I really enjoyed this read quite a bit and look forward to seeing where Glover’s career takes her. In fact, I’d love the sequel to The Conductors right now! Glover is clearly very talented and her writing feels like uncharted literary territory, which doesn’t happen often.

The concept of taking the astronomy utilized on the Underground Railroad and turning it into a full-fledged magic system is very creative and works well in the story. I never tired of hearing about the various animals and mythological creatures conjured from the constellations and the unique skills and abilities they each brought to the table. A+ for super cool magic system that makes a lot of sense and is also very original.

The mystery in the story works well, too. The conclusion isn’t some random gotcha moment- it’s logical and makes sense in context of the larger story. Looking back, the foreshadowing and build up are clear, although I never would have guessed whodunnit. Perfect balance, right?

Where this debut struggles is in pacing and characterization. The pacing lags at times and there were moments where I’d wonder where the story was headed. Glover never failed to draw me back in or bring the plot back around, but I can’t say it didn’t wander at times.

There were also some issues with secondary characters being a little flat. There are also several of them and it took me a long time before I really grasped who everyone was. Most of the time I struggled keeping up with who did what job and was married to who and whatnot. On the flip side, this is absolutely not an issue when it comes to main characters. The main characters are clearly constructed and well-defined from the start.

All in all, I enjoyed experiencing Hetty and Benjy’s world. The magic system is incredibly cool, the plot is unique, and the entire experience just makes for a very entertaining read. Would definitely recommend, especially for readers looking for something new and different. Eagerly anticipating the sequel!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publishing team for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ahoy there mateys! This debut novel has really fun concepts that weren't developed to their full potential though I would be willing to try another of the author's books in the future.  I think there were too many pathways in this book and so everything got muddled.

This book follows Hetty and her husband Benjy, former slaves who are in a marriage of convenience.  They used to be members of the underground railroad helping others find freedom.  The Civil War is over and the duo help solve crimes in Philadelphia.  With magic.  But one one of their friends is killed, it becomes personal.

The Pros

- The Characters:  Hetty was by far the best character.  She has a hard exterior but still is caring and lovely.  I also loved Benjy and many of the secondary characters as well.  Penelope being one of them.
- The Magic: There is zodiac slave magic that is super cool.  Herbal remedies also play a fun role at times as well.

The Cons

- The Magic:  I loved the Zodiac slave magic but how it works is not described enough.  There is also Sorcery of the white people that really doesn't make sense at all and was a lackluster plot point.
- The Murder Mysteries:  For being such good investigators, the duo goes about solving crimes in a very ill conceived manner.  Plus I found everything around the murders to be rather boring.
- The Love Story:  The marriage of convenience turns into something else.  That was just fine.  The problem was the lack of communication between the two.  So much could have been solved in many ways if the two weren't hiding things from each other and just talked.  I hate that.
- Too Many Plotlines:  The love story.  The murders.  Missing sister one.  Missing sister two.  Grave robbers.  Boxing.  Gambling debts.  Secret societies.  Friendship issues.  A women who is passing.  Grudges.  People peddling snake oil charms.  Underground sorcery training.
- The World Building: This element just felt underdeveloped and flat.  Hetty manages to go all over Philadelphia with no real issues.  There were some interesting looks into the issues of race and privilege but not enough depth.
- The Pace:  Uneven.  With flashbacks and switching plot lines, the overall story was bogged down.  And there were lots of plot holes and unrealistic incidents.

While this was an okay read, I found the characters to be compelling.  I do think the author has talent and I look forward to seeing what else she writes.

So lastly . . .

Thank you John Joseph Adams / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt!

Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Fantasy and thrillers/mysteries are two of my favorite genres in literature. There are elements of both in this book. The mystery was well done here, it was what kept me interested in the story. But when it comes to the fantasy elements I found it a bit lacking. There is celestial magic, which uses sigils of constellation and is performed by black people and there's sorcery, used by white people with a wand. That is basically all I learned about the magic system and how it works in the book. I hope that the next volumes in the series will bring more on that because the idea for it is very promising.

The historical background was also very good. The book has some Interludes throughout the book in which we learn a bit about the character's past and how some of them met. It was interesting to learn a little more about them and how that affects who they are now..

The conductors is the first book in a series but I think it can be also read as a stand alone, all mysteries are solved here. If you are looking for a murder mystery book with historical and fantastical elements, this might be the book for you.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.</I>

This is one of those books that is the definition of the two star read. Everything about it is okay. The story, the characters, the world building, the magic - everything is simply <I>okay</I>. Unfortunately, it all adds up to a story, that while you're not quite ready to mark it "did not finish", you aren't exactly excited to pick it back up either.

Initially I really liked the the historical setting, the story, and the idea of the celestial magic system. However, the execution of the last two items failed to bring any life to the perfectly adequate writing.

First, the pace of the story is so meanderingly slow and bogged down by generic information dumps that the story itself gets rather lost. Every time the author went to add details into the world it took away from the momentum of the murder mystery while failing to add much to the world itself given how generic much of the added details were. For example, the idea of using constellations as magic was interesting, but its never really explained how it works so even calling it a "system" seems like a stretch. By never giving even the most basic rules for how the magic actually functions, something that should have been one of the most interesting parts of the books becomes mere background decoration.

Further, the slow story pace could have been balanced out by the characters, but our main person is so unkind towards pretty much everyone around her (mainly people who are supposed to be her friends/loved ones) all the time, that even the sympathy engendered by her backstory doesn't last long with the reader. Its difficult to follow around an unlikable protagonist while only occasionally interesting things happen to them.

By the time the story does finally start to pick up, more than halfway through the book, I didn't really care what happened anymore and it definitely felt like just "going through the motions" to get to the end of the story. This is close to the worst possible thing when talking about a book that, at its core, is supposed to be a murder mystery. I'm not sorry I read it, but I find it unlikely I would pick up the sequel.

Highly recommended for fans of Daisy Six. The characters are wonderful. The setting and the plotting were spot on!

This is a fantasy novel filled with magical realism.

Note: I received an advanced copy from the publisher who was kind enough to grant my request to read the novel.

3.25/5 stars

this was a breath of fresh air after reading a very frustrating and not enjoyable book. what really stood out to me was the characters and their relationships with one another. especially hetty and benjy! i loved the unraveling of their history and the progression of their relationship. i could read a 100 books about them! i also loved the emphasis on community and friendships throughout the novel. i found the atmosphere and magic very cozy and comforting which made for the perfect read during a winter storm. i really enjoyed those aspects, but i found the overall mystery/detective aspects a bit convoluted. with that being said, those aspects didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the novel.

The premise of this book is awesome. The main characters are two former conductors on the underground railroad (they went back south to help people escape and former because slavery has ended). Now they solve crimes in their free time. The crime in this book is murder. Oh and magic. There are two types of magic. You've got celestial magic (practiced by POC) which is akin to witch craft and you have sorcery ... which is wizardry just misnamed to piss nerds like me off.

While I loved the premise, the execution fell short for me. I lost interest in the mystery pretty quickly and honestly didn't care who the murderer was after about 40% (didn't care much at the end once we figured it out either). One of the main points of the plot is the relationship between the narrator and her husband. Apparently they have a marriage of convenience, she only married him because they worked together and it was easier for them to be together all the time if they were married. But suddenly ... many many years later .. she caught feelings for no special reason that I could tell. But she cant tell him that she caught feelings because everyone has to use the stupid miscommunication trope. (guess what trope I hate).

Basically there is nothing wrong with this book, but there also isn't anything special about this book. It just ... exists.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. DNF at 40%. So, I really wanted to like this book because the historical aspect of it is so dang important and the magic system sounded really cool, unfortunately the magic and the story fell flat for me. The magic, although it was a super cool concept of drawing/using constellations as the source of magic, there was also no rhyme or reason to it. Regarding the story, I found it to be rather boring. If a mystery has me, I want to keep reading to find out the next clue and whodunit but with this mystery it flatlined for me. The pacing was slow, even at 40% in and I found myself struggling to read more than one chapter in a single sitting.

Creative and interesting. Introduces you to a slice of history you may not know much about. I found the plot to be more murder mystery and less historical adventure and that was great for me. Main characters are adults. I would probably shelve in a high school collection.

Incredibly creative plot bogs down a bit in execution as everyday magic swirls around former Conductors of the Underground Railroad. The Conductors set out to solve a few mysteries that float about, using their magical skills to smoothly find answers where others cannot. Author Nicole Glover has brought imagination and great characters to life in this tale. THE CONDUCTORS may well be the start of a new series. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Embarrassingly, it took me a little while to really sink into THE CONDUCTORS -- which was mostly on me. Based off a half-remembered description, I was expecting more of the Underground Railroad and less of the Dresden Files magical procedural.
Once I did get into the plot though? I stayed up WAY too late to finish THE CONDUCTORS! I really loved Hattie, and reading her interacting with different characters in post-Civil War Philadelphia. She's brash and smart, and learning more and more about her and Benjy through occasional flashbacks throughout is an absolute delight. I really enjoyed the weaving of historical fact throughout the book - it makes the world feel grounded and offers structure to the magical system that is divided between Sorcery and Celestial Magic. Storytelling plays such a huge part in Hattie's life, and in the narrative at large, and ties in to beautiful (and complicated, bittersweet) traditions of work songs, of song and art paving the way to escape from slavery.
I will say that the pacing felt a bit uneven - the first third of the book is laying so much groundwork for character and world-building that it was a bit difficult to stay engaged. On the other hand, the last bit of the book feels like it moves at a breakneck speed to tie together all its loose ends!
Once I finished the book I thought... okay. Maybe I can get back into magical murder mysteries! I was delighted to see that Glover has another book in this series planned. If you're a fan of murder mysteries but are often dissatisfied with how white, male-centered, and straight they are, I think you'll be delighted with Glover's work!

Hetty and Benjy Rhodes a couple, who are verse in magic, solving puzzles, and freeing the enslaved, have settled in Philadelphia, PA. They help solve mysteries, because of the color of their skin, most of these murders and kidnappings go unnoticed by the police. They're friend mysteriously dies and he is found in their own tight-knit black community. Hetty and Benjy have to solve this mystery before more deaths occur!

This was such an adventurous book. I absolutely loved the magical system, black people practice with sigils based on star constellations and white people practice Sorcery with wands. The way the magic is performed in Glover's descriptions, it was just so beautiful and unique. This book heavily focuses on the murder mystery with some flash backs to the time the couple were working on the Underground Railroad. I loved the main characters they’re dynamic was adorable.

The only critiques I have on this book is that I wanted more in-depth character building, I loved the main characters and just never felt like their full stories were explored. I also didn’t enjoy the friend drama that unfolds throughout the book, it just didn’t seem to add anything to the book. But otherwise I found this book enjoyable!

Highly recommend this book, check it out when it publishes on March 2, 2021!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing my with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Visit nicole-glover.com online to see the author's break down of the characters in the book, which include their star signs and character drawings!

GOODREADS REVIEW: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3643624416
STORYGRAPH REVIEW: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/fd0e4793-7dd9-49f1-b018-c5c7ef4d9ef1

OK, I'm disappointed. In myself, mostly, but also in the story - because I simply cannot find my way into this one, and I REALLY wanted to...

First off, huge kudos to Nicole Glover for a brilliant concept. It's highly original and a take on magic that has never been done before to my knowledge. There is a tremendous amount of possibility that she has opened up for herself here - but therein lies the rub for me... While her concept is spot-on and is so original in a genre (magical detective stories, as a broad-brush description) that is quite saturated, her world-building left me floundering.

Unfortunately, it's precisely because of the wonderful originality that I found this one so difficult to follow. There is very little actual world-building here - and when you set up a unique world, I think you simply have to spend a decent amount of time establishing it's rules and rationales if you want people to feel connected to it. The magical system of sigils based on the Zodiac was present from the opening pages, but never really explained - and that, paired with my non-existent knowledge about the signs and their component stars and meanings, left me confused and uncertain about why things were being done and what their impact was/should be.

In an opener for a series, I would have expected (and appreciated) a lot more stage setting - without it, I struggled to feel a connection to this magical world. The characters also felt a little under-developed for a first-in-series. There were a LOT of them, and with so many characters introduced throughout the course of the story, with overlapping relationships that I never felt like I fully appreciated, this made it tough for me to connect.

This is a truly cool idea, but I just couldn't find my way into it like I wanted to...

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 but I just couldn’t get into the story at all. The first 10% of the book just felt like endless names were being rapid fired at me (Hetty, Benjy, Penelope, Darlene, Marianne, Charles and more) and I’m not sure if it was the third person narration or what, but I had just trouble connecting with them so the story just felt flat and I lost interest in continuing. The magic system also just felt vague and under developed. I’m disappointed because I fully expected to love everything about this book based on its unique premise.

Fantasy meets historical fiction with a flair of magic!

This was a difficult review to write. Based off of the early ARC I received in October, I assumed the storyline still had some pending edits, so I didn’t know how to publicly rate the book. The premise sounded very promising, but I felt the story was cluttered and because of this, I had difficulty finishing the book.

I loved Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benjy—two former runaway slaves, who harness their powers from within, to become underground railroad conductors and crime solving community leaders. I thought their relationship was strong, but the world around them was confusing and messy. I had a hard time understanding the magic system with the witchcraft mixed in. I was also confused when the hunt for Hetty’s sister was sidelined by an unconnected murder mystery. I was expecting her sister’s disappearance to somehow be connected, so it was a disappointment when I found out it wasn’t.

The cover is absolutely GORGEOUS!! As a consumer, I would buy this book from a bookstore display in a heartbeat.

I’ll keep my public reviews of The Conductors as positive as I can, while still remaining honest.
I’ve rounded up my rating to 4 stars on Goodreads, but my true rating is around 3.7 stars.

Good Luck and congrats on the new publication! My public reviews will go up within 3 days (before or after) March 2nd 2021.

Oh my god, the bar is now high for historical fiction.

The Conductors is many things: how societies work with magic being out in the open, the complexities of healing from trauma, a murder mystery set in the post-Civil War era, and most of all, confronting who you are.

Hetty and her husband of convenience Benjy are known for solving problems. Back in the war, they used to ferry people to freedom, fighting slave-catchers with wits and magic. Now they live in Philadelphia, solving crimes that the white authorities ignore. But when one of their own is found murdered with a cursed mark branded on his skin, the past, they will learn, has a way of coming back. With several other mysteries surrounding them – the search for Hetty's sister, clients withholding truths, and body count growing, it's going to take every bit of Hetty's magic to survive.

This is incredible, a show-stopper, wonderful, amazing debut from Nicole Glover. From side characters with fascinating backstories, the enriched world-building, the heartwrenching murders, the growing romance between Hetty and Benjy, there is something for everyone! Even better, it's the first book in a series!

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very engaging historical fantasy-mystery, and the characterization was, for the most part, peerless. I loved main character Hetty and felt like I knew a lot of the other characters by the end of the novel, they were so well drawn. However, I did have a bit of an issue with the pacing--this book sporadically dragged a bit, and I wanted a higher sense of urgency slightly earlier on with regard to the central murder mystery. The frequently-interspersed flashbacks didn't fully help this situation, and I'd've preferred longer flashbacks to decrease the total number of interruptions of the 'current' timeline. However, I LOVED the magic system developed here, and I would be eager to read more novels with this detective/detective couple.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book. Having two different magic systems with racial prejudices and discrimination attached was interesting. I enjoyed the descriptions of celestial magic, although I do think it was kept a bit too vague. I have no idea if certain constellations always have the same magic effect or if they do different things. Sorcery isn't fleshed out much at all, and all we get told is that they use wands to cast and that's pretty much it. Apparently sorcery is way stronger, but why that's the case remains unclear.

Hetty and Benjy were a delightful pair. I loved their snarky interactions and the blossoming romance. Marriage of convenience is one of my favourite tropes and I really enjoyed watching it play out.

Unfortunately, the plot feels a bit slow and unwieldy. It takes a while before anything starts to happen, and only the last 15% or so were actually exciting. I also had a hard time connecting to the story and the characters, mostly because of the dialogue. It felt very disjointed; a character's response often felt completely disconnected from the line before it. This constantly pulled me out of the flow of the story, and since there's a lot of dialogue in the book, it sometimes became confusing to follow.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed this book so incredibly much, it's going to be hard for me to break it down into a cohesive review without rambling. So first, the premise: a Black woman and her husband, former conductors on the Underground Railroad, live in Philadelphia and solve crimes within their community. With magic. It's AWESOME.

I make no secret of the fact that I love a good murder mystery, and this book definitely gave me that. When Hetty and her husband Benjy find the dead body of one of their friends, they immediately know they need to find out who did it. Their relationship is so great (especially at the end!) and adds such a great element to their crime-solving team. The mystery has a lot of twists and turns and, while it wasn't entirely unpredictable, it was still entertaining.

The next big thing I wanted to mention was the magic system. Or, I guess, systems. The first and most prevalent is the sigil magic that Hetty, and all of the Black magic-users, use. It's SO COOL. The sigils are based on constellations, and when they are drawn can be directed by the user to do so many different things. The other is Sorcery, which is forbidden to the Black community, and involves the use of a wand. It's not explored very much because our main characters can't and don't use it, but I do wonder if it is something Nicole Glover will explore more in the next book.

The friendships and relationships in this story are incredible, and I love all of the connections between everyone that was explored. I'm fairly sure there is a Trans character (it wasn't explicitly stated but definitely implied) and a gay relationship as well, that seemed to be widely accepted in this world, which was great.

All in all, I definitely enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading the next to see what is in store for Hetty and Benjy in the future.

The Conductors
by Nicole Glover

Meeting Hetty and Benjy was one of the best things that has happened to me lately! The idea of magic in the hands of conductors of the underground railroad in the days of the slavery, pre-Civil War, creates a beckoning path my mind can’t resist traveling. Even better, mysteries abound, lost people are found, found people are. . .well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Magic abounds, drawn from the stars and the fingers of those who have the magic. (Beware of the wrong kind of magic!)

As a reader of this debut novel, it was the overall tale, believable characters who pulled me into the story, and the final resolve that had me finished with the book before I realized I was done! It was over.

Longing settled in, and close on its heels, my next thought: will there be a next one? I’m hoping so.

3.5 stars, rounded up as a vote for more Hetty!

A Sincere Thanks to Nicole Glover, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

#TheConductors #NetGalley