• Genre: Mystery / Historical Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: March 2nd 2021
• Format: Ebook – Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through NetGalley, this is my honest review
• Pages: 384
• Goodreads link

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

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

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

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

The mystery

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

The married couple

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

The characters

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

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

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

The magic & setting

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

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

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