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.

The Conductors is the first instalment in the Magic and Murder historical fantasy series, set in post-Civil War Philadelphia. It introduces married couple Henrietta “Hetty” and Benjamin “Benjy” Rhodes, former conductors for the Vigilance Society, a group ferrying dozens of Black slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Settling in Reconstruction-era Pennsylvania, both Hetty and Benjy are famed for their daring and cunning chaperoning of the enslaved from the South to the freedom and relative liberty of the North and the stories of their exploits still circulate today, almost a decade after the end of the war. But the pair are also skilled celestial magic-users, a type of magic involving the use of sigils and that draws its power from the constellations. Now Hetty and Benjy transfer these magic and analytical skills to a new purpose, as the war is now over, as detectives as they solve mysteries, missing persons cases and murders of Black individuals that the discriminatory white authorities would otherwise ignore. In the heart of Philadelphia’s Seventh Ward, everyone knows that when there’s a strange death or magical curses causing trouble, Hetty and Benjy are the only ones that can solve the case. But when an old friend is murdered, their investigation stirs up a wasp nest of intrigue, lies, and long-buried secrets- and a mystery, unlike anything they handled before. Their suspicions fall close to home so the couple will have to thoroughly investigate in order to ascertain exactly who in their community can not be trusted and is not who they claim to be.

With a clever, cold-blooded killer on the prowl testing their magic and placing their lives at risk, Hetty and Benjy will discover how little they really know about their neighbours and themselves. This a captivating, compulsive and original mix of vibrant alternate history, magical fantasy, thrilling mystery and an unexpected examination of slavery all tied up in an inventive, imaginative and thoroughly engrossing tale. I was caught up in the story early on and found that the different elements had been so well woven and plotted that they complemented each other exceptionally well; it's a testament to Glover's talents that she manages to craft these diverging aspects into a cohesive and compelling yarn. She also does an incredible job of world-building in this supernatural mystery. Her cast is almost exclusively Black, and the characters are rich, with Hetty and Benjy’s relationship showcased as a lovely progression of romantic ideals. The pace is slow-burn in order to build up the setting and the characters and lay the foundations for the sophomore instalment but Glover ratchets up the tension as it progresses weaving in details that bring the story to life. It's richly-imagined, beautifully written and, at times, a palpably tense read and it had no problem keeping my attention right from the start. This is a satisfying mystery exploring the prejudice against coloured people at the time when white supremacy was rampant. Finally, the conclusion is a deeply gratifying one that highlights just how our past actions can inform the present in unforeseen ways. Highly recommended.

Thanks @netgalley for this ARC

The Conductors tem como cenário uma comunidade negra situada na Filadélfia pós-Guerra Civil. Aqui vamos acompanhar a história do casal Hetty e Benjy. No passado eles eram condutores (pessoas que ajudavam os negros a fugirem) e hoje resolvem casos na comunidade quando as autoridades fecham os olhos.

Narrado em terceira pessoa, esse é o livro de estreia da Nicole e ela mandou muito bem. Pensei que seria somente fantasia, mas na verdade está mais para um romance policial com toques de magia. A investigação policial se dá quando um amigo próximo do casal morre de forma suspeita. Essa investigação foi um ótimo toque na história. A narração é focada em Hetty, mas temos uma gama de personagens interessantes e 100% negros.

Apesar de serem casados apenas no papel, gostei bastante da dinâmica entre Hetty e Benjy. A confiança e cumplicidade entre os dois é algo bem natural e bastante profundo, já que eles passaram por muita coisa juntos. Ao final de alguns capítulos, vemos um pouco do passado deles, o que só complementa a história dos dois.

A questão da magia também é bem interessante, mas senti que faltou um pouco mais de desenvolvimento e explicação. Ao longo do livro ficamos sabendo que há dois tipos de magia e uma série de regras que as pessoas negras precisam cumprir ao utilizá-las. Hetty canaliza seu poder através de desenhos de constelações; cada uma com uma funcionalidade diferente.

Já em relação à investigação, confesso que em alguns momentos me perdi em meio a tantos suspeitos. Isso até poderia ter sido algo ruim, mas acabei me surpreendendo com o culpado e mais ainda por suas motivações. Só sei que finalizei esse aqui já querendo sua continução, The Undertakers

Thank you to NetGalley, Nicole Glover, and Mariner Books for the opportunity to read this book!

The Conductors by Nicole Glover is not only the first book in the Murder and Magic series but it is also a DEBUT novel. The book begins by introducing Hetty Rhodes. She was once a conductor for the Underground Railroad. She used her celestial magic to bring many to safety and freedom. But now The Civil War is over. They have settled in Philadelphia, but just because the war is over doesn’t mean the danger is over. There are still crimes and murders. Hetty and her husband, Benjy now solve crimes that the white authorities don’t seem to worry about. There is always danger about but then one of their friends is found dead in an alley with markings on his body. The more they investigate, the more they realize there are secrets being kept by everyone around them.

This is such a unique story and definitely shows some promise for the rest of the series! It is a complex mix of fantasy, historical fiction, and mystery. The celestial magic aspect of the book is intriguing, but I wish it was described in a little more detail. I have a feeling it will be something more to discover in the future books in the series. The plot is pretty slow-moving. However, keep with it and you will be rewarded with a suspenseful ending! While the main story-line wraps up quite nicely, (No spoilers here!) but it does leave off with the sense of a second book.

The highlight of the book is the characters! Hetty is FIERCE! She is the heroine that everyone will want! I love her quick wit! I love her and Benjy together. Their romance has a wonderful development. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars. Keep your eye out for this book which hits the shelves TOMORROW!

The Conductors (Murder and Magic #1) by Nicole Glover is a solid historical fantasy debut. I really liked the concept when it comes to the magic system and the post-Civil War setting. I liked the idea of Underground Railroad conductors having magical powers. The story starts off strong and held my attention. However, the book is a little overlong and it drags too much in several point half way through. I also wish we had more detail on the magic system itself and how it works. That said, I particularly liked Hetty. She's quite brave, talented, and determined. I also appreciated getting to see Hetty's relationship with her husband Benjy grow over the course of the story. Overall, this series opener is worth trying if you're a fan of the historical fantasy genre. I have a feeling I'll be back to try out the sequel The Undertakers which is due out November 9th, 2021.

The Conductors
By Nicole Glover
Rating: 4/5 stars
I received an eARC via NetGalley from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: John Joseph Adams/Mariner Books in exchange for an honest review.

***Warning: mild spoilers ahead***

In The Conductors, we follow Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, as they work to solve a series of murders in post-Civil War Philadelphia. Hetty and Benjy were both Conductors on the Underground Railroad and now use their unique, celestial magic skills to solve mysteries and fight crime in their community of fellow freedmen. The story begins with Hetty and Benjy discovering the dead body of one of their mutual friends, Charlie. The circumstances surrounding Charlie’s death indicate that he was murdered and that the killer has knowledge of dark magic. As Hetty and Benjy begin their investigation, they end up with more questions than answers. They are assisted by a large cast of friends and acquaintances, some of whom are on their list of suspects. Hetty and Benjy must use all of the resources available to them to solve the mystery surrounding Charlie’s murder while avoiding becoming one of the killer’s next victims.

Throughout the story, Hetty is clearly headstrong, stubborn, and fiercely independent. As I was reading, I got the sense that she would tend to think that if something needed to be done right, she needed to do it herself. Benjy complements Hetty in almost every way; he is her rock and attempts to keep her from getting into too much trouble. Both Hetty and Benjy are extremely skilled in celestial magic. I absolutely adored the celestial magic system which is rooted in the beliefs and culture of the freedmen. To conjure the celestial magic, Hetty and Benjy draw, carve, and sew sigils on/into surfaces or fabrics. Different sigils produce different sorts of protection, defensive, or investigative magic; sigils can be used to ward buildings to protect from intruders or sewn into clothing to protect the wearer or offer quick access to defense from potential attacks. The celestial magic sigils often took the forms of celestial beings, such as Virgo, or animals when used.

The Conductors is such a well-developed and exciting story. Nicole Glover created wonderfully flawed characters and a fascinating magic system. I appreciated that Glover did not shy away from depicting the horrid conditions and experiences of slavery. Aspects of the story are quite emotional as several characters describe how they lost or are missing relatives because of slavery and after emancipation. In particular, Hetty has been working to locate her missing sister. Glover does an excellent job of maintaining a strong sense of hope and community amongst the cast of characters. However, I would have appreciated slightly more backstory relating to the relationships between Hetty, Benjy, and their friends. Perhaps Glover will explore this in future Murder and Magic novels. Overall, The Conductors is a fun, satisfying, and strong debut novel from Nicole Glover.

I recommend The Conductors to readers who enjoy high-stakes mystery and historical fiction and fantasy with unique magic systems.

A debut that is hard to define! Part cozy mystery, part fantasy, part historical fiction, part romance... I enjoyed the book.
It was also a great book to read during Black History Month. It is fiction but set in a very specific era - after emancipation but before Jim Crow laws started. I had also just read the chapters in Stamped From the Beginning about the Reconstruction era and was intrigued to read about fictional Black Americans living in Philadelphia in 1871, solving mysteries and still searching for family members they were separated from before or during the Civil War.

The main characters are married but did so out of convenience. However, throughout the book they are basically waking up to the fact that they do love each other, and it's very sweet. They definitely have fully realized personalities, with flaws and stubbornness included, which made them even more likeable to me!

I am not a big reader of fantasy that involves magic, and this book has it. I don't have critiques or some other kind of magic that I like better - but I can say that I thought the magic was interesting and I liked how the magic related to race and history. For example, white people practiced sorcery with magic wands, and it was very powerful. Black people could learn celestial magic, which came from Africa and also Indigenous knowledge in the Americas. Black people were prohibited by law to learn or practice sorcery. Here is a quote from the book towards the end when Hetty is fighting someone who is using sorcery:

"Sorcery overpowered. It devoured. It put people in chains and destroyed nations in the name of gold. It sucked resources from foreign lands in the name of spices and trade routes and allowed untold horrors to continue unchecked. But it was an old magic, rigid and unyielding, and unable to cope with newer magic. Or the unexpected."

The author touches on a lot of things including passing, classism, the giant burden of never showing pain or weakness that is placed on Black women, the complicated politics around Lincoln's decisions about the Civil War, all while giving us an adventurous story involving murder and magic.

I can't say the book is perfect - there are parts that seem a little long or not tied to the plot very well, but overall it's quite good. Plus I read the ARC so it could be tightened up by the final version. I call it a cozy mystery because there was not a big sense of danger to me, even with the murders. The characters also have a strong friend group who were quite likeable and maybe we'll see more of their individual stories in future books.

The Conductors follows Hetty and Benji, who are married and living in Pennsylvania after the Emancipation. They were conductors for the Underground Railroad and once they were free, became detectives of sorts, solving crimes that the police didn’t have interest in working. They also happen to use Celestial magic to help solve crimes. They find the body of a friend in an alley one night and set off to find out what happened. They learn things about their friends, and each other, along the way. I enjoyed it overall and enjoyed the characters and their relationship. I think they were a great team and I was rooting for them. It did lag some in the middle but the ending picked up.

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for an arc for an honest review.

In a time shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation, Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benji, who once used their skills in celestial magic to free other slaves, now use their abilities to solve crimes in their community. When one of their friends turns up murdered, their investigation makes them question who their friends truly are.

What an interesting debut! This was part fantasy, part mystery which are two genres that blend well together. I had a hard time at first grasping onto the story. There were new characters constantly being introduced and I felt with a few fewer characters, I would have been more invested in the murder mystery aspect. I was not bothered by the minimal explanations to the use of celestial magic as I’ve seen in other reviews-I was happy to know that it existed and let the story move on. I felt it was an interesting premise to the love story and it gave me all the warm, fuzzy feelings (they married each other out of convenience but through the book developed romantic feelings toward each other). Now that I have a “feel” for this world, I’ll be more interested in the books to come.

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

The Conductors was quite an enjoyable book for me. It is an interesting story filled with a whodunnit mystery and unique characters. I loved the idea of the conductors of the Underground Railroad having magical powers. Not only that, but the description of the magic was fascinating in itself. Hetty, the protagonist used a style of magic that was new to me in books. She was a great main character with many facets to her personality. Benji, her husband was more mysterious since I often found myself with questions about him.

For anyone interested in a book filled with mystery, magic, and based in a historical period, this book is for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I had high hopes for this book based on the summary. Sadly, the book fell flat.

The overall premise was interesting, but it felt like the author tried to do a bit too much and didn't successfully carry things out. There was a large cast of characters, which made it challenging and confusing to follow at times. It also didn't allow for much character development, so they were quite one-dimensional. Hetty, the main character, just wasn't as likable as one would expect for the main characters. Some of the mystery components were a bit too unbelievable, and the romance angle was more prominent than expected. The story felt more like a YA book than adult fantasy, as the summary led me to believe. The world building fell a bit flat, as well.

After the Civil War, former members of the Underground Railroad Hetty and Benjy have settled into a comfortable, if challenging, life. Hetty and Benjy are the sort of people who help wherever they can, helping their friends and neighbors find lost loved ones. When a dead body is found in the community of freedmen, Hetty sets out to solve the murder. Magic and the supernatural tingle at the edges of this excellent mystery story, to which I hope there will be sequels. Centering the story on free Black people provides an intimate look at a community with no reason to trust police and a desperate need for a detective, and Hetty and Benjy are charming sleuthing partners. Recommended for fans of Meddling Kids and other scifi mysteries, particularly those who enjoy historical settings.

The Conductors asks the very intriguing question: what if the conductors of the underground railroad had magical powers? Unfortunately, the answer is disappointingly vague. However, I still found myself very interested by the amalgamation of historical fiction, murder mystery, magic, and a bit of romance. Despite the intriguing nature of this mixture, I found that in trying to do so many things and genres, that The Conductors didn’t really succeed on doing any single thing with aplomb.

There was a long history to the art of Sorcery, with convoluted rules about wand waving and chanting strange words that sounded made up….One thing remained consistent: Sorcery was for white folks. Mostly because there were laws that prevented anyone who wasn’t white from learning. Some of those laws were formalities that confirmed what generations of spilled blood already made taboo. A wand in hand, a whisper of an incantation, or even a glance at a spellbook meant losing everything you held dear — and if you were lucky, you died before that happened.

Taking place after the civil war, The Conductors follows husband and wife Benjy and Hetty as they solve crimes in the Philadelphia area that white authorities won’t touch. The novel doesn’t really get to the nitty gritty about why exactly the white authorities won’t investigate these crimes, but readers can infer that has to do with racism. And the racism isn’t limited to these crimes, but also extends to the magic system. African Americans are able to use Celestial magic, consisting of star sigils from the Constellations. Of course, during slavery, this often resulted in worse punishments and control for the magic users, who were forced to wear collars that could suppress magic and punish those who used it. The other type of magic is sorcery, which is illegal for African Americans to use for some reason unknown to me. At first, I thought it was just another means of control that white slave owners used, but even freed African Americans are not allowed to use sorcery, for fear of death or worse, and I have no specific reason why.

“I promise I won’t do anything to you, unless you plan to be difficult.”

“Have you not heard the gossip? I’m always difficult.”

The novel is narrated by Hetty, whom I instantly liked. She is a tough, no nonsense woman who isn’t afraid to use her magic or to ask the tough questions. We learn more about her past and how she teamed up with her husband Benjy through jarring interludes to the time when they were conductors serving in the Underground Railroad. I found that these parts of the novel, which showed them bringing a lot of runaway slaves to safety in the North, sadly didn’t add much to The Conductors as a whole. I was shocked that such dangerous and selfless feats didn’t come with more tension or fear. Instead, Hetty and Benjy using magic to fight their battles seemed to take away a lot of the suspense and risk. These scenes from The Conductors just couldn’t compare to the real-life history or even other straight-up historical fiction novels. All I really got from these scenes was Benjy and Hetty were magic users, which I already knew, and that they had a knack for getting themselves out of very bad situations, which I also knew due to their current notoriety in the present. The only other thing I learned was that they remained close friends and found family with every person they rescued, with all of them settling down in Philadelphia—something I found a bit unrealistic.

As someone who lives in Pennsylvania and has enjoyed visiting Philadelphia on occasion, I can understand the appeal of the city, on the one hand. But the author doesn’t really describe anything about the setting of the city, or why it is so great of a place to live. I would have been interested to hear more about how it treated freed slaves, the kind of opportunities available for African Americans, and just more about the setting in general during the time period. There was nothing about the beautiful cobblestone streets or the appearance of buildings where the characters lived or visited. For a city with as much character as Philadelphia, I felt this was a really big missed opportunity. Surely if everyone Hetty and Benjy rescued from slavery settled down there, it must be pretty great, after all. 

The first person they rescued from life as a slave was Charlie, whom they find dead in alley way with the cursed sigil branded on his body. I was immediately floored by this mystery of who killed Charlie and why, and what the curse sigil meant. But unfortunately this murder mystery does not have the best pacing. Even with the slower pace and the many twists and turns that seem to have almost nothing to do with the mystery at hand, I was really interested in The Conductors, and never wanted to put it down. Sadly, I was less than thrilled with the big reveal of the committer of the crime, finding his/her motive weak, and the final confrontation a bit lackluster. I think the main reason for this was that it was super hard to keep the cast of characters straight, so I didn’t really have a solid idea of who this person was that committed the crime, as they had very little page space in a very interconnected cast. Many of the characters in the found family of Philadelphia were cousins, married, or worked together.  I really could have used some sort of appendix, as it didn’t help that the author introduced many of the characters like we already knew them, telling us simply that Hetty was close friends with them. 

“I wanted him part of every story that could be told of my life,” Hetty admitted, “and these feelings ruin things.”

Despite the fact that it was so difficult to keep the cast of characters and how they were related straight, I really am a sucker for found family and gobbled up these parts of The Conductors. I also really loved the representation in it, which was not limited to an entire cast full of POC, but also included a trans character and gay couple. I also really enjoyed the main relationship of the novel, that of Hetty and Benjy’s. When I read the book blurb, and it said the couple was married, I didn’t expect to have a lot of romance, and especially not a slow burn. But it turns out that Hetty and Benjy simply married for convenience and propriety, as it wasn’t proper for Hetty to be roaming around as a single, unmarried woman. So it was really enjoyable to watch Hetty realize, to her own dismay, that she had caught feelings for her husband, Benjy. I loved watching it unfold, despite the fact that Benjy didn’t get nearly as much development as his wife, and was a bit of a flat character. He may have been flat, but his feelings for his wife were anything but. 


Ultimately, I really did enjoy The Conductors. It was a very interesting reading experience and I especially enjoyed the fresh take on magic, even if it left me with more questions than answers and lacked the explanation of other fantasy novels. I thought that I was mainly reading The Conductors for the historical fiction aspect, as well as that of the murder mystery and magic, but I ended up staying for the characters. The romance was also a pleasant surprise for me. Sadly, I think The Conductors just tried to do so many things at once, that things, especially character development and the magic system, were not given enough time.   I would definitely read another novel by the author Nicole Glover, as this was her debut, and I can only see her writing improving from here.

2.75 stars, rounded up.

This was quite a disappointment, unfortunately. While I love the premise (a murder mystery with magical elements that takes place in post-Civil War Philadelphia), I fear it was too ambitious for a debut novel. The large cast of characters felt very undeveloped and the story did not feel rooted in Philadelphia (in fact, aside from some interlude chapters that take place prior to the Civil War, this book did not feel rooted in place much at all), which was an aspect I was really looking forward to. I also found both the magic system and the mystery elements to be a bit convoluted and confusing to follow and there were some romantic elements that took on a larger focus than I was expecting. That being said, the style and tone of this novel reminded me a lot of C.L. Polk's work, so if you are a fan of hers I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

Thank you to the author and Mariner Books (HMH) for providing me with a free early copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Conductors comes out this coming Tuesday, March 2.

I was provided a free copy of this from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Set just after the America Civil War, we follow Hetty and Benji a husband/wife detective duo. Previously conductors on the Underground Railroad, they now use their skills to solve local crimes (including a sting of murders that begins with one of their close friends). What makes this different than a normal historical fiction is the magical element included! This world, while very similar in most other ways to that era or American history, includes people who can perform different types of magic! Hetty is a very talented spellcaster, which comes in handy for their line of work, where trouble seems to find them a lot!
It did take a bit of time for me to get into it, and there were a lot of minor characters (hard for me to keep some of them straight). But overall I really enjoyed the story, and got invested in the lives of Hetty and Benji, and did not figure out who done it!
If you like mysteries, if you like magic, if you like a good fun story, you'll like this story! It comes out Tuesday (2 Mar), so get yourself a copy!
Bonus: There is already another book planned to follow! 😁
#NetGalley #TheConductors