The Conductors by Nicole Glover (out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on March 2, 2021) takes place in an alternate world where people practice magic. White people do sorcery, colonizer magic from Europe, using wands to cast spells. Black people practice celestial magic, which originated from Africa, drawing sigils of astrological signs to summon their power. These magic systems are segregated, and Black people caught doing sorcery are punished.

In this alternate history, white slave owners collar their Black slaves who practice or even teach sorcery. Hetty and her sister Esther escape from the South, only to be separated along the way. After joining and marrying Benjy and helping runaway slaves escape to the North, Hetty works as a seamstress in Pennsylvania, navigating the Black social circles in the city.

he Conductors isn’t centered on the trauma of Slavery. The magic systems are a part of everyday life, demonstrating the wielding of power and what it means for the user. Glover shows the intersectionality and perspectives of Black people post-Civil War. Among the supporting characters are Queer, Trans, disabled, working class, and higher class Black people. One character is white passing. The novel mostly focuses on the interpersonal relationships between Hetty, Benjy, and the people they know and encounter.

Hetty and Benjy work through their relationship while investigating the mystery behind the murders. The two are married, although for convenience, and they find themselves falling in love with each other as the story progresses. The relationships in this novel naturally culminate, and the characters come off as humans with their own flaws and desires.

As a reader, I find the mystery unpredictable. I thought I had the person behind the murders figured out, but then it turned out that it was the last character I’d expect. Glover knows how to keep her readers intrigued with her initially unnoticed hints.

The Conductors is a steadily paced murder mystery that takes unexpected turns. Glover’s atmospheric prose and clever storytelling will draw you in.

Nicole Glover has executed a wonderful debut novel, creating a world in which there are two magic systems, as segregated as the society in which they are found. Despite the suggestion of the cover and title, this story does not live in the period of the Underground Railroad, but in the immediate aftermath, with a couple celebrated as conductors trying to get on with their lives.

There are many layers in Glover’s world, with Hetty and Benjy not quite at the bottom of their social order, but not near the top, either. The formerly enslaved and the always freedman don’t always mix, and their old friends, many of whom they personally conducted out of the slave states, seem more likely to be trying to forget the past than to recognize Hetty and Benjy’s role in it.

It’s a dark world, and they are troubleshooters within it, trying to make sense of murders and kidnappings and body snatching. This particular story revolves around the murder of one of the first men they brought to Philadelphia, a man all about making a fast buck, feeling that money will make him more secure.

As a typical admirer of the Underground Railroad, it threw me when there was a scene where a woman excoriates them for having helped people escape slavery. But it makes sense; those left behind probably did have to endure more for the sin of deliverance of a few. I just hadn’t thought of it as being anything more than inspiring, and it was good pause for thought.

The magic systems are quite interesting. There’s Sorcery, used by wand-wielding whites and forbidden to Blacks. Then there’s Celestial Magic, which Hetty and Benjy practice, based on drawing sigils based on the constellations, which can be used for mundane tasks or impressive feats of defense.

The protagonists are complex, and even after the conclusion of the book, it feels as though there’s more to learn about them. I had difficulty at first keeping the other characters straight, as the in media res has them reeling off names as if you should know who they are, so it took a while to get into it because I was busy trying to figure out who was being discussed. However, after a few chapters I started getting more comfortable with them and enjoyed the cast.

The other quibble I have is with the denouement, which felt a little hurried to me, and the clues to the murderer were a little murky, but there, once you know the answer.

All in all, an engaging book in an interesting alternate reality and a world I’ll be happy to return to.

[Post will be published after 2/2/2021]

Hetty and Benjy Rhodes were once Underground Railroad conductors, using courage and a touch of magic to bring dozens of people to safety in the north.
With the Civil War over, Hetty is still focused on locating her sister Esther from her new home base in Philadelphia. Hetty works as a dressmaker while Benjy is a blacksmith but together the couple solve crimes in their community that white authorities have zero interest in. When their friend Charlie is found dead in an alley, Hetty and Benjy search for answers in the city’s elite Black society, learning secrets they’d rather keep buried.

This story holds so much promise! I was intrigued at the idea of magic woven into a story about Underground Railroad conductors turned detectives. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking in several areas.
First, we’re introduced to a number of characters at the very beginning of the book and I had trouble keeping up with them all since there isn’t a ton of back story or development throughout.

Next, readers are told that some Black people have magic but it’s all too vague — there’s no explanation or insight into how/why/when this came about or its parameters. All we know is that constellations are used as sigils by those who have magic and they work as spells. I’m still confused about it; the magic just feels random.

The mystery is interesting and finally pulled me into this story after the vague and rocky start. Then, I became frustrated that there was much more telling than showing. Instead of action or first person narratives to offer insight, readers must rely on dialogue between Hetty and Benjy as they work out clues, motives, and discuss the unfolding of events.

I can enjoy a well-executed slow burn but this one didn’t work for me as much as I would’ve liked it to. For me personally it felt like the story tried to go in multiple directions, focus was lost, and that hurt many of the unique concepts within. The Conductors is historical fiction with speculative fiction/fantasy elements in a post-Civil War mystery. Still, the ideas here are fantastic, original, and hold so much promise that I cannot give it less than 3 stars.

Thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Conductors is scheduled for release on March 2, 2021.

I requested this book through Netgalley mainly based on the cover. And then I read the premise and it sounded Amazing. A murder mystery, with magic, in post Civil War Philadelphia. This could be great. I really wanted it to be great. And sadly it wasn’t. This is the author’s debut book, and you can tell. There are issues with it across the board. So much so that I DNF’ed it about 60% in.

First of all the magic system. Great idea, poor execution. It seems to be a mix of sourcery and celestial magic. Some people have wands. And black and white magic are different. But nothing is explained. The magic doesn’t seem to have rules, and just feels very random to me. I just needed some explanation on what the different forms are and how it works. Some kind of structure.

Then the characters. Most other people seem to like them… I didn’t. And maybe I had wrong expectations. Had I known going into this that it would follow some high society people, maybe I would have liked them better. But as it is, they annoyed me. They gossip so much!!! And for some reason everyone is obsessed with babies and pregnancies. It has nothing to do with the story, yet pops up everywhere. Then there is the main character. Sure, she is strong and brave and does whatever she wants. She also isn’t a very nice person. For example, within a single chapter she states she doesn’t want to be in someone presence because of a disdain for how they dress, someone else is the most boring person ever (because he sells life insurance), the landlord is a horrible man because he actually makes them pay rent (I know shocking, and when they can’t he doesn’t kick them out but just moves it over to the next month instead), and when someone bothers to cook dinner for her, which happens to not be to her specific taste, she rather goes without food. She judges other people’s marriages and states that her’s is so much better because it is loveless which makes them stronger (and then they bicker for several chapters because they were hiding stuff from each other). Let’s just say she is not my kind of person…

The writing was okay… some spelling errors I am sure will be taken out before publication. But the world building is lacking. Like I said, the magic part of it is underdeveloped. But I also didn’t really get a sense of the time period. The interludes in which Hetty goes and frees slaves were very good. But anything in the ‘present’ somehow felt hollow. And then there was the pacing… this book was a very slow burn. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as you got enough going to keep me intrigued (or love the characters). This should have been the murder mystery… At the point where I put this down (about 250 pages in), there were two murders and Hetty had been taken on another case as well. And we still have no clues, and no real effort has been put into solving any of the crimes.

Glover had a great idea, an unique premise and an interesting blend of genres. Yet it couldn’t keep my interest and I found myself not caring about any of it. I am sure there are loads of people out there who will love this, it just wasn’t for me.

*Review to be posted on my blog on 2/18/21*
Likes:
*I love how the underground railroad and slavery history are part of this story. Hetty helped many people escape the South after the Civil War by using her magic and bravery. Now that she is in Philadelphia she plays a role in figuring out murders taking place around them, some of the victims being her friends.

*The celestial magic in the story was very interesting. I liked how it was based off of constellations and they used sigils to conjure up the magic.

*Hetty is a strong character – she is smart, caring and so brave.

*Hetty and Benjy’s relationship was a marriage of convenience but it grew into something more which was so nice to see. They really were partners in solving the mystery and taking care of the people around them.

Random Notes:
*Triggers: slavery, abuse, murder

*This is definitely a mystery, not quite a cozy mystery, and mysteries and I have a strained relationship – meaning if it’s too slow, I will not be invested in the story. This was slow for me. If you like mysteries though, this might be up your alley.

*It would have been nice to learn more about the magic system because it sounded so fascinating. I love the idea of using the constellation sigils as magic. I just needed a little more information about the magic.

Final Thoughts:
The concept of blending magic, black history tied to slavery, post civil war and the underground railroad is fantastic. I just wished the story held my attention more and that we got to see more of the magic system. In the end, Hetty and Benjy make a good partnership as they figure out the mysteries and investigates murders happening around them. Even though this book wasn’t for me, I think mystery lovers will really enjoy this book because of it’s uniqueness.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was an enjoyable book and I enjoyed the main characters. I wished the magic and sorcery were explained in more detail, but I'd definitely read more.

THE CONDUCTORS is a fantastic and original murder mystery novel.

Before we get started, I want to get something out of the way. The cover (while absolutely stunning, and nothing I would want to change) paints, I think, a slightly false picture of the story inside. I was expecting a historical fantasy with a (relatively) dark crime element. THE CONDUCTORS isn’t quite a cozy mystery, but it probably sits somewhere between the two. The story is far more amateur sleuth/ murder mystery than fantasy and, while I really enjoyed that, I think that’s put off some reviewers.

Aside from the slight mismatch of expectations, I thought THE CONDUCTORS was perhaps a tad long for the story it was telling and could have been 50-or-so pages shorter but that’s a minor niggle.

On to the positives!

THE CONDUCTORS was wonderful!

• Hetty and Benji: Our sleuthing protagonists, I loved these two. Both headstrong and stubborn, they were a delight to read about. The marriage-of-convenience offers a nice bit of will-they-won’t-they tention and, as a couple, they have adorable chemistry.

• The supporting characters were wonderful. At first, I thought the cast might be a little large to properly keep track of, but they each have such well-drawn personalities it wasn’t a problem. I especially liked the somewhat gloomy Oliver.

• The setting: A historical mystery that not set in Regency/ Tudor or Wartime England? What’s this? The historical Philadelphia that Glover paints is rich and vivid, the neighborhood the Rhodes live in filled with interesting characters and intriguing secrets. Having the sleuths have been involved in the Underground Railroad opens up a whole range of interesting stories to explore, while also making sure the protagonists feel worldly and competent enough to pull off their snooping. There’s none of the “too dumb to live” moments that can be so jarring in a mystery.

• I loved the magic system. It’s suitable, with the fantasy being only a small part of the story, but I really liked the idea of Hetty sewing constellations into her clothes, which can then be triggered for various effects as needed. I’ll be interested to see how the two types of magic butt up against each other and to learn a bit more about the differences between Sorcery and Hetty’s conjurings.

THE CONDUCTORS was a totally unique story and a delight to read. Without a doubt, I’ll be buying a copy of the sequel, THE UNDERTAKERS, when it comes out next year.

I was already enjoying this book and then it gave me one of my favorite romance tropes.

Benjy and Hetty used their magic powers to work as conductors for the underground railroad. After the Civil War is over, the power couple marries and start to solve crimes in Philadelphia. A death of a friend makes them start questioning their friendships and the life they are living now.

I fell in love with Hetty and Benjy. I love then as individuals and together as a couple. When Hetty realizes that she's in love with Benjy, I didn't blame her. There is caring and trust between the two of them that makes them work simpatico together.

My only problem was that I had trouble remembering all of their friends. They get introduced in one clump in chapter 2 and I had to go back to remind myself the differences between all of these couples.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I will jump straight to the point with this one. This book just was not for me. I really tried to read it AND enjoy it, but it’s just too confusing. Feels like it’s a second or a third book in the series, when you already know the magic system and don’t need any more explanation.
Also there were so many characters introduced in first few pages, that finally I just got confused who was who and how they were connected, were they friends or enemies.
And thirdly, I tried to read this book for at-least 3 months now and still couldn’t past the 15% mark, so I just can’t waste more if my time for book I don’t enjoy.
That’s why I’m deciding to DNF it.

I loved the uniqueness of this book. While I found it rather long, the idea of magic being part of the Underground Railroad was so interesting and that is what kept me reading. The characters have great connections throughout and history isn’t ignored whatsoever. It’s just given that little twist that makes it a bit easier to stomach the horrors that awaited African Americans during this time of slavery.

There are a lot of interesting elements to THE CONDUCTORS. We have a murder mystery, an alternate history setting in the 1800s, and interesting magic systems. The main characters Hetty and Benjy used to be conductors on the Underground Railroad and now investigate mysteries for clients who often have nowhere else to turn. The narrative balances their current investigations in the 1870s with flashbacks of their days as conductors, which serve to provide background on some of their friends as well as give a look at how their relationship has developed over time.

THE CONDUCTORS has two magic systems: Celestial and Sorcery. Celestial magic uses sigils from constellations to perform magic ranging from summoning a protector to creating a blinding flash of light. The Celestial magic system has its roots in lore from Africa and the West Indies as well as from Native communities. Sorcery, on the other hand, is heavily regulated and only white people are allowed to have the wands required to practice it. Hetty is an incredibly talented Celestial practitioner and uses her abilities as a seamstress to sew sigils into the garments she makes. Not much is overtly explained about either magic system so it was interesting to see how they were used throughout the story. I would've loved a Celestial sigil cheat sheet to help keep track of which sigil did what but maybe that will make it into the finished version.

My biggest hangup with the story was that I found myself really wishing I knew our main characters, Hetty and Benjy, better. THE CONDUCTORS is written in third-person, which made it feel like there was a big distance between me and the protagonists. There's some character development throughout the story but I finished the book wanting more on that front, particularly from Benjy who often felt like Hetty's sidekick in her adventures rather than a true partner. In addition to our main characters, there are a whole slew of side characters and suspects in the murders that could be hard to keep track of at times.

I went into THE CONDUCTORS expecting a fantasy novel with a mystery plot but would actually describe this as a mystery novel with some speculative elements. The focus of the story is largely on the crime whereas the magic systems primarily serve as tools the characters use to serve their own ends. This is totally fine, just not at all what I was expecting.

This book might be one of my new favourites. There are so many great things about it. Mainly the fact that is a deep, layered work. It has fantasy, a magic system that is completely unique and interesting, it has very well-done friendships between women, complex and real. It has love and tenderness, there is LGBTQ+ representation and it tackles head on the topic of racism and slavery and on top of all that there is a great detective story. Hetty is an incredible main character, she has as many flaws as good qualities and a very good development throughout the book. Benjy is also a great character, although I loved him as well I have to say not as much as I did Hetty.

The only thing I didn't love as much is that at first I didn't find myself very interested in the murder and the investigation of it, this changed towards the middle of the book. I feel like it picked up a lot of speed towards the end which is completely normal and usually happens in books but it did make it feel a bit out of balance with the beginning.

Overall this book was great and I hope with all my heart that there are more books with these characters and this setting.

I received a free copy for review from Netgalley.~

This book was excellent! The heroine was strong and smart, and she and her husband made for an interesting and likeable pair. They worked well together even when they were disagreeing with each other, and actually listened and talked to each other like real adults, which I LIKED.

There was a mystery to solve and they did it in style, investigating the darker corners of Philadelphia and their friends’ lives as it becomes increasingly clear that someone they know might be a murderer. The murders themselves are not described in too much gory detail. (Since I am a wuss that is appreciated.)

The scope of the book is pretty large, covering a wide range of topics and issues. I thought it was going to mostly be about freeing slaves from the South, but most of the book takes place after those days and we only see them in flashbacks as the author develops Benjy and Hetty’s relationship.

I loved the magic system and wanted to know more about both kinds of magic. I never felt I got a good grasp of which spell Hetty was going to use when. Magic seemed as though there weren’t a lot of rules and certainly magic use had no consequences. There’s only one “evil” spell discussed and even that spell is weakened by Hetty arguing that maybe it’s only bad because of popular opinion.

Anyway those few minor complaints aside I had a good time reading this and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I certainly wouldn’t say no to a sequel. :-)

I liked this book. The author did the history very well. The two main characters, especially Hetty are well fleshed out. I enjoy a fantasy and mystery mix quite a bit. But this book did drag a little. It felt like the author was too in love with lavishing every last possible hint, clue and detail of a very researched book on the reader. It’s a debut novel though and well enough done that I feel like she’s worth following. I see on Goodreads that there’s a book two marked for November 2021 and I’ve added it to my to read shelf. It’s better than a three star book but I save 4 stars for books I really love. The five point scale really doesn’t allow for any nuance... If you like historical fantasy I think you’ll like this one keeping in mind the overly leisurely pace of it.

Unfortunately, this was not a fit for me. The Conductors is like if Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes had a baby on the Underground Railroad, but without being interesting. I just didn’t care about the plot or characters and found it to be entirely devoid of tension or excitement. The characters felt indistinguishable (not to mention suuuper petty) and the dialogue was stiff. For a book with a magic user as the main character, there was also far too much time spent describing what Hetty had sewn that day or why she didn’t like a certain person because of the color clothing they wore. It was almost as if the author wanted the reader to become lost in all the mundane details provided.

Overall, I would describe the book as severely okay. I admit the story has a cool premise, but it didn’t connect for me. This was 100% not my jam, but someone else might love it. If the blurb gets you excited, give it a shot! You might end up liking it far more than myself.

Also, shout-out to whoever designed the cover- it’s great!

I wanted to love this but the pacing was an issue. The bones of this story are incredible and I think with more editing this could be a favorite of many! I plan on picking up more from this author as their prose were enjoyable.

DNF at 21%

I'm so sad to DNF this one because the blurb makes this sound like a novel I would love, but I'm just not feeling it. In some ways I can't help feeling the publisher haven't done the best job here; there were quite a few missing words in the section that I read, so I'm guessing they've sent a very early draft out to reviewers, which, in my opinion, isn't fair on the author. This novel isn't due out until March so there would have been time for them to wait until a later, more polished draft was available. It's very difficult to enjoy a novel for the story at the heart of it when the way it's formatted is an obstacle in and of itself.

This is Glover's debut and I think that's clear from the way she's thrown everything at it. I love the idea of reading about a post-Civil War married couple who were conductors on the Underground Railroad and now solve murders, but this novel was trying to do too much at once. It's historical fiction, but also fantasy, and therefore has elements of alternate history, and a mystery novel and it didn't need to be all of these things. I love historical fantasy but, for me personally, this novel didn't need the fantasy elements and I found the magic system quite confusing and hard to picture. In fact I found a lot of this novel difficult to picture--people and places weren't really described in any detail--and I'm hoping this is something that has been worked on for the book's release. I'm very tempted to borrow this book from the library when it's available and give it another try because I do wonder if the finished book will be easier to read.

There are lots of good things about this book, though. Even though I found the magic system confusing and I'd rather this book hadn't been a fantasy novel, it is interesting! I don't think I've come across celestial magic in a book before. I was also very intrigued by the relationship between Hetty and Benjy because their marriage is one of convenience, but it's clear they care about each other more than they realise and I love seeing that kind of relationship unfold.

Ultimately I kept waiting for this book to grip and excite me and it just didn't. I could feel myself heading for a slump, so unfortunately I'm giving up on it.

Set during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, The Conductors is a bit of a genre fusion cocktail: blending history with magic, and magic with mystery.

A whodunnit is born when two former conductors of the Underground Railroad, Hetty and Benjy, who are entangled in a marriage of convenience, are tasked with solving a murder of a friend who is found slain in the streets of Philadelphia with a cursed sigil emblazoned on his chest. Who's responsible? And why? Who else could be in danger? Together they must follow the clues, unveil their own secrets, and root out complicated feelings and racism along the way.

The story was interesting, if a bit underwhelming. I liked that only Black people were able to practice Celestial magic, which stemmed from evocations of nature, from being able to manipulate constellations, whereas white people were only able to do Sorcery with brews and potions and wands. The major caveat I had with the book was that there wasn't sufficient explanation as to why/how the magic system worked. The vagueness took the air out of the plot for me. Kept me from being able to soar into total believability like I wanted.

That said, I appreciated the flashbacks or "interludes" into the past before emancipation. Magic-endowed slaves had to wear collars, effectively zapping them of their power, which was an intriguing fantasy concept even though the reality was horrifying to imagine, and it was gripping as well as rewarding to get a glimpse of the admirable work Hetty and Benjy were able to accomplish during the Civil War. How many people they helped and ushered to safety.

This one's definitely more of a slow-paced mystery. All that is set into motion unwinds like a constellation crawling down from the sky: one dot at a time. Awesome premise, though!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC.

Yes. Just yes. This was everything I had hoped it would be. As someone who is very interested in both American History and fantasy novels, this book caught my eye from the moment I heard it announced. And it did not disappoint. Melding real-life history in fantasy is not an easy task and I think that Nicole Glover did such a great job with it. The setting and characters are wholly believable, and the fantasy elements feels wholly believable as well. They fit in with the narrative Glover has created so well that it feels perfectly natural.

I would recommend this book to pretty much every reader I know.