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.

The story is about Hetty Rhodes and her husband Benjy. They were conductors on the Underground Railroad, helping people escape slavery before abolition and have now settled in Philadelphia where they investigate crimes in the Black community.
When one of their friends turns up dead, they investigate the case and learn a number of uncomfortable truths about their friends and each other.

What makes this speculative fiction is that magic exists in this world – white people use sorcery, which is comparable to industrialism; they use wands and keep the mechanics of the magical system to themselves in order to hoard power, while black people use celestial magic which is equally powerful but more organic and strongly policed so that it doesn’t become too strong.

The author has a beautiful way of telling a story and captures the time period, though the balance between the crime investigation and flashbacks to their time as Conductors did slow the pace down a bit. I loved the use of Celestial magic in this book, it’s not something I’ve come across before – characters can use astrological signs to focus and conjure magic with strong effect.

Hetty is a very practical woman, she puts aside most of her deeper feelings in order to protect the people around her. This is obviously something borne from necessity to get her through life but can make her a less than sympathetic character at times so it’s important to reflect on the reason she is that way.

This book is strong in both the historical fiction and detective genres, I would highly recommend it to fans of either.

The Conductors is a unique fantasy whodunnit with a historical setting and a whole lot of heart!

Hetty is a marvelous protagonist to spend a book with. Strong, yet vulnerable, caring, yet guarded, independent, yet willing to admit when she needs help and to accept that help graciously. Benji, her husband, was more mysterious to the reader as we don't get his point of view. And yet, I found myself grinning at their dynamic by the final chapters. As much as this book is about solving a murder mystery, it is also about solving the mysteries of Hetty's life - and by the end, these personal mysteries held far more weight than learning whodunnit (though, the final confrontation did not disappoint and had me on the edge of my seat!).

I loved the combination of fantasy elements and the historical fiction setting of the underground railroad. The magic system was unlike anything I have personally read, and I loved that the different types of magic seemed to have personalities of their own. I also can't stress enough how lovely it was to see so much diversity in the main cast of characters. An entirely Black cast, but with varying degrees of connection to their past and heritage (including one woman passing for white), a loving relationship between two men for which their friends and community give full support, and a trans man who is never treated as other or less than.

The flashbacks to Hetty and Benji's time assisting escaping slaves were incredibly high stakes and had my heart pounding. The social commentary subtly woven through this book was so well done and will stay with me for a very long time. And the ending, bittersweet yet full of hope and love, had me quietly sobbing.

The Conductors was one of my favourite reads of 2020, and I can't wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on it! I am so impressed by Nicole Glover and am so looking forward to reading more of their work.


Trigger Warnings: murder, violence, slavery, racism

This book was imaginative, fast-paced, and extremely enjoyable. It's a historical/fantasy/mystery, which is just the right combination to keep you engaged throughout. It's a strong debut from this author, who has a strong voice and sense of place throughout. Where the book lost me a bit was in how many things it was trying to do at once - I lost a bit of the historical element to the magic, and I felt that I lost a bit of the magic world-building to the mystery. That being said, it's a strong concept and a fun read. I look forward to more books by Nicole Glover.

This was a unique historical fiction title, and although it was a bit hard to get into - I enjoyed it once I did get into it. The aspects of magic and alternate history were very interesting and intriguing.

***This was an ARC provided via NetGalley and the Publisher***

The Conductors is an interesting historical fantasy set after the end of the Civil War. It's unique enough to try, but I'm not sure I ever totally immersed myself in it. That could be my own fault. With that in mind, I'd definitely tell someone to give it a try, but not to expect the story to be primarily a romance (although it has one, it's not really the Romance genre), or mostly alternate/spec history (as opposed to Dread Nation's Zombies), or even primarily a fantasy. Nope. It's sort of a historical-fantasy *murder mystery*. Although it's not paced quite like a mystery novel (which I might've enjoyed more!). Part of me wonders if this book would've been more successful in a graphic novel format, or as if it were a genuine "mystery genre" paced book, even if it was still spec/fantasy historical. Even a TV Show.

The first third or so is slow, but has a myriad of thought out details and interesting threads to pull at. The concepts of the magical system and the racial divisions/segregations within practiced magic are fascinating. But the rules of the hows and whys are lacking up front. Part of me wishes that instead of telling Hetty and Benjy's backstory *as* conductors mostly through flashbacks, that this book had been a series, maybe starting with the end of their time as Conductors (through the Underground Railroad). Or even just the initial transition after the end of the war, which was certainly not immediate. Setting them up as conductors just looking to settle down in Philadelphia and begin new business/work for the community they're in, where no one else will do that work. That (in my humble opinion) would've been an easier way to introduce the unique marriage between Benjy and Hetty that started as one of convenience.

I'll also be honest, I simply didn't realize that Benjy and Hetty *hadn't* already transitioned from "working partners," to "also in love," at the beginning of the book. I thought they'd already moved between those stages consciously. That initial confusion is why I'd argue there's a very minor romantic subplot/backdrop, but it's just not a romance novel or even a fantasy-romance blend primarily. Nicole Glover does some great things with historical implications, little details of characterization, social interactions, racism and segregation, and the ways in which magic gets used and regulated (just...not so much the way it works/why). I expected this to be a fantastic book - and certainly parts of it were. But at points I got mired up the zillions of subplots and the vast cast of characters who were all very detailed in the narrative but were quite rapid-fire in introduction, which ends up working against the effort put into specificity while describing them.

I requested this book hoping it was as amazing as the cover looked/the plot sounded. I hope it will get some serious editing to make it that way - because I think there's an amazing book in here. But I feel like I read a "good," book, maybe. I can't tell if I'm being too harsh because of that.

This book. This book CAPITVATED ME FROM PAGE 1. The prose is beautiful and the dialogue feels so natural. Historical? yes, please. Fantasy? yes, please. A murder mystery? yes, please.

A UNIQUE AND TOTALLY AMAZING MAGIC SYSTEM BASED ON CONSTELLATIONS?! GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

This book isn't a fast paced book, and I mean that in the best way. It felt like I was spending time next to a fire with a hot cup of tea while someone told me a story. 10/10 will be shoving it at my friends.

This was a unique historical mystery set in Philadelphia during the Reconstruction era. Hetty and Benjy were interesting characters and I enjoyed learning about their pasts set in the Civil War during the interlude chapters.

There was a fantasy element too with the Black characters capable of using magic, which made this not the typical historical mystery.

The book featured an interesting and diverse cast of Black characters, and overall I found it an intriguing story. My only critique were too many subplots and threads that started to detract from the central mystery, but the ending tied up nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Mariner (HMH) for an eARC.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eArc.
This book starts off a little rough and it took me a bit to get into it. However, once I was in, I was in. It's a beautiful blend of historical and fantasy with lots of good rep. All the characters felt full of their own life and backstory and I believed all of them. It's a fun mystery that kept me hooked to the end.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the historical aspects and the seamless way that Nicole Glover incorporated fantasy into post-Civil War America. The magic system is great. Other strong points are the interludes that fill in backstory and the romance part of the story. Ordinarily, I find that romance overpowers the plot, but in this case, the romance was a nice addition. I felt that the major weakness was that the plot moved along too slowly. Overall though, the book is well worth reading.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

A story sent in an imagined post-emancipation Philadelphia where magic is commonplace but segregated. Former slaves and conductors on the Underground Railroad, Hetty and Benjy Rhodes, solve murders and mysteries. When one of their acquaintances is found dead with an ominous sigil carved into his skin, they realize that even their friends could be harboring dark secrets. A suspenseful and engaging read with compelling characters and intricate world-building.

I love aa good murder mystery book, all the better if there's magic in it.
At first, the book started off slow and I had no idea what was going on. I was confused all the time, about the plot, the characters, the friendships. And I couldn't really connect with either Benji or Hetty
But then, things suddenly changed. The story picked up, the characters became more clear to me and I fell in love with Hetty and Benji.
I loved the flashbacks, their way to freedom. It was amazing to read a book with black leads, and an exclusive black cast of characters.
And what really kept me captivated was the fact that I could not tell who the killer was. Every time I was sure of someone, something would happen and I'd change my mind.
All in all, this is a good book, especially for a debut novel. It's historical fantasy, murder mystery, magic. I liked it very much!

I want to start off by saying a few positive things about The Conductors. Firstly, I am not an #ownvoices reviewer so can’t speak to the historical accuracy nor how the legacy of slavery and the Civil War truly impacts black people, but I really enjoyed that this book included a wide variety of black characters. The Conductors features rich people and poor people, former slaves and free settlers, those who are still haunted by the Civil War and those who are doing their best to move on. Every character has unique and complex motivations, and is dealing with the cards they’ve been handed in their own way: there is very clearly no single post-Civil War mentality. When I read the synopsis, I thought this book sounded like a unique perspective on Civil War era literature, and the characters, at least, lived up to that ideal.

I also love marriages of convenience as a trope, so I really enjoyed Hetty and Benjy’s relationship and watching them slowly come to the realisation that it meant more to them than they were willing to admit, even if they were too scared of losing each other to do anything about it. I was definitely grinning like an idiot when they finally figured it out.

So why didn’t I rate this book more than two stars?

Frankly, because I was endlessly confused for most of it. The plot tries to do too much overall and I couldn’t keep up with all the new plot threads. More relevantly, however, there is a magic system in this book which seems to be loosely based on astrology (but with some healing potions also thrown in), but it’s never really clear how it works, who can wield magic, or what the boundaries of the system are. A lot of the magic-based scenes are hard to follow as a result. It’s also mentioned that white people practice different magic to black people, and that black people with ‘too much’ magic were routinely enslaved because they were perceived as a threat, but this was never really explored and I couldn’t understand the differences except that white people waved wands about like they were in Harry Potter. I thought the idea was hugely creative and could have been an interesting allegory for race relations, but it really needed a lot more fleshing out.

The lack of world-building also extends to the historical setting itself: this felt like 1800s Philadelphia in name only (and a few honorary mentions of wagons). I didn’t necessarily need a story that was only about how much it sucked to be black/a woman/queer historically, but there was very little sense of context. There is a lot of anachronistic dialogue. There are passing references to queer couples, women seeking to escape domestic abuse, and divides in who has access to resources like education, but the impacts of these issues are never fully explored, even though we are still feeling the after-effects of 19th century inequalities today. I appreciated that this is a story about a black community, rather than focusing on the white oppressors, but it felt like there was a gap in the story that could have been explored more.

A lot of these issues feel like common criticisms of debut authors still figuring out how to balance plot/characters/world-building, and I hope that’s the case, because there were a lot of interesting ideas in this book that that never quite made it to the surface. I’m not sure I’ll read any sequels to this particular story, but I’ll keep an eye out for what else Nicole Glover writes. I’m also keen to read more fantasy novels based on this time period, and hope this might inspire a few more.

P.S.. A note for the publishers - there were quite a few missing words in my copy. Not enough to fully distract me from the story, but enough to warrant another proof-read before this one gets printed.

3.75-4 stars

C/W: The book is set and focuses on Black Philadelphia post-Civil War and therefore will contain references to the time period.

Before I start this review, I highly encourage you to look at own voices reviews for "The Conductors".

I genuinely wish that this was a duology. There was so much going on with this book from a new magical system, to the murder mysteries, to the lives of Black people post-Civil War (looking specifically at Philidelphia). The cast is made up solely of Black characters and provides interesting commentary on the time period.

The above only scratches the surface of the subject matter "The Conductors" is trying to deal with. Some moments in this book were incredibly haunting and I wish the writing had lingered a bit more to flesh out both the characters and world-building.

The more I read "The Conductors" the more I disliked the pacing. The pacing is not slow, but rather too fast and incredibly cramped. There is a lot going on in this story and I wished that it was either double the length or more than one book.

If you are looking for something new, I would recommend "The Conductors". The premise felt like something new and exciting to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for giving me an e-arc of "The Conductors" by Nicole Glover to review. All opinions stated are my own. "The Conductors" comes out 2 March 2021.