Intriguing premise and has a lot of potential.. The story kept me turning the pages anxiously but only to be dissappointed with the climax which was rushed and felt like too much was happening at a time.

This was such a fascinating book.

The concept of day and night siblings really sparked my interest. What would happen if the day and night siblings wanted different lives? What if they hated sharing the same body? How much of the sibling’s day/night was the other sibling aware of?

Of course, every sibling relationship is different. The reader, however, learns the intricacies of this relationship through siblings Christophor (night) and Alexsander (day).

The night brother is a witch catcher, the day brother is a fun-loving musician with an eye for the ladies and alcohol.

Their lives are forced to change when Christophor is charged with catching a witch in a southern village. A war is brewing too and this village is close to the border. The king wants the witch found quickly – and thus we begin our story.

The story is told through the perspectives of both brothers. One has an uncanny knowledge of the occult. A ritual is beginning – he can sense it. The other is doing as he always does – having fun… that is until he becomes involved with one of the villagers who has a connection to the case. This dilemma is at the heart of the story – and is what held my attention the whole way through.

The dark magic is interesting – and might I add – there are some particularly gruesome scenes. Yes, this is certainly a fantasy/horror mashup. Not for the faint hearted. This witch is evil and the ritual being enacted involves some horrific deaths.

The build up is methodical, clues come thick and fast, and I thought I knew where we were heading, however, the ending did throw up a few twists which I really enjoyed.

I’d certainly recommend this book for those who like dark magic, evil witches, and hardened detectives. Think Sherlock Holmes if he lived in a land where witch craft was actually possible.

I’d also add that this is a stand-alone book. So if you are looking for something pacey, a bit different, and not part of a huge series, this is for you.

I'm not 100% sure how I felt about Equinox.
I enjoyed parts of the story and other parts I didn't..
The idea of the it was really good and the writing was fine.
In the the end I think this was an a okay read.
If you like the sound of this book I do recommend giving it a try as while I didn't love it I do think others might.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Firstly, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I think the story concept is cool and intriguing but i have a hard time investing myself into the story. It was slow paced for my taste, the execution could be better. There were times i enjoyed the story but mostly they fell flat to me.

This was an enjoyable read that was well written with a good storyline and well developed characters. The book is essentially a retelling ofThe Strange Case of Dr jekyll and Mr Hyde and that made this book really enjoyable for me. I loved the magical elements too. This is definitely a book that I will reread and recommend to everyone I know.

This story and setup have so much potential, but I ultimately felt like what could have been a unique epic fantasy was watered down into something more generic and, honestly, confusing. I loved the concept of the night-brother and the day-brother but didn't feel like the execution was as great as it could have been. For me personally, the writing style wasn't a hit.

Equinox is a unique take on a classic Jekyll and Hyde style story. You'll be introduced to two different characters inhabiting the same body, each with thier own personality, career, and motivations. You'll follow each as the story unfolds, and you'll quickly learn not everything is what it seems.

I found the mystery aspect to be a tad convoluted but the atmosphere and magic kept me intrigued to the final page.

For me the real meat and potatoes here is the magic. I found it both dark and intriguing and the ominous and omissions way the reader is slowly fed tidbits about the witchcraft feeds into the foreboding nature of the story.

I suspect Equinox is a book that might land better as a reread when you can truly appreciate all the informative breadcrumbs that the author left from page one.
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Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for my honest review.

I love this cover, and I love the concept.
Imagine sharing your body with another person, one of you gets days, one of you gets nights... and this is for everybody. When the sun goes down the world shifts.
I really wanted to love this witchcraft mystery with a very classic feel, but I couldn't help feel throughout that it was missing something to make us keep turning the pages. For me, the missing piece was main character charisma. Sadly our main character is not really interesting. I had a lot of trouble getting a grip on him. At first, I thought it was an old man, close to retirement - and I liked that, it felt different. I haven't read many books from the perspective of a grandpa... but then that didn't feel quite right, was christopher closer to his 40s? I'm still not sure now. And I couldn't describe a main trait to define him if I tried. He just didn't stick out in any way, neither did his alter ego. There was no real change in voice, or it was way too subtle to be picked out, which is a real shame. They liked different things, but they talked the same. If we are going to see through different eyes, I want to really feel it.
It is not a bad book, like I said some of the ideas and the main concept are great, but I know it won't stick in my mind, and that's a sad, I think with some small tweaks in characterization it could have been much stronger.

Thank you to Head of Zeus for approving me for an eARC copy of this book. This, of course, does not impact my words in any way.

Hello again dear reader or listener! I hope February has been treating you well and that you’ve had the chance to read some good books. While I’ve been mostly taking part in #FebruarySheWrote held by Benjamin of Literature & Lofi, I also got approved for this book and was so intrigued by it that I decided to read it sooner rather than later. The front cover looks amazing and evokes the premise of the story oh so well and, speaking of, what. A. Premise. Just the idea that there are two people living in one body, but that each can lead a completely different life during the day or night respectively, is so absolutely awesome that I just couldn’t wait to see how Towsey navigated the complexities of such a society. Add to that a witchy mystery and things just become even juicier!

First and foremost then, let me go for some nerdery that was rolling around my head the whole time I was reading this novel. Towsey has created a deeply atmospheric and captivating book that brought together the aging inspector Adamat from McClellan’s Powdermage trilogy, the ambience and eerie feel of the tv series The Alienist, as well as that near constant sense of the uncanny present throughout Neil Gaiman’s the Sandman comics. Talk about a right mix huh? Which is probably also why this was the kind of story that unfolds slowly, and you take your time to read. In fact, while I was always eager to continue, I felt no rush to do so either, savoring instead the ambience and pattern of nothing being quite as it appears. Of every answer actually leading to more questions. Essentially, Towsey created a supernatural/paranormal mystery you dig even though you’re a bit confused as to what is actually going on sometimes. It is a clever way to pull in the reader as they try to make sense of the clues and events but also attempt to differentiate between what is real and/or imagined or perhaps even bewitched.

Moreover, Towsey managed to write up a standalone that delivers enough worldbuilding to give the reader a solid sense of this complex way of life that is led in parallel between day and night in an alternate 18th century, but not so overwhelmingly that it would weigh the overall novel down. In fact, while he does wrap most of the story up by the end, I’ll admit I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of this world and its aspects explained or developed, since most of the plot takes place in the small town Christophor goes to investigate, over a short period of time. Plus I am still a little curious about a couple of loose threads left hanging that, granted, some were more peripheral to the main mystery plotline than others, but still important enough to warrant more attention, I think.

That said, I only have two real qualms with this book. Firstly, as I already mentioned, I was looking forward to the character work that would be born out of such a premise, and to an extent, Towsey definitely delivered. His main conflict and tension very much hinges on the difficulties that come with having two very different people share a body, as we read of the consequences brought on by the investigator Christophor seeking one specific outcome/culprit while his day brother, Alexander, is determined to prove him wrong. But at the same time I felt like this is the kind of novel that stood more steadily on the atmosphere it wanted to create rather than the actual characterization of its protagonists. I could for instance understand some relationships being made etc. but did not see or feel the chemistry behind them as much as I would have liked.

The second thing that didn’t quite land was the pace, although there’s definitely an argument to be made that that was the author’s intention from the get-go, with a deliberate jarring effect, which is also valid. Truly, as I mentioned before, this story was slow paced but not because it wasted words on superficial details, but rather because it took its time to unravel the mystery and create the atmosphere of doubt, tension, and danger that made for an enthralling setting. But then, the concluding events felt sudden and perhaps a little rushed in their hectic sequence that came to somewhat of a skidding halt and then took a couple of final measured steps towards a more poignant ending than what I was expecting. This is not necessarily a truly detracting factor as it does leave room for pondering the story long after you’re done reading it and, if I got to write out my thoughts including spoilers, I might actually make more sense of it all eventually. But ultimately, both of these aspects are what left me with the aforementioned questions, which can be very subjective to be fair. I also have the feeling, that this is a story that would work even better upon a reread, regardless of now knowing the reveal, so I’m still quite curious to see if in a future, when I do go through it again, I will feel differently!

Equinox comes out May 12th 2022 and, if anything I said has piqued your curiosity, you’ll definitely want to steep your toe in this fascinating and occasionally eerie world, dear reader/listener!

Until next time,

Eleni A. E.

Things that were great:
-The premise and magic system are super duper cool
- The world building was succinct and easy to follow, even though the magic system was a little hard to follow at times.
- The atmosphere created was eerie and it made you want to find out what was going on, and the things that were happenening were gruesome, and interesting as well.

HOWEVER,
our fantasy cop that was the only POV of the story was a little on the boring side. And I can understand as a character he might not be as fleshed out because of the premise... there had to be some limitations if you get to be one person for 8 hours of your life a day (assuming a 8 hours awake each, and 4 hours of sleep on either side, yes math). If we would have had Alexander's POV trying to help with the investigation, even though he's a minstrel... that would have probably kept me interested longer.

I'm sure it's a fully awesome story and that it does the premise justice in the end, it was just putting me to sleep every night and despite sleep being my main objective, I wanted a little more to conitnue on.

Thanks net Galley And Mr. Towsey,

I love the unique take on a night and day persona.

A great story, which night brother is sent to investigate witchcraft by the king.

Left me wanting to know the details behind the victims of this witchcraft in the sleepy town.

I like the spooky-Ness of the story from this point.

A little confusing at the beginning and did hope to have a little more concrete ending, where more ends were tied up.

But I would recommend and would like to read the next.

Equinox by David Towsey is a book that calls to your imagination like a siren to sailors only this one doesn't smash you against rocks but against the confines of what is possible.

David weaves a tale of two halves here and I really liked the fact that this was a crime fantasy/witch hunt story. If set in the real world more this could have been an urban fantasy. I liked the fact that there were two halves to the main character and enjoyed the more dark aspects of the book although I expect others wouldn't like it as much unless they have read Grimdark.

There were elements of tell and not show which caused some info dumps. I noticed them because I've written a little myself but others might be put off by this. I also found some of the first part of the book a little confusing but overall was okay.

3.5/5

Equinox is a book that not everyone is going to enjoy but it is rather intriguing. I have to admit, it is not the sort of fantasy I would usually choose but the blurb sounded very interesting so I requested it.

It has a very seventeenth century, witchfinder kind of vibe to it that worked really well. It has a rather spooky feeling to it, and I think it would have been the perfect book to read at Hallowe’en.

The premise of the story is also very interesting and it is not something that I’ve ever read about in a fantasy book. Everybody is two separate people, one lives during the day and the other at night. I’m not sure how that would really work especially if everyone is married to someone else but it is a very cool concept.

Equinox follows Christophor, a witch hunter (and his other half, Alexsander) when he is sent to investigate a mysterious death. This death involves teeth which, for someone who has quite the phobia of teeth, creeped me out quite a lot. Thankfully, the rest of the book is less terrifying.

I enjoyed the story but sometimes I felt it dragging a little bit. It’s not a long book by any means but the first half feels a lot longer than the second half. It does pick up after the mid-way point and from then on it becomes a far more interesting book but there is a lot of backstory that needs to be told before you get to the meat of the story.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Equinox but I ended up rather liking it. It’s dark, mysterious and spooky and it was cool to read a very dark witch centred story. I liked the characters, both Christophor and Alexsander felt like two different characters, despite them sharing the same body which made things all the more interesting. It has a very interesting concept and I loved the vibe but it did feel a little too long despite it being so short. Would I have bought it if I had seen it in the shop? Probably not because it’s not something I would normally go for but it was worth the read.

I like the story, how people have this night and day version of themself. I like the world building, I could imagine how the place set really well. But, I just think this book is not fo me. This book is DARK. I could feel it from the first page how gloomy this book is. And when the first problem arose, when there was this man who took off his own eye because there was tooth that grow behind his eyeball, everything was like getting darker, like I could always picturing it in my head and I didn't like it.

Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean this book is bad. This book is great, especially for someone who like dark-fantasy, this is perfect!

Towsey sets up what is probably one of the single most interesting fantasy worlds I have seen in a very, very long time. The whole concept of night/day siblings is fascinating and full of potential. At it's heart this is a noir detective story and therefore follows some of those rules. The writing is engaging and the tone shifts between brothers is handled with impressive skill. The ending was just a smidge rushed for me. It's odd to say, but this could have been a good 50+ longer, and I would have probably been even happier with it.

World of duality, where people have day and night brother/sister. When the time comes, they chew the right amount of dried ettiene leaves to ease their transition and fell asleep. Different minds and behaviour but the same body.

A heinous crime has been committed in the city of Esteburg and the police suspect supernatural causes. Christophor Morden, one of the king's special inspectorate starts to investigate and in a village far from home, he discover the signs of ritual performed by a witch. Christophor's day brother musician Alexander obviously doesn't know anything about the investigation, yet is deeply connected into the village life and intrigues. Can they work together or against each other?

Everyone is not as they seem in this fantasy novel, replete with war, witchcraft and secrets.

The book is fascinating, but lacks some explanation and depth. It is also pretty predictable. A little too around and about in the narrative.

All in all good fantasy novel and the cover is gorgeous.

A solid fantasy story with likeable characters and a easy to follow plot. I enjoyed the aspects of the world and admired the concepts of day and night brothers. That being said, I think this book suffered a bit from having a bit too much tell and not enough show. Some info-dumping here and there which I personally didn't mind very much at all but objectively speaking it can be a but hard to get through. I enjoyed the writing style—it had a nice combination of flowery, descriptive language and concise, colloquial terminology.

Overall, I think this is a great read for SFF novices or anyone just generally into interesting magic systems and alternate worlds.

I would totally read this again as a leisurely read!

This premise was very engaging: a world were people are two different persons at night and during the day, and all the weird questions it raises (how does it work for the logement situation ? and couples, are they together at night and in the day in spite the fact that people are two different personas altogether ? etc. ). I really liked this fun setting.

Unfortunately, the story didn't follow. Our night-brother has a witch to find after a gory dark ritual and takes his day-brother for the ride in a secluded town. At first glance, why not... But I found myself bored by the main characters who lacked real depth and felt very generic. And the investigation was a bit convoluted : I didn't see where we were going with all of this. You'd want things to unravel for the protagonist after discovering facts... but actually, no, you kind of lose track of the investigation at times, because nothing leads you properly to a big reveal. Ending feels thus a bit rushed.

Another thing that bothered me a bit was the references to biblical elements (a bible in every inn, the four hoursemen...) even though you're in a totally different world. Such details take me out of the story : I mean, in another world, would we really expect to read the bible ?! That religions would emerge, okay... but the exact same religion that our western civilizations knows... really?! It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine in a fantasy story, and it really bothered me here.

So all in all, a disappointing read, even though it showed promise.


*Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for allowing me access to this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Very strange but intriguing, and in some parts, horrifying. (As in the plot, not the writing). A couple things this story reminds me of:
1) Christopher, the night brother, is sent to a faraway town from orders of the King in order to find out who has been guilty of witchcraft and bring them to justice. The reception he gets is very similar to Ichabod Crane in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The town understands why he's there and what he does, but not all of them trust him.
2) The horrific events that happen towards the victims of witchcraft are similar to the creepiness and oddity of the Brothers Grimm movie. This is not your typical, textbook witchcraft.

Most of the reviews so far for this book say the first half of the story is confusing, but I say it's the opposite. I thought the first half was fluid, bone-chilling, and formidable, and really made me excited/anxious to see who was behind the madness. But the second half was rushed. Details were flimsy, unnecessary add-ons like the Four Horsemen were mixed into the plot for no purpose, and loose ends were still not efficiently tied up towards the end. This is still a great book to read for readers who appreciate an eerie fantasy, I just wish there was a more strong, more concrete ending for the last few chapters.

Thank you Head of Zeus for the advanced digital copy!

3/5

Trigger Warnings:
Gore
Graphic Descriptions of violence (including against children)
Ritual Violence

Review:
This fantasy novel pays homage to Jekyll and Hyde in a very interesting conceptual hook. In the kingdom of Reikova, people have a day version and a night version of themselves. Two entirely different minds and souls share one body. The novel opens with our protagonist, night-brother Christophor, who is sent by the King to the small town of Drekenford after it is revealed a ritual of witchcraft is being performed. Christophor's day-brother, the musician Aleksander, dislikes his night-brother's occupation but proves to be a very valuable asset in the end.

I loved the concept, a twist on Jekyll and Hyde had me hooked. But I must say that I thought the second half of the novel was far stronger than the first, this could be due to personal taste as the first half is narrated by Christophor, and the second half by Aleksander. I found Aleksander's narration to be more intriguing, but also the action in the latter half of the novel had a great rhythm to it. The first half was a push to get through, I was continually intrigued by the events of witchcraft, but I found Christophor's character rather tedious.

Towsey masterfully shows you both Christophor's version of Aleksander's events and vice versa, these unreliable narrators add another layer of intrigue to the mystery that encouraged me to continue on. I thought the descriptions and lore in the second half of the novel were very beautiful, and I really enjoyed Christophor's interactions with Victor and Julia, two young children who perform plenty of 'experiments' that help uncover the culprit of these crimes. The fantastical nature of the magic was also wonderful, especially the letter scene which I could picture so clearly in my head.

Unfortunately, I found the first half chose style over substance, which made it difficult to press through. Overall, I thought the world-building was strong but the plot was lacking depth, as the concluding pages of the novel provided me with an unsatisfying conclusion.

For anyone who is interested in a Jekyll and Hyde/V.E. Schwab cross-over, I would recommend this book. You will love the dark magic and secondary/tertiary characters, who really sprung off the page to me.

(A huge thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus, and Ad Astra for the eARC)