Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads)'s Reviews > The Conductors

Hetty and Benjy Rhodes were once Underground Railroad conductors, using courage and a touch of magic to bring dozens of people to safety in the north.
With the Civil War over, Hetty is still focused on locating her sister Esther from her new home base in Philadelphia. Hetty works as a dressmaker while Benjy is a blacksmith but together the couple solve crimes in their community that white authorities have zero interest in. When their friend Charlie is found dead in an alley, Hetty and Benjy search for answers in the city’s elite Black society, learning secrets they’d rather keep buried.

This story holds so much promise! I was intrigued at the idea of magic woven into a story about Underground Railroad conductors turned detectives. Unfortunately, the execution was lacking in several areas.
First, we’re introduced to a number of characters at the very beginning of the book and I had trouble keeping up with them all since there isn’t a ton of back story or development throughout.
Next, readers are told that some Black people have magic but it’s all too vague — there’s no explanation or insight into how/why/when this came about or its parameters. All we know is that constellations are used as sigils by those who have magic and they work as spells. I’m still confused about it; the magic just feels random.
The mystery is interesting and finally pulled me into this story after the vague and rocky start. Then, I became frustrated that there was much more telling than showing. Instead of action or first person narratives to offer insight, readers must rely on dialogue between Hetty and Benjy as they work out clues, motives, and discuss the unfolding of events.
I can enjoy a well-executed slow burn but this one didn’t work for me as much as I would’ve liked it to. For me personally it felt like the story tried to go in multiple directions, focus was lost, and that hurt many of the unique concepts within. The Conductors is historical fiction with speculative fiction/fantasy elements in a post-Civil War mystery. Still, the ideas here are fantastic, original, and hold so much promise that I cannot give it less than 3 stars.
Thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Conductors is scheduled for release on March 2, 2021.

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