before. Highly recommended.

This book is so intriguing and heart wrenching and all-around fabulous. Nicole Glover takes us along on a fantastic mystery as Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benjy work to solve the mystery of their friend's murder.

Hetty's days of using her magic on the underground railroad are past, but the past, as always, still shapes her present.

I loved this book and will definitely be adding Nicole Glover to my must-buy list.

Included as a top pick in bimonthly March New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

It's important to note I listened to the audiobook which I received via Libro FM for this while reading alongside an advance copy that I was sent by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Nothing really changes between them outside of some grammar and sentence structures. While I usually don't like Bahni Turpin's narration I thought it flowed steadily here.

As the first book in the series we are introduced to a lot of characters. And like many fantasy stories you're thrown into the world rather than eased in. And there's so many different moving pieces to set up the series.

This story follows Henriette "Hetty" Rhodes who alongside her husband Benjamin "Benjy" have worked to help Black people escape slavery through the Underground Railroad. And even though the 13th Amendment has been passed and ratified by Congress for some that freedom exists solely on paper. The story opens with wanted ads for Negro runaways. As well as an ad for Hetty and Benjy who are wanted dead or alive for stealing slaves.

In this world some Black people do practice magic and previously were forced to wear collars to identify and restrain them. They are now permitted to use magic do so but with restrictions defined by the local authorities. But they can only use one type of magic and are not permitted to use the sorcery that white people use which includes magic wands and is considered a more powerful form of magic.

The particular brand of magic that Hetty and Benjy use is a celestial magic brought over from Africa and passed down through generations. It incorporates brew magic with herbs, songs, and sigils from constellations. Magic users often draw these sigils into the air, dirt, or other objects. Hetty sews them into her clothes as well as Benji's so they always have a reserve of magic ready.

This magic aided slaves on the plantation to aid in tasks such of picking crops or to making healing balms for wounds. You are reminded throughout that these people are not far removed from slavery with flashbacks to life on the plantation and how Hetty had to use her talent in sewing to survive. The transition to free life and how different people in the community fit in. We meet a character who is passing as white which meant cutting family ties and living in fear of being discovered. And some people did it to aid others in their communities while some did it to advance themselves only.

There's a killer on the loose and unfortunately one of their close friends falls victim and because white folks don't care about Black lives they must take the investigation into their own hands. It's not talked about enough especially since our history books like to paint them as saints but white people in the Union also saw Black people as inferior.

Hetty and Benji as a couple have a very interesting dynamic because their marriage started off as a way to be easily partnered together without drawing suspicion and question of honor. And even though they've been together for a few years they're finally addressing their feelings towards each other.

At times the mysteries got lost in the other plots but I enjoyed this story and it kept me enthralled and I couldn't always keep up with the cast of characters. Hetty and Benjy had an easy chemistry and work well as a unit. And I think as this series progresses there will be a more seamless blend of the magical, mystery, and community aspects. And the ending left for some interesting new opportunities to arise for the duo. I look forward to reading The Undertakers later this year.

https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-conductors-by-nicole-glover.html

When I first saw this one I was all for it! It has such a great premise and who doesn't love a good historical fiction with mystery and fantasy thrown in?? However, it was a tad slow and took a while for me to get into the flow. The magical aspects are a tad confusing as well since there isn't much explanation on how the characters came into their powers or how their powers work.

Overall I really enjoyed this one and look forward to more from this author. I did take into consideration that this is a debut so it can only get better from here. I appreciate NetGalley providing me an ARC to read and enjoy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

This is a pretty solid debut. In fact, I think it would work well as a tv show. Why couldn't this be up there with Coppper, Ripper Street and the like?

If it was a tv show, the pacing would be better, which is my biggest complaint. It starts off slow and continues similarly until about a third in where it picks up only to drop back down again, and up again, down again. The last 25% are action packed and all the clues we've picked up along the way are finally making sense.

A smaller issue is that the descriptions were bordering on overwhelming. I can live with that easier than with the pacing.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about what I loved.

The premise. (Post) Civil War setting? Yes. Former slaves who have magic in their veins and a knack for solving murder mysteries? Also yes.

The characters. Hetty and Benjy were amazing. Their romance was so sweet. When they were first referred to as husband and wife it took me a second to register because they didn't act like it at all. Then we got the explanation and it suddenly made sense. It was nice to see their feelings developing bit by bit.

The other characters were great too. I was fond of Charlie...yeah. I won't say anything else about that lest I spoil it.

The magic system. THIS WAS SO COOL. Cool enough that I don't care how it came to be like that, it just *is* and that's enough for me. It's definitely a unique spin. I can't wait to learn more about it.

The flashbacks. These were done cleverly to introduce us to other characters that will be relevant later and also to give us an insight on our main two heroes.

The murder mystery that kept me guessing till the very last moment. There was one big (well, I consider it big) plot twist near the end of the second third of the book that had me sitting there muttering "no way" over and over again, not believing what I was reading. Luckily that got resolved after a chapter or two, but it got me good. And I truly couldn't see who the real killer was either.

Killer reveal aside, I liked the other little wrap ups as well. I was starting to worry that Hetty had given up on the main thing that was driving her before and was about to cry, when that thing that happened, happened. It's still sad. But, you know, closure.

This book is worth the read if you have the patience to get through the slower parts. Which you should, because I said so.

The only thing I can tell you is that it's not all murder mystery all the time, there's other subplots and many of them. I think they fit with the story. So be ready for that.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The Conductors is the debut of Nicole Glover, and it proves to be an interesting blend of history, magic and mystery. It follows a pair of former Conductors of the underground railroad who have become famous for their investigative skills in the time since slavery was abolished. By grounding her book in real historical facts the author has a strong base from which she can give free reign to her imagination. The magic system in the book was interesting, I loved the idea of using constellations as spells, and though it took a while for me to understand how it worked, by the end of the book I felt like I had a grip on it.
While I liked the premise, I did find it difficult to engage with the characters , they really felt quite flat , which is a shame. There was also an issue with the pacing, which felt very uneven, slow for the first two thirds or so and rushed at the ending. A good book with promise of better to come.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Historical fiction about Black folk is my jam. Set in Reconstruction-era Philadelphia,The Conductors follows the life of Henrietta “Hetty” Rhodes, who flees from a plantation once she feels that her magic is likely to get her killed, and the reactionary life she leads as a seamstress thereafter.

This is a universe constructed by author Nicole Glover, where magic is openly practiced by Black and white people, though the methods differ. Black people use a rune system based on the constellations while white people use wands and incantations. Of course, in this restrictive caste system any Black person caught with a wand is penalized and given harsh sentences while white people can practice any magic they like. Luckily, we spend little time concerned with this injustice as Hetty and her husband Benjy spend the majority of the book trying to figure out who in their community has killed one of the major members of their small network, Charlie. Charlie was a lucky man who happened upon the safe house that Hetty and Benjy used during their days as conductors on the Underground Railroad just as they were starting on a journey to get others to safety. He joined them on their journey to Philadelphia and holds a special place in their memories as one of the first people they saved in their career as conductors. Sadly, by the time the book starts off, Charlie has a strained relationship with the couple, which leads them to ignore his last minute cry for help. It is only late in the night that they stumble across his body with a mysterious message attached.

During the bulk of the story, we learn more about the Black working to middle class Philadelphians that Hetty and Benjy call friends or have helped along the way. Through Penelope, one of Hetty’s closest friends, we learn that there is healer magic associated with botany, yet not much about its connection to the rune system. However, this friendship is not solely based on each woman’s magical prowess, though it is interesting that Hetty has built such a strong relationship with a woman who shares similar capabilities as Esther, the sister she lost during their exodus to Philadelphia. In flashbacks we get their path towards Philadelphia, and learn more about how they were separated during the journey. Hetty’s conflicted feelings about not being able to find Esther after so many years plays into many of the dynamics she has with people in the community as well as the work and living conditions that she condones. In fact, it is this continued search that serves as a central conflict between her and Benjy, who seems concerned that she is pouring money into a dream that can only result in grief. The emotional strain on their relationship is not helped by the fact that their marriage has always been one of propriety—given his penchant for always accompanying her on various conductor missions alone—and Hetty has recently found herself catching likely unrequited feelings for Benjy. Though he is always a source of great support for her, Hetty barely holds onto hope that he may feel just as strongly towards her. It is the uncertainty of this relationship and that with others in their community that weighs heavily on Hetty’s conscience and determines whether she can actually trust the found family she has developed post-enslavement.

The Conductors is middle-fare historical fiction with a magical flare that does a good job of sharing what the main characters’ lives were like as conductors on the Underground Railroad and post-emancipation. Not for readers looking for a well-explained magical system, this book is likely to appeal most to those who would enjoy a light reimagining of what the road towards freedom for the formerly enslaved may have looked like if there was more than a little magic integrated into Negro spirituals.

The Conductors combines many of the things I like in a story: representation, mystery, magic, and dynamic characters. What originally drew me to this book was that the writing was compared to Octavia Butler’s writing in Kindred (one of my favorite books). Glover has a unique voice that I think shares the same strength and thoughtfulness of Octavia Butler’s voice.

The way Glover weaves together history of the Underground Railroad with a magic system that is complex and inventive made this an enjoyable and informative read.

I immediately fell in love with Hetty and Benjy Rhodes. I love anything to do with solving murders and let me tell you...this book had me on the edge of my seat as both Hetty and Benjy began solving mysteries and murders in their community. Honestly, Sherlock Holmes can move right on over. However, the most important murder they take on will leave you thinking about the lies that people build, even those you don’t expect to lie, like family and friends.

While this book is not only entertaining and a stunning debut, you will be pushed as a reader to think about important and timely topics like police brutality and corruption, racism, and class.

The magic system did take me a while to grasp, but I don’t feel like that took away from my reading experience.

All in all, I can’t wait to see what Nicole Glover will be writing next!

Such an excellent premise, such an underwhelming execution!

Hetty Rhodes was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping other enslaved people escape slavery as she once had, using the magical abilities she was gifted with. Once the Civil War ended, she settled in Philadelphia with her husband and co-conductor Benjy Rhodes, but never gave up looking for her younger sister Esther, from whom she'd been separated on their flight to freedom. Now she works as a seamstress by day and, with Benjy, an investigator by night, solving the cases the local police won't touch, whether out of fear or, more usually, prejudice.

When the body of a friend of the Rhodes' is found with a cursed sigil carved into his skin, it's only natural that they're the first (and unsurprisingly only) people called in to investigate. Charlie Richardson was a man constantly on the make, who downplayed his own history in order to better mingle with the elites of Black Philadelphia. Hetty had once been bosom friends with his wife Marianne but the two had grown distant, and the fact that Hetty and Benjy had been less than enthusiastic about responding to Charlie's recent worries increases their guilt at not having been able to prevent his murder. With the help of friends such as mortician Oliver and herbalist Penelope, the Rhodes are determined to find justice for their dead friend, even it means explosive consequences.

The murder mystery itself is decent, but the greatest strength of this novel lies in the examination of Black society and attitudes in the era immediately around the end of the Civil War. Hetty is a compelling protagonist, smart but vulnerable, whose marriage of convenience to Benjy is slowly becoming something more, at least on her end. Benjy is a great help-meet, and the duo balance each other out nicely, skillsets and otherwise. Unfortunately, very little else of the novel feels fully realized. It reads like a first fully written draft, dashed off in haste before being turned in seconds before deadline. The characterizations, in particular, suffer for it. While several of the most important supporting cast members get sketched out believably, I literally could not tell the difference between Hetty's friends' and frenemies' husbands, who all seemed to be cut out of the same faintly odious, usually hostile cloth. I enjoyed the set pieces -- the Excursion, especially, with its insight into Black history and culture was really cool -- but it sometimes felt like the narrative was just stringing me along between each scene, not really caring about the connecting tissue that makes a novel whole.

It was also a bummer to see the very cool magical concepts get glossed over almost entirely. Black people in this setting use Celestial magic -- and I can overlook the idea that they're using classical Western constellations shorn of any African influence: it's an obscure field, and not as easy to find concordances as with, say, the melding of Yoruba and Roman Catholic imagery in Santeria -- but the star sigils our heroes wield feel infused less with the rigour of a developed system and more with a "what does the author need the sigils to do in order to advance the plot right now" hastiness. I also wish more had been discussed as to the use of Sorcery vs Celestial magic, and thought it kind of gross that the white supremacist overtones attached to the former were what the plot used to allow Benjy to escape suspicion in the end -- and at the expense of another Black person, no less!

There were a lot of really great examinations here of what it means to be Black, as well as universal concepts of friendship and romance, but the book overall felt too rough hewn, even for an Advance Reviewer's Copy. I can grit my teeth past the many egregious typos that read as if the author hadn't bothered going over her own work even once -- those will hopefully get ironed out before the novel hits the market -- but I was genuinely disappointed by the lack of depth when it came to characterization and world-building. There's so much potential here, and I'm hoping Nicole Glover's craft only continues to improve, as she has some really terrific ideas that just need more work to become something truly spectacular. Especially since this seems like the start of a series: I'll likely adopt a wait and see attitude before picking up any more of these books tho, given the underwhelming quality of this debut.

The Conductors by Nicole Glover was published today March 2, 2021 by John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9780358197058">Bookshop!</a> Want it now? For the Kindle version, <a href="https://amzn.to/3r5hDQm">click here</a>.

At its heart, this story is a tale of the lengths we go to for those we love. Set during Reconstruction but in Philadelphia, not the South, you follow the story of two former Conductors who have found new purpose for their skills in their new community.

Hetty and Benjy used their magical talents to help many escape slavery while looking for Hetty's sister. While the war is now over, Hetty, like so many others, is still trying to find her sister. But Hetty and Benjy have also found new purpose in helping those ignored by the white police.

I loved how rooted in history this story was while asking the reader to also imagine how it might have been different if magic were real. Told with intermittent flashbacks, revealing their backstories, the characters are flawed and human, imperfect in a way that feels real.

I can't wait to see what else this author brings us.

This was an incredibly fun murder mystery fantasy story. When I read detective stories the thing that really helps me enjoy it is less about the mystery but more about the character interactions. My favorite thing is to have a team of people working together and Hetty and Benji are an amazing duo. They are up there with some of my favorite tv drama detective pairs and following them solve this case and unpacking their relationship was my favorite part of the story. I also really loved the community in this book. Initially I was a bit overwhelmed but by the end of the book this part of Philadelphia felt so real and vibrant. The weaker parts for me were the fantasy and mystery elements. I did really like the two magic systems and didn't mind that it was a softer magic but would have loved to see more of how it works. We get to see Hetty and Benji as experts and I wish we got to see a little bit about how they know which sigils to use, but in general I really liked it. The mystery was good at facilitating the relationships that I was invested in but in general it wasn't what kept me reading the story so if you are a mystery reader this element might let you down. In general I had a really great time and would recommend it to anyone who likes this type of detective story.