Reviews

The Conductors by Nicole Glover

ketutar's review

5.0

This is an alternative history story about people helping slaves to freedom. In this reality, there is magic. Fascinating magic, based on constellations. There are also other kinds of magic, healing, and sorcery, and probably other kinds as well.
The story follows a couple of "conductors", Hetty and Benjy, and I love these people :-) The side characters are wonderful as well.
It's not only about the freed slaves, it's also a murder mystery.
I know I'm not making much sense, this is probably a very bad review, but I love this story, and I cannot wait to read more about these people and this world.

laelyn's review against another edition

2.0

I admit I had a hard time with this book. The premise is so interesting and the story started off so well, and I loved the combination of a real historic event with fantasy elements. I've never read a fictional story set during the times of the Underground Railroad (or at least I can't remember one), Sadly, I didn't enjoy the world building and the magic system too much. The magic was never properly explained, so while we know that white people can use sorcery and black Americans, who are banned from using wands and sorcery, can use celestial magic. But how any of this actually works? I have no idea. There is also an overabundance of dialogue, and I know this is a weird thing to say because who doesn't love dialogue? But the dialogue in this book often consists of the characters repeating what we already know, telling someone else about what they, and we as the readers, have already learned. That is pretty boring and I caught myself skipping a few lines here and there.
The main character, Hetty, has so much potential and I really do like her. She's a protagonist I enjoyed following and I wanted her to succeed. The other characters, sadly, weren't fleshed out at all - I honestly had a hard time distinguishing between them. There was just no meat to them so I simply didn't care. The same goes for the romance between Hetty and her husband Benjy. While I really like the concept of two characters that once married for practical reasons and then develop romantic feelings later on, I just didn't feel the chemistry between them.

I really wish I liked this book more because there is so much potential here, but in the end, I had to force myself to finish the book because I wasn't excited about the murder mystery aspect of it either. This is a debut novel and it reads like one, but I'm sure that with more in-depth exploration of the world, the magic system and the characters this could turn into an interesting series.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/John Joseph Adams/Mariner Books/Netgalley for the arc!

laurentrowb's review

Jumped right into an action scene and had no idea what was going on. 40 minutes into the audiobook and there’s still names but no information. 

gabalodon's review

4.0

Fun and dynamic story. I wish the magic systems were tighter and more thoroughly explained and I didn't always follow some of the small-scale logic leaps the characters made. But it was an enjoyable cast with a lot of interwoven threads that were interesting to follow.

tracyksmith_reads's review

4.0

The Conductors was quite an enjoyable book for me. It is an interesting story filled with a whodunnit mystery and unique characters. I loved the idea of the conductors of the Underground Railroad having magical powers. Not only that, but the description of the magic was fascinating in itself. Hetty, the protagonist used a style of magic that was new to me in books. She was a great main character with many facets to her personality. Benji, her husband was more mysterious since I often found myself with questions about him.

For anyone interested in a book filled with mystery, magic, and based in a historical period, this book is for you.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

carter84's review against another edition

3.0

I’ll sound like a broken record but I’ll never understand why Goodreads has never implemented half scores as The Conductors would have been the perfect 3.5 stars!
Regardless, I’ve loved the historical setting with the addition of a very interesting magic system and the expansive cast of characters. As a murder mistery is a bit bland and the pacing could be improved, but I’m super curious to see how this series will evolve.

disabledbookdragon's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

local_hat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

3.25

ecroot's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

sydney_arcuri's review

5.0

bahni turpin does it again. I really liked the magic and the characters developed in this book. I am currently reading the second book because I could not wait to see what happened next