This is definitely a different book and a different fantasy compared to the ones everyone is pretty much used to.
I liked the idea, the representation and the way magic is dealt with.
Highly recommended!

Ok so I devoured this book when despite the fact that I felt a reading slump coming. I love nearly everything about this story. The magic system using constellations is brilliant. It reminded me how enslaved Black people in real life used them to guide them to freedom. I liked how Black and White people had their own magic type. I wonder how it is for other races. The story felt very immersive. I love the theme of found family. I do think the pacing was a bit weird ⅔ of the way into the book. I did get a bit lost with the crime solving but that usually happens with me whenever there’s a lot of characters to keep track of. Overall I loved this book and I just saw the cover of the 2nd book and I can’t wait!

I feel guilty saying this was a DNF after reading a little over half of the book. I will not share my review anywhere other than here, so as not to sway anyone else's decision on reading it.

I thought the storyline was original and believe I would have loved it if it wasn't missing a few things. For example, there are people who can use magic and it sounds like a complex system. Yet, there was no introduction for the reader to understand the magic system or spells. Maybe some readers like not knowing this information immediately. I personally like more development up front.

There was also this question that kept popping into my head while reading. If these people had such powerful magic, how the heck did they become slaves? Couldn't they just use magic to get them out of the situation? Maybe I didn't read far enough and this question was answered. Even if so, I think its an important piece of the plot that should be shared at least somewhere in the first half (or even first quarter) of the story.

There were also MANY grammar and missing word issues. This, I'm sure, will be resolved with more edits. It just took me away from being absorbed into the story because I had to stop many times to figure out what a sentence was trying to convey.

Overall I really think this story is creative and with some plot revisions I think it could gain a lot of interest and success. I also give the author a lot of credit for putting herself out there with this story. Please don't take my criticism to heart - I'm not a writer. Just my view!

I want to first thank both #NetGalley and #HoughtonMifflinHarcourt for this gifted E-ARC in exchange for an honest review! I have included the synopsis from Goodreads on the second slide.
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I have to say I enjoyed this book and was shocked to learn it is a debut novel as it was very well done. The characters are excellent, and I fell in love with Hetty Rhodes, the main character. She is intelligent, witty, and her past story is so interesting.
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I enjoyed that this book bounces back and forth from the present day post-civil war living in Philadelphia and while Hetty and her husband Benjy were working as conductors on the Underground Railroad. This made the connections to the different characters you meet throughout the story even stronger as you learned at least a piece of their backstories and how Hetty views them. It also allows you to see how vital her ability to use magic is and its importance not being ordinary. The magic was great and was not the usual magic you may be used to in a fantasy book, which made me even more of a fan as Astrology plays a major role!
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The characters in this book were also great, and I loved how diverse their personalities were. Everyone who reads it should relate to at least one character on some level; they are that diverse. The diversity of the characters and how they are somehow connected did remind me of some Agatha Christie novels as the more you know, the more the connections came out. I enjoyed that aspect of the story. One minor issue I had was I felt a lot of characters were introduced in the beginning, so it got hard to keep track of everyone at first, but as the book progressed, I had no issues following who was who.
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The last central part of the book I want to comment on is the actual mystery that takes place in the book. I loved it; there were so many twists and turns that I never saw coming, and there were several parts I gasped out loud because I was so shocked. This book was excellent, and I noticed a second one that is scheduled to be released, making it a series! I will be reading the second one as I genuinely enjoyed this book! Anyone that is a fan of mysteries with some magic needs to pick this book up on March 2nd, 2021!

This is a complicated book to review. The things that it does well are great and the concept is very original. I am definitely interested in reading on in the series. However, it's painfully obvious that this is a debut and there are some issues (which we will get into) with the writing and the pacing. That said, I hope people will give this a chance (with measured expectations) and that the author gets to hone her writing in what could be a very cool series.

The Conductors is a historical fantasy/murder mystery set in post-Civil War Philadelphia and following a couple who used to be conductors on the Underground Railroad and are now sort of amateur sleuths in their community. This is an alternate history where magic exists and part of slavery involved controlling the magic of Black people, with ongoing oppressive laws that limit their access to certain types of magic use. We get periodic flashbacks to when the MC (Hetty) was enslaved, after her escape, and some of her time helping others escape. In the current time, people are dying one by one, leading Hetty and her husband Benji to investigate.

Hetty and Benji have a marriage of convenience but clearly have grown to love each other and seeing the progression of their relationship through the story is very sweet. And once things with the mystery and investigation really get going, I found it to be really interesting and satisfying. The problem is, this book is much too long and the pacing is VERY slow until about the 66% mark when things pick up a bit. There are lots of unnecessary scenes, excessive explanation and description that really drag down the pace of the plot. With this genre, you want something that hooks the reader in quickly and keeps them turning the page. Unfortunately, this book you really have to commit for awhile before you start to get a payoff. I think part of the problem is the author was trying to do too many things and address too many issues. For instance, we see a lot about the microagressions Hetty and others experience, spend time on the class separations even within the Black community, and see a lot of the social interactions. All of which is important and fine in moderation, but for a book that is intended to be in the mystery genre, there is far too much of it. If this wanted to be a historical fiction or historical fantasy that was really about those things, that's fine. But for this genre you really need to keep up the pace and this fails to do that for about the first half of the book.

That said, once things picked up I was really into the way the author wrote the mystery and scenes of danger and tension. I like Hettie as a heroine and liked the way this handled the complexities of female friendships as well. I would love to read more in the series, hopefully in a book with tighter editing and a faster pace. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The conductors is a marvelous murder mystery thriller set in a magic wielding world. We follow Hetty and her husband Benjy as they fight against crime and slavery while navigating their lives through racism, when one of their friends is murdered.

Mystery thriller is not a genre that i enjoy a lot so naturally it was not the plot that drove me as a reader, what held me throughout the book was the character dynamics. I loved them, from interactions between their friends, everyone second guessing each other, suspecting each other and the dynamic of Hetty and Benjy’s marriage, for this book, was as much focussed on their marriage as it was on solving the murder mystery. While magic was at the backdrop of this book, what truly makes this book a larger than life story is the realism of the themes explored. The flashback chapters paired with their struggle to maintain employment, rental apartments, or even the struggle to simply find loved ones, was portrayed really well. I also appreciate the inclusion of light skinned black people as they too adjust to survive in such a society.

That said i do have some nitpicks with the book. One of them would be that the magic, while explained well, wasn’t well defined, nor did it seem like it played a huge role in the story. On top of this I would’ve loved if the side characters were more fleshed out than it was!!

All in all, i enjoyed reading this book and it’s definitely a something people should pick up especially if you’re a fan of murder mysteries and magic!!

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for proving me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What attracted me to this story is that it’s fantasy set shortly after slavery is abolished in the U.S. and focuses solely on Black characters. I’ve only read one other fantasy story that shares such similarities — Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, which is YA horror historical fiction that has zombies in it (and is a really good read). The time period, genre, and focus on Black people are all major positive points for me, and as I read, other things appealed to me as well, like the magic systems. Three magic systems are mentioned:

Celestial magic, which Black people use. People use sigils based on constellations in the night sky to channel the magic. Often the sigils are drawn in the air, but the sigils are more powerful if carved into wood or metal or sewn onto fabric, which Hetty, who is a dressmaker, does.
Only White folks are allowed to do Sorcery, for which practitioners must use a wand and say spells to channel the magic.
Brewed magic, however, seems to be weaker than the two mentioned above. People use plants to brew potions for this type of magic.
I also liked the flashbacks we get. The main story is set after the Civil War and focuses on Hetty and Benjy solving a murder, but the flashbacks are about their adventures as conductors on the Underground Railroad — the close encounters they had, how they used magic to escape capture — and shows how they met their friends. I thought it was skillful way to give a bit of backstory on the couple’s friends, who all become suspects in the murder case at some point.

Another huge positive for me were the issues explored, mainly the different ways Hetty’s friends directed their lives after escaping slavery. Some chose to build a new life without hanging on to the past, while others use their past as a motivation for what they work toward in the future. It also touches on Black people with light skin passing as White, and even marital partners from slavery days popping up, much to the surprise of their significant other, who had married someone else.

But, despite these positives, I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I thought I would. The characters could have used more development. Despite the backstories we get, the characters all seem one-dimensional, even Hetty, the protagonist, who I didn’t like. I think she jumps to conclusions about people too quickly yet totally ignores/misses obvious, suspicious clues about them when conducting her investigations. It was frustrating. Also, we are told rather than shown that she is close to her friends, so sometimes I didn’t believe the sincerity of her interactions with them.

The worldbuilding was also lacking. It was as if I got a sketch of the settings, and the magic system could have used more explaining as well. I have no idea what the limitations are for them, or which celestial sigils cause what action or why is it that Black people can naturally do Celestial magic. Is it that most people are born with magical aptitude but can be trained to do either Celestial or Sorcery magic, or is it that you’re born with Celestial magic but can be trained in Sorcery? This was a big turnoff for me because I love a well-developed world with a magic system that’s explained to me, or that the author somehow tricks me into believing I understand after giving a brief explanation and distracting me with something else (lol).

The plot also threw me off, mostly at the points where it focuses more on Hetty and Benjy’s romance. It seemed random to me since for a good chunk of the story, romance between the two or how they relate to each other as husband and wife is hardly mentioned, so when the story switched its focus to that, it seemed like a hiccup in its flow. And I think the mystery was dragged out too much. I got the impression that the story tried too many things at once or didn’t fully commit to the things it attempted: the feel of the historical period, the magic systems used, the mystery that carries the plot, and the random focus on romance.

My last critique is that this strikes me more as YA fantasy than adult. That’s what I thought as I read and that’s what I thought when I was done. I even double-checked NetGalley to see if I was wrong in thinking it’s adult fantasy when I started. The way it’s written gives me more of YA feel than adult fantasy.

OVERALL: ★★☆☆☆ ½
The Conductors has a lot of potential as a historical fantasy novel set shortly after the Civil War that focuses on Black characters, many of whom are runaway slaves, but it fell flat for me. The characters and worldbuilding could use more development, and the mystery was dragged out too much.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Nicole Glover's debut novel, The Conductors, brings magic to an alternate timeline Underground Railroad. Readers follow Henrietta "Hetty" Rhoades, who along with her husband Benjamin "Benjy", was once a conductor along the railroad guiding slaves to freedom. Now, slavery has ended and Hetty has gained a reputation for investigation. When friends begin showing up dead, who better than Hetty and Benjy to take up the investigation.

One of the big successes of the novel is the dual part magic system. White people who are magic tend to practice Sorcery, with wands and encantations and extensive formal study. The mere possession of a wand is forbidden to Black people by law. However, Black people who have magic learn Celestial magic based on sigils and constellations that seems to be highly customizable by the intent of the practitioner. I found this system to be fresh and interesting and look forward to learning more about it in the sequels.

Glover also took care with her character development so that even side characters seemed fully developed with their own motivations and secrets. I don't tend to like the "marriage of convenience" trope, but it was so well established between Hetty and Benjy. In addition, having their relationship pre-established allowed the romance of the story to truly be a sub-plot that took a solid back seat to the murder mystery. Glover also wisely included "Interlude" flashback sections which allowed readers insight into Hetty's past, frequently with Benjy, that were smart ways of providing key insight to their shared experiences and history together. Glover also included queer-coded individuals that, while not identified by modern terms given the historical nature of the book, were given care in their crafting and were present beyond that aspect of their character.

Overall, I found The Conductors to be well-paced and an impressive debut that was cleverly constructed. I very much look forward to Glover's future works.

This was one of my very anticipated releases for 2021 and my spidey sense were right, because I loved it. It’s a mystery novel starring a married couple, who used to be conductors on the Underground Railway. While the book does a lot of things, it’s a mystery novel, then there’s the story of Hetty looking for her sister, the relationship between Hetty and Benjy, the magic that exists in the world, I think the mystery is the main focus. I noticed a lot of reviews mentioning a rough start, personally, I was into it from the beginning, though it did take me a while to keep names straight, so YYMV. The main character’s a seamstress and that’s one of the things makes me very excited in general.

The mystery
I don’t read a lot of mystery as a genre, especially non-sff, so my opinion may be uninformed. But, I loved it. It had so many small clues, one clue leading to another and the characters and the reader piecing it all together, I liked the parallels and mirroring. Some red herrings here and there. Lots of things turning out to be connected. A list of suspects to be questioned. Real danger for our protagonists as they get closer to the truth. They also had a map on the wall where they pinned locations, and got hidden messages, it was all a lot of fun. There was a lot of who do you suspect, who can you really trust that always had me guessing and second-guessing. I read it all pretty quickly over one weekend, so it was easy to keep on top of things, and uncharacteristically for me, remember what was going on. There were some clues that the MCs missed for a long time, but it all fit in with the uncertainty of not knowing who to trust, and always being so stressed and tired.

The married couple
MORE MARRIED COUPLES IN SFF PLEASE. I love it when books acknowledge that established relationships exist. It seems like such a mundane thing but it’s so rare. That was the detail in this book’s blurb that sold me on it instantly. I liked that it turned out completely different than I was expecting, and it was surprising and still had a lot of relationship development. I also liked how we got some flashbacks of them before getting married.

The characters
Hetty – She’s the MC and we follow her PoV, I think for the entire book. She is a lot. She’s independent, driven, close to her friends, maybe she keeps a grudge a bit well, a skilled and creative seamstress and a great storyteller. People gravitate to her and listen. She’s also the best celestial magic-user in town. I found her great to be around and liked it when some of her traits came back to bite her. She’s very driven to find her missing sister and we get flashbacks of how she’d go searching for her before the Civil War.

Benjy – the more analytical of the pair, puzzling out mysteries, also in some ways a mystery himself. He tries to keep Hetty safe but also respects her agency and independency, and that’s some sexy stuff. Overall I can’t say I was his biggest fan, but he had his endearing moments.

The friends & social circle – Hetty and Benjy are kind of oddities, they’re respected and well known for their work as conductors but a lot of the friends they’ve helped escape slavery want to distance themselves from the past. So our main couple doesn’t quite make it to the highest level of their society and some old friendships are very strained. At the same time, other friendships are strong and sturdy. Penelope and Oliver and the two that help out most. Penelope through her healing magical salves and plentiful cousins, and Oliver who’s the sort of friend that would help you hide a body, and put on a funeral too. He’s also missing his partner and I liked how even though it’s historical fiction people are accepting of a same-sex relationship and all his friends support him when he’s lonely. There’s also a mention of a trans character that’s very casual and cool with it.

The magic & setting
I admit I’m kinda confused by the other reviews I’ve read. Because I didn’t find the magic that weird or hard to grasp. Celestial magic is the main kind Hetty uses, it’s like glyph magic only with constellation sigils, and they can be small ones that are 2d and work like a simple alarm spell or ward, or if they’re infused with more power they can be full 3d translucent creatures able to affect the world around them. There are also ways to brew potions and salves, and enchant candles for protection. We’re not told what each constellation does and how everything works because Hetty isn’t learning magic, that’s not a point in the book, she knows it and she’s very good at it. It’s not a story of the wonder or discovery of magic, it’s just a tool that people use. It’s like there is a hard magic system at work in the world, but we’re not let in on the rules, which I’m ok with. There’s also a separate, in some ways stronger, or at least more combat-useful, magic system that is called sorcery and only white people are allowed to use, there’s mention about how that played into colonialism, but we don’t get a lot of details there.

I was worried at first, because the MC had this great hook of having been conductors, and then the story is set after that. But there were a lot of flashbacks to their conducting activities, and they tied into the characters from the present story, so I was happy with that.

Recommended for: mystery & historical fantasy fans, fans of Dread Nation that are looking for an adult, less zombie more optimistic post-Civil War book

This is a hard one to rate for me, because there are a lot of interesting elements going on in this book that intrigued me and I thought were successful. The premise (murder mystery in post-Civil War American following a Black couple with magic who solve crimes) was really intriguing and had moments of delivering me what I wanted. I think this book ultimately didn't fully come together for me, as I thought the pacing was just all over the place and it kept me from fully connecting with the characters. There were high moments, but it did not fully deliver on the promise of the premise. That said, there were enough moments of interest to keep me going, and I will be watching for what the author does in the future, as I believe this is a debut

The Good: Escaped slaves who solve mysteries in post Civil War Philly
The Bad: Slow plot, low stakes, unrealized magical system
The Literary: Slice of life of the personal difficulties of previous slaves in their new lives

After the Civil War, Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benjy settle in Philadephia, solving mysteries in the black community with the aid of their magical skills. They met after each escaped slavery, becoming conductors on the Underground Railroad, ushering other slaves north to freedom. When they find one of their own friends dead in an alley with a cursed magical symbol etched into his corpse, they must begin to suspect and reveal secrets about their closest friends and each other.

I really enjoy the mashup of historical fiction and fantasy, in this case the different types of magic used by black and white people to further emphasize the literal slavery and oppression. In this world, Hetty was born a slave with magical abilities, and in addition to working for her masters, she wore a silver collar designed to punish if she used magic, which also marked her as unfit for reproduction. Having no inherent magic of their own, whites feared the magic of blacks. Eventually, white people developed sorcery, a magic requiring waving wands about and chanting strange words, and prohibited any black person learn or utilize it.

The murder mystery is second to the exploration of Hetty's world. Only a few years following the Civil War, Hetty and her friends struggle with creating a normal life. Almost everyone was separated from a family member by plantation owners or escape, and many do not know if their siblings, parents, or even spouses are alive or dead. Some move on; some cannot. And while Hetty and Benjy press for change, many ascribe the underground railroad and pushing to vote as the reason for so much death and suffering in their community when all they crave now is peace.

Hetty and Benjy's marriage is a match of convenience. They're a great team, and enjoy one another's company, but Hetty begins to harbor romantic feelings for her husband. The possibly unrequited love is an interesting addition to the story, however, Benjy's actions towards his wife are clearly warm, even if he hides things from her. While Hetty visits her many friends, drinks tea, and catches up on gossip to investigate her cases, Hetty notes all the different types of marriages she sees among her friends, giving a ground-level female perspective of life at home.

Unfortunately, the magic itself is not so much as system as it is a highly individual interpretation of star or astrology symbols, which leaves the reader feeling rather lost about whether a charm will protect or harm the intended party. Combined from African, West Indes, and Native American folklore, Hetty's mother taught her herb brews, songs that heal, and constellation sigils. The arrow star sigil levitates objects. Orion lights lanterns. Capricorn controls water. But Taurus and Phoenix are also called as weapons, literal animals that fight.

Recommended for fans of subtle speculative fiction that explores history and race!

There us so much I could potentially love in this book. Cool Main Characters, Magic, Detective Story, Black Culture, friendship... but it just doesn’t in The Conductors like I hoped it would. There are moments in the book where it seems there are too many storylines happening at one time. By the time the author catches you up in one storyline, you bounce back into another, and you’re confused about what’s going on.

I think with a little more editing this novel could be amazing and the start of something the world has never seen before. As of right now, it’s too all over the place.

It took me a little while to get into it, but I enjoyed the interesting development of a new environment quite a bit. There were just slightly too many characters for me to get really attached to any of them, though. I feel like cutting out 2 or 3 would've made it a little easier to get into the whole storyline. Maybe add them into the sequel. Which I will be reading, although I don't know if it will be an immediate publication read.

dnf @ 22%

i received an arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

i was initially drawn to this book because of the reference to kindred in the synopsis. unfortunately, i was disappointed by this book.

the writing was okay, except the first 20% of this book (what i did read) was exceptionally slow. the narrative relies heavily on telling rather than showing. i don't necessarily dislike "telling" if the telling is done in a good way, but this was a bit boring.

now onto the characters. hetty and her husband find a dead body, except there was no excitement or surprise or shock or any other emotion. i felt so disconnected from the characters, especially hetty.

the magic system is interesting, but a bit vague and underdeveloped.

anyways, overall just a bit disappointing.

It seemed like a great idea to me, a historical fantasy where heroes will use constellations and legends to save others. I liked the characters of Hetty and Benjy, the plot and the story behind but I can't get hooked, it was hard for me to finish reading it.
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The Rhodes are a marriage based on years of companionship and trust. As they help free slaves down clandestine routes and solve mysterious murders, they are part of a community that they formed with each freed person they bring to Philadelphia. The character of Hetty was the one that most attracted me and I was pleased to see how the relationship with her husband unfolds while they investigate the murder of one of her close friends and learn to questioning in who you really can trust
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I like that there are more books of this type, with characters and stories with which one can connect, adding magic is a mixture that cannot be failed
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Thanks to #NetGalley and John Joseph Adams Mariner Books to let me read #TheConductors before goes on sale in March

The Conductors, by Nicole Glover, has lots of elements I’d normally eat up like a buffet: a historical setting (late 1800s Philadelphia), a focus on social injustice, a murder mystery, magic systems. Unfortunately, the elements never cohered into a story that held my attention, making the novel a real struggle. I thought about giving up on it relatively early, kept pushing through despite my instincts, probably helped by the fact that my Kindle wasn’t showing my progress despite my repeated attempts to force it to do so. Eventually, I picked it up on a different device, realized I’d hit the 2/3rd’s point, and figuring that was more than fair, skimmed through the rest.

Henrietta (“Hetty”) and Benjy Rhodes are known as “The Conductors” for their fabled exploits leading slaves from captivity into the free states via the Underground Railroad, with a number of those journeys also involving Hetty looking for her sister, lost to her when the two were separated after their own break for freedom. Now, roughly a decade later, Hetty and Benjy live in Philadelphia working as a seamstress and smith respectively, though really they spend their time employing their “Celestial” magic (the sort associated with POC, as opposed to white’s “Sorcery”) and deductive skills to solve various types of cases for their community, whose troubles are typically given short shrift (to say the least) by the white police force/legal system.

When one of their friends turns up murdered, and worse inscribed with a curse, it sets them on an investigative path that calls into question some of the people in their own little community, including some of their closest friends. The main mystery narrative is interrupted regularly by flashbacks to their conductor days, showing their early lives, how they met, how they ferried people into freedom, how their present-day community formed, etc.

As noted, the book never fully engaged me nor ever felt fully cohesive and clear. Much of the construction felt muddy, whether it was wondering why I was getting a particular scene to unclear relationships amongst people to a historic Philadelphia that didn’t feel multi-dimensional to thinly created magic systems and world building (the race-based magic never felt fully explained or mined for its potential while the way the world differed from ours due to the magic never felt fully realized), etc., I never felt grounded in story or character, never felt immersed enough to forget I was reading a constructed artifice with an author manipulating characters and withholding information. Adding to the “muddy” nature of things was the sluggish pace and the strange lack of urgency (and acuity) on the part of the investigators. Many of the key elements were conveyed via dialog that sometimes felt forced, and the concern over the killer possibly being someone that knew rang more like a plot idea than an outgrowth of characterization and world-building. Meanwhile, the prose was solid enough but not strong enough to compensate for other issues.



I never felt invested in the characters, intrigued by the murders, or immersed in the historical world, while the Celestial versus Sorcery magical systems felt like a tease of something that could have been so much more than it was. As such, it was a struggle as I said from the very start, and I most likely would have given up at the 30-40% percent point had I known I’d reached it. The exception to all this were the flashback scenes, which were vivid and vibrant, as well as compelling, tense, and emotionally fraught and by far my favorite sections of the novel. These moments give me hope that Glover’s second book might show more promise, but I can’t recommend this one.

This was a fabulous idea and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this alternative history of the American Civil War and its aftermath. Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in a predominantly black community in Philadelphia. The stories of their exploits helping runaway slaves are still much talked about but the couple live ordinary lives now and yet when trouble comes calling it just calls to their sleuthing nature's ! With magic and intellect on their side Hetty and Benjy try to understand why a friend was murdered but sadly that's not going to be the only body that turns up.
I thought this was a fabulous way to shine new perspective on what must have been a truly difficult and harrowing time for so many. The couple have stayed together more for convenience than anything else but it's clear they do share more than a mutual respect which cheared my hopelessly romantic heart no end. However this is not a romance and more a story of mystery and suspense. There are two distinct types of magic in play here with Celestial as embodied by the African Caribbean community which honestly was such fun to read about and Sorcery which is more the usual type in books so think wands and spells. Hetty is magnificent and up for anything. Benjy more the strong silent type but you know his brain is ticking away. They are surrounded by supporting characters who truly muddy the waters which clearly adds to the mystery. My only slight complaint was the pace because even though there are murders the first half of the book felt rather slow. However I was gripped by these characters and did really enjoy this unusual and unique story.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

1858. Boykin Farm, South Carolina. Hetty (soon to be Hetty Rhodes) was the best seamstress in the county. Her Mistress gained favor by lending her out to neighbors. Hetty was forced to wear a collar around her neck, a sign that she could perform magic. "The night she broke and removed her collar, she escaped with Esther [her sister] using a map and song she had memorized...Going North...We follow the stars...their luck ran out...Esther was caught. Benjy was never supposed to board the transport to safety. Benjy didn't even know Hetty's name when they set off. Hetty and Benjy Rhodes, a marriage of convenience, Conductors of the Underground Railroad, living in Philadelphia's Seventh Ward, in the aftermath of the Civil War. Hetty, relying on herself, sending letters, telegrams, and posting newspaper advertisements trying to locate her sister Esther, missing in the chaotic South.

After the Civil War, Hetty and Benjy Rhodes started to solve mysteries and murders in their community, crimes ignored by the police. They were soon to place their lives at risk to solve the murder of a friend. Do you really know your friends and neighbors? What secrets, lies or smoke screens might they erect?

XIII Amendment of 1866
"All persons...slaves and free persons of color...have the right to perform acts of magic...permitted as long as they are performed within the constraints defined by local authorities...unlawful to possess or use a wand...persons so offending shall face imprisonment no less than one day or more than ten days..."
-Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

"Sorcery was for white folks. Laws prevented anyone who wasn't white from learning...A wand in hand, a whisper of an incantation, or even a glance at a spellbook meant losing everything you held dear". Hetty's magic was "a mixture of lore brought over from Africa, from the West Indies, and even from the native peoples of this land. Mingled together, it created a magic system...that found ways to brew magic with herbs, to enchant candles for protection, to use song to rejuvenate...to develop sigils from the constellations...Sigils were even stronger once grounded on a surface...It kept the magic alive longer to be used at a later time...Hetty sewed sigils into the band at her neck...[keeping] a reserve of magic at her fingertips...at her touch, sigils unbounded themselves from the fabric".

On the night of a dinner party, Charlie Richardson sought Hetty out, concerning trouble he felt unable to handle by himself. Hetty, not in a hurry to field his request, was slow in delivering the message to Benjy. A late night knock at the door revealed a frantic man telling the duo that a drunk had been found in a nearby alley. Oh no, it was Charlie! Someone had killed Charlie Richardson with great deliberation, his well cut clothes removed and hobo like, torn clothing was substituted. What did the murderer want? Did Charlie have gambling debts? There will be many suspects, among them close friends. Hetty and Benjy are determined to try to solve the crime.

"The Conductors" is an ambitious undertaking by debut author Nicole Glover. Genre blending of history, mystery, fantasy and magic seemed to be a most difficult task, especially for a first novel. It was frustrating to this reader to try to understand how celestial magic worked. Hetty and Benjy, as protagonists, didn't appear very sharp, missing clues and proceeding at a sleepy pace. The secondary characters needed to be more fully developed. "The Conductors" was an average read. I would be interested in exploring what author Glover has planned for a future novel.

Thank you John Joseph Adams/ Mariner Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"A compelling debut by a new voice in fantasy fiction, The Conductors features the magic and mystery of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series written with the sensibility and historical setting of Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Meet Hetty Rhodes, a magic-user and former conductor on the Underground Railroad who now solves crimes in post - Civil War Philadelphia.

As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people north with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband, Benjy, have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.

In this vibrant and original novel, Nicole Glover joins a roster of contemporary fantasy writers, such as Victor LaValle and Zen Cho, who use speculative fiction to delve into important historical and cultural threads."

YES! ALL THE YES! If writers like Nichole Glover had been around when I was younger think of how much I would have enjoyed learning about history. This entertains AND opens up a conversation. I hope teachers now are expanding their repertoire!

I really enjoyed this novel and quickly read it in two days. It’s very well written and chapters flowed easily making for an enjoyable read. I also enjoyed the hints of mystery and magic thrown in as well as all the detailed historical descriptions. All in all a must read for any who are looking for a different and new good solid historical fiction novel!