Equinox by David Towsey

3.5 STARS

An interesting and unique concept of the duality of man - quite literally. It's the sort of book that you'll either like or won't but if you're into sci-fi and fantasy then it's worth a read.

A truly extraordinary story with one of the most original ideas I have ever read. This is a story of an alternate seventeenth century England where 2 distinct people share the same body, one by day and one by night, and where they eat a magical leaf to draw a line between day and night characters. It is a murder mystery like no other. The author tells the story as naturally as if this world and its magic was familiar to us all and it adds to the sense of mystery in the story.
I recommend this story to anyone, it is so different to anything else out there and it draws you in and won't let go.

A gripping read with a novel concept. . Imagine a world where two beings share a human body: One inhabits it during the day, the other at night. Both lead different lives, have different careers and personalities. In our case, we explore the life of the day-born musician and hedonist Alexander and the night-born Special Inspector Christophor Morden. Then, add some pretty dark witchcraft, the threat of war and you have a unique and mysterious story.

Though I enjoyed the concept, it took a little longer for me to get into this than I normally would. Things started to really speed up when the two 'brothers' moved onto the same goal, but until then I struggled a little to keep up.

Overall an engaging and dark paranormal mystery!

Equinox provides plenty of thrills and exciting ideas. Imagine a world where two beings share a human body: One inhabits it during the day, the other at night. Both lead different lives, have different careers and personalities. The protagonists of Equinox, the day-born musician and hedonist Alexander and the night-born Special Inspector Christophor Morden, are drawn into a witchhunt.

They must act quickly or sorcery may spark a serious conflict and perhaps even war. The investigation takes place in the small town of Drakenford. The Brothers' different lifestyles often clash, and Alexander's naivete gets in the way of progress. I loved the concept of two beings sharing the body and Towsey's exploration of such bizarre life is fascinating.

The dark and dangerous magic is fascinating, but since its nature is revealed slowly I don't think I should spoil it for you. Suffice to say, I found it unique and scary. Equinox is a standalone and as such it impressed me with the amount of world-building seamlessly woven into the narrative. Of course, there are a few info dumps here, but that didn't bother me much.

Christophor Morden is a King’s Special Inspector, who specialises in cases where witchcraft is suspected. Early one evening, Christophor is summoned to the city’s St Leonars prison, where he finds a young man who has gouged his own eyeballs out. On closer examination, it seems that there are teeth growing in the sockets that once held them. Unable to dodge the duty, Christophor is ordered to the the young man’s hometown, the distant Drekenford, to see if he can get to the bottom of this unholy affliction. There’s only one problem: Christophor’s day-brother Alexsander, a musician and professional layabout, will be unhappy about the move, but he may prove more useful than Christophor might have imagined. This is no bad thing: Christopher and Alexsander share a single body, one living by night, the other by day, so it’s going to taken some cooperation to solve this conundrum.

David Towsey’s latest novel takes as to the kingdom of Reikova, whose inhabitants have a very distinctive trait: each body holds two distinct souls; one who inhabits the daylight hours, the other coming to the fore in darkness.

I have seen the sun, despite what my day-brother might say.

This, before we even delve into the details of the story, is a stroke of genius and adds a whole new dimension to the fantasy / crime mashup genre for which Towsey is aiming. Within a handful of pages we understand the premise as well as most of the rules. There’s no overthinking it here: the person chews the leaves of the etienne plant, goes to bed, and wakes up as somebody else. When do the bodies rest? We don’t care. Can these “brothers” and “sisters” communicate with each other? Yes, but it takes a bit of effort. Simple! To spice things up a bit, day and night people aren’t necessarily married to the same people and, for the most part, follow different career paths. The most difficult thing to get our heads around, as the reader, is the concept of time, and the fact that much of the action takes place in the wee hours of the morning.

The story is, thankfully, worthy of this excellent plot device. Christophor is our guide for the first half of the proceedings, while Alexsander takes over for the second half, for reasons that become apparent as we near the climax. Reikova is a pre-industrial world not unlike our own and Drekenford is a small town where nothing goes unnoticed and everyone knows everyone else’s business. When locals begin dying following the Mordens’ arrival, it soon becomes apparent that something evil resides in Drekenford, and Christophor is determined to get to the bottom of the puzzle before the King’s new war arrives in the town.

Deftly mixing fantasy and crime, David Towsey has presented us with a fresh new world with an unusual twist. The crime element is well thought out, and keeps the reader guessing throughout. The central character(s) really resonate, and so we find ourselves in their corner, even when they seem to be at odds with each other. There’s a lot here to like and I, for one, am hoping for more stories set in this world, and maybe even a glimpse or two at Christophor’s younger days, when he was, presumably, at the height of his craft. Fantasy needs to have something special to grab me, to set itself apart from the multitude. Equinox has it in spades, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

The evil of the story was obscure and ambiguous, just how I like it. But was it too much so? I really liked this book, but something things made me double take. Still, 4 stars didn't feel quite right.

By David Towsey

Published by Head of Zeus in May 2022

In this world, two souls inhabit a single body, one by day, one by night. But though they live alongside one another, their ends do not always align. For Special Inspector Morden, whose hunt for a dangerous witch takes him far from home, this will be a problem...

Christophor Morden lives by night. His day-brother, Alexsander, knows only the sun. They are two souls in a single body, in a world where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun. Night-brother or day-sister, one never sees the light, the other knows nothing of the night.

Early one evening, Christophor is roused by a call to the city prison. A prisoner has torn his eyes out and cannot say why. Yet worse: in the sockets that once held his eyes, teeth are growing. The police suspect the supernatural, so Christophor, a member of the king's special inspectorate, is charged with finding the witch responsible.

Night-by-night, Christophor's investigation leads him ever further from home, toward a backwards village on the far edge of the kingdom. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more his day-brother's actions frustrate him. Who is Alexsander protecting? What does he not want Christophor to discover?

And all the while, an ancient and apocalyptic ritual creeps closer to completion...

Short Version: Really enjoyable fantasy crime story with a bit of horror mixed in.

Long Version:

I loved Tales of Fenest and when I heard one half of the writing team behind that had written a new fantasy story, I was immediately interested and I was not disappointed. This is an interesting story set in an intriguing world.

Plot: The plot is both straightforward (think typical detective story) and really quite complicated when you add in the unique world characteristics. Together it gave me a plot that was both familiar and new, and for me, it really worked.

Characters: The work that has been put into the characters is incredible, the way that you have two people in each body that may or may not get along and that may or may not work towards the same ends, it feels really unique and clever and opens up a whole myriad of complexities and questions. I found it best to just accept it and read on because if I thought to much about it, I had too many questions that weren’t answered and probably need a whole other book or 3.

I thought all the characters were treated with the same level of respect, none of them felt 2 dimensional and interactions felt natural.

Settings: The settings were all used really nicely as important parts of the story - not quite characters in their own right but definitely more than just background. I had no problems visualising any of the places.

World Building: I really enjoyed the world building, it is different and interesting. I think some people will be frustrated by the lack of explanations on how it all works, to be honest, half of me sits in that camp but the other half of me likes having a lot of unanswered questions, so I think each readers millage will vary on this.

Prose: Really well written, the prose serves the story and never gets in the way.

Pace: Pitched just right and bang on with the beats of the story.

Ending: Mostly satisfying with a little bit of me going “but…hang on….what about….?”

Who Would Love This: This definitely has echoes of / a similar vibe to Fenest so if you liked that series then you’ll love this. People who like their fantasy a bit different and fans of Pete Newman’s Deathless trilogy should enjoy this.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read Equinox.

The description of this book sounds phenomenal but I just couldn’t get into it for some reason. I started and stopped this book multiple times and just didn’t feel pulled into the story. I will give 3 stars just for how well it was written, but I couldn’t finish the book. However, I’m a mood reader so this happens sometimes. I do plan on trying again in the future because the premise and the other reviews sound good.

Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
Christophor Morden lives by night. His day-brother, Alexsander, knows only the sun. They are two souls in a single body, in a world where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun. Night-brother or day-sister, one never sees the light, the other knows nothing of the night.

Early one evening, Christophor is roused by a call to the city prison. A prisoner has torn his eyes out and cannot say why. Yet worse: in the sockets that once held his eyes, teeth are growing. The police suspect the supernatural, so Christophor, a member of the king’s special inspectorate, is charged with finding the witch responsible.

Night-by-night, Christophor’s investigation leads him ever further from home, toward a backwards village on the far edge of the kingdom. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more his day-brother’s actions frustrate him. Who is Alexsander protecting?

What does he not want Christophor to discover?

And all the while, an ancient and apocalyptic ritual creeps closer to completion...

Thoughts ; If you like a good fantasy book to enjoy during your reading slump, please do read this book. It completely suck me into the fantasy world. Highly recommended!
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy!

DNF at 30%. The premise of dark magic and day-and-night brother is promising, but I struggle a lot to connect with the MC and it has lack of background story.

It was the cover that first caught my eye for this book, now I can see how well it works after reading it.

This is a story of night and day. Alexsander and Christorpher share a body, one is the night brother the other the day brother. One an investigator for the King, the other likes a drink, plays music, and is not as studious.

I like this idea of one body with two identities that change over at the rising and setting of the sun. It makes for an interesting read and one that gives two distinct personalities. The author has very cleverly given the perspective of both and done it well so as not to get confusing.

Christopher works hard and has built a good reputation for himself, so he is personally asked, well ordered to go to the edge of the kingdom to work out why a young girl is missing her eyes. This is something that Christopher can deal with, he has experienced, but when the day comes his brother doesn't have the skills, but in his way is able to help, well most of the time.

THis was an interesting story of good versus evil, but for the investigation, it is about trying to find the truth. It is also a chance for the brothers to experience a little of each other's life as memories, reminders, and prompts are left for the following change.

An interesting concept that I really enjoyed, is a good fantasy novel that does have some magic and evil shenanigans and well paced. Not so much war but skirmish, but overall an enjoyable and quite addictive read. It is one I would happily recommend.

I requested this book on Netgalley after reading the blurb and being totally intrigued with the concept.
Equinox is the story of a witch hunt, executed rather cleverly through a duel protagonist, both of which inhabit the same body and can to an extent observe, assist or foil the others work. Without doubt, it is a clever concept that is lusciously complicated and exciting. It is a slow burner, plot driven mystery. The author has a real talent for caricature and creating characters that can be both farcical and macabre simultaneously. I enjoy this writing style and regardless of Christophor being presented as the colder, less emotional “brother”, I was more curious for his side of the tale, perhaps because it was darker and that’s the type of story I enjoy. The world building was comprehensive and fully formed and while the idea of all the characters having a day and night persona (with different character names) sounds complex and elaborate, it was easy to follow.

The plot has numerous elements of horror and the author has created a story that is quite dark at times and very atmospheric throughout. However, although I hugely enjoyed the suspense and lead up to what I imagined would be a colossal battle of good and evil, I felt the ending was rushed considering how long the author took to build the plot. It was a little disappointing considering how whole heartedly invested I was in the fate of the people of Drakenford. I think that this story would make an outstanding tv series!

I was offered Equinox as an ARC via NetGalley. It has a really intriguing premise beyond the supernatural/mystery plot. Towsey employed an unusual way of dealing with changes in perspective (I won't say too much as I don't like to give spoilers). I can see why he chose to do so but was slightly on the fence about how effective it was later in the book as the glimpses into Christophor's life from Alexsander's perspective seemed much more in depth than the other way around. This may well have been intended as an insight into their relationship and the relative importance that one placed on the other however it just felt slightly unbalanced.

One other minor niggle was that every time someone used the phrase "a quarter" Christophor insisted on thinking or saying "a fourth". Yes this is technically true and seems petty to comment on it but there was something slightly jarring about it as opposed to him thinking "one in four" for example. If it was designed to be a character quirk, it didn't seem to serve a purpose and given that in the UK we rarely use the phrase "one fourth" it did tend to stand out as the only oddly pedantic rephrasing,

Overall it was a good read but just missed the mark for four stars as I was hoping for more of a twist at the end.

DNF at 40%. It took 30% for anything to happen. I persevered a little further but I just couldn't continue. At 40% I'd want to have some connection with a character, or the story, or something. But there wasn't anything making me want to read on. The idea of two souls living in a single body, switching places between day and night, sounds very interesting, but the world this story is set in wasn't for me. The pace is just too slow.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

4.2/5

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Eerie building mystery to be solved
~ Well developed world and concept of duality
~ Good range of characters and motivations
~ Pensive ending

An old balding Inspector (witch hunter) and his somewhat alcoholic day-brother, leave the comforts of their city, on orders of the King and a prophecy, to venture southwardly to a superstitious townity (town/city) overrun with airs of terribly wretched witchcraft 😏 (the vicious fun variety). As the inspector goes about his investigation, his musician brother about his drinking and lazing, they both get caught up in the swirling currents of the townity and it’s suspicious and colourful characters. When people die horribly as the prophecy is fulfilled, a woman does her seduction and the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse appear in visions, it becomes clear to Christophor and Alexsander that THIS case will make or break them.

✨Give it a read.

🌱THE MEH
~ The use of alcohol (personal issue)
~ One of those books where you are like 🤦 ‘men can be so stupid when it comes to women’
~ Female ‘seductress’ trope even though this man is like 80 and a major ho 😒
~ Some time-wasting at the end with a not very climactic ending


♡🌱 But that’s just me ;)

Actual Rating: 3.5

Thanks to Netgalley and David Towsey for giving me access to this review copy.

First we obviously have to talk about the main concept of this book, which is incredibly good. Basically in every body there are two consciences, one that comes out at night and one at day. And this just gave us a super cool dynamic in the world, especially because they cannot communicate directly but find more subtle ways to do it. You can tell all the time who is carrying the story at that time, because the characters are super well fleshed out. But I loved how this system affected the world in general. It was a super fascinating concept..
I also quite enjoyed the writing style, I've seen some people having trouble with it, but I didn't mind it.

Now what I didn't love. The main plot is about finding a witch in this town, but even though simple it gets lost a bit in the middle. I loved the ending, but since the first chapters we were more focus on other elements and then came back to the story for the last chapters, which felt for moments a bit rushed. I think this book would have benefit from being longer.

Overall, definitely give this one a chance!

This is a really good detective/murder mystery story told in a fantasy world with a unique hook where everybody every person contains two distinct identities. In some ways, it's like a Night Watch story from Discworld where magic interferes with the detective's ability to do their job. This a darker tale where themes of religious intolerance, war-mongering kings, and how we can become strangers to those closest to us.

Christopher is a witch hunter who works at night, while his day brother Alexsander is a musician by trade. Both of them feel that their lives have been curtailed by the other. Alexsander sacrificed many creative opportunities and chances to travel. Christopher is tired of hunting and wishes his brother had a more respectful occupation.

Towsey writing dances between straight police procedural, horror, love, and fantasy deftly without missing a beat.

The ending left space for further adventures in this world which I would be eager to read. I really enjoyed this,

I feel like this book had a lot of potential - one of the main reasons I wanted to read it was the premise - but the slow build up to any sort of resolution really turned me off from this book. However, I try not to DNF so stuck with it, hoping the ending would redeem it. If anything, it just remained simply an okay read.

Things I did like about this novel were the concepts, characters and magic. The idea of sharing your body with someone else in different parts of the day is a really interesting idea and one I've not seen around before in this format. With this in mind, there's a lot of characters to keep track of, with different motives in the day and night. This character interaction was a favourite; going from binary day and night to a blend between the two as the characters began to cross over was an intriguing narrative thread. To make both Christopher and Alexander so different from one another but able to work together (-ish?) from their different life paths made for a different kind of take on the buddy cop system. Further, the magic was a draw. I wanted to know what was going on and why Jan/Greggory had such a brutal magical attack laid upon them.

However, I found the style of writing quite dry - there was so much suspense but the amount of time it took to get the plot going turned me off from the whole thing. While a lot of the groundwork was laid in the opening segments, it only came to light in the very last part of the book by which point, I was mostly disengaged. The ending wasn't enough to bring back the interest either; it all felt quite obvious.

Overall, this story was fine, but not likely one I would return to.

I really wanted to like this book the concept of day and night siblings in one body basically two entirely different people forced to co exist together was very original and intriguing to me but this storey fell very flat for me. I did enjoy that the main characters day brother Alexander and night brother Christopher were older gentleman and we read the book from their pov, a refreshing change to the usual young female pov books I normally read. I found the plot very predictable and there was absolutely no shocks or dramatic turn of events, we are basically told exactly what is going to happen and then it does. Maybe older readers might enjoy this more than I did.

Review for: Equinox

Before I begin my review, I wanted to provide full disclosure that I received an advanced readers copy of Equinox by David Towsey. The following thoughts and opinions are my own.

The concept of day and night lives was fascinating and was the piece that had me picking up the story to read. The two characters were fleshed out enough yet I did seem to prefer one over the other. I loved how the decisions of one side affected the other - and also how the two sides found subtle ways to communicate. I’ve often felt that I would wake up in bed, feeling exhausted after a dream filled night of sleep like I had actually been awake all night living another light.

Equinox does become dark in parts, and I think that will appeal to many who love to venture into the darkness. I loved the elements of witchcraft and the ancient unknown. I think my only real critique here is with the way things wrapped up at the end. The ending felt a bit rushed and there were certain elements that were did not wrap up as much as I would have liked. Off the top of my head I can name the advancement of the army as a piece that was mentioned and discussed on page but then never brought up again at the end. As a reader, these are just some of those little details that I like having tied up. It makes a story feel complete to me. Now I do love ambiguous endings a whole lot if that is the nature of the story, which is not how Equinox plays out.

Overall, I enjoyed the story The book cover is gorgeous and reflects the nature of the story extremely well with the imagery and coloring.