The Hexologists

How does Josiah Bancroft fare once he leaves the comfortable confines of the Tower of Babel? Pretty well, in fact! Bancroft leans into the charming voice and delightful prose that brought The Books of Babel to life in order to kickstart this delightful new series.

Bancroft effortlessly establishes the new setting, the stakes, the lovable main characters, and the magic system all while employing his trademark wordplay flourishes and clever turns of phrase. The Hexologists shares plenty of structural DNA with his previous novels, so longtime fans will surely feel right at home while Bancroft charts a slightly different course here.

While I initially felt that a 5-star review would be in order, the story lost some steam in the back half and I was not wholly invested in the mystery at the heart of things, so we settled into a very solid 4.0. Our lead pair, Iz and Warren, are a great duo and I hope to follow their adventures for several more books to come!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

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A bunch of people know about Josiah Bancroft. His previous series, with [b:Senlin Ascends 35271523 Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) Josiah Bancroft https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1502224161l/35271523.SX50.jpg 24467682] was a surprise hit, so weird and just out there, with strong character writing. Then... as the series progressed, it fell off to many people, me included. Something about the story just went in a way I didn't like much, so after the stellar book one and two, I quit on book three. But at the same time, this wasn't one of the cases where I gave up on the author, it was just that specific series. So when I saw this one coming, I had to give it a go. Especially because reading the blurb, it made me think of a fun version of Ed and Lorraine Warren. (Then a friend told me the husband is called WARREN, I just went duh, of course.) Now, I have to point something out. The prose in this goes hard. At first I was a bit disoriented by the language that's used, because it's archaic and very flowery. Maybe it's just me, my lack of experience with such things, but it's different, especially when I'm in an urban fantasy phase, which are typically more connected to our contemporary world. But yes, it can possibly put some people off, though it's not at all impossible to read or unpleasant. It's actually a ton of fun after a few pages of adjusting to it and never seems to be hurting the legibility and the flow of the story. That's a big thing with detective type novels; if it doesn't ease you through it all, then what's the point? Mr. Bancroft does that well, though. I wasn't sure about his oddly whimsical and almost bizarre style being able to pull off a mystery that logically builds up, yet he did it. He was never a bad writer, I would say he was always great, but in this he managed to have a much more accessible appeal in my opinion; I can totally understand why his previous series wasn't for everyone. Another thing that could have failed big time, but didn't. The main couple, Iz and Warren starts from the situation of almost like Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson. Iz is academic, she works hard, analytical. Not always the most well-mannered, she has no patience for people and she can seem cold and uncaring to people who don't know what's going on with her. Warren is a comically buff man, caring and extremely sociable. He usually approaches iffy situations with empathy and tries to reason with people instead of cracking the case open. There was so much room for it being awful, turning Iz into a “I need no man, I am smarter than everyone” and Warren into a bumbling idiot useless husband. Many writers, both book and screen, would have and do regularly go with that, resulting in awful stories or unlikeable and downright offensively caricature-ish characters. Iz and Warren are better than that, though. They are people with evident love for each other. They are total opposites and both sides are needed for the other to function. They never treat each other as defective, they just are. Even the mostly hinted backgrounds on their relationships with other characters were brilliantly done. Iz's father, specifically, sounds like such a big one, the way he was described in relation to his wife and daughter. It has that haha random whimsical thing many books do, but then we go a little bit into what it is to be in a family with someone who is basically a cartoonish, seemingly random adventurer type character. Plot twists aren't a must to me. I mean, big ones that make you super surprised and such. Normal ones are fine, I'm not even bothered by spoilers, honestly, the “how did we get here” is more important to me, so I'm not sure how good I am at describing the mystery. To me it seemed good, it had enough buildup, enough logical steps leading to each other. I did not see it coming, though this is a first in a series (and a first detective story from an author), so it's not like we have any kind og a baseline to judge. Maybe for seasoned mystery readers it was easy to figure it out. I don't know, I usually don't even try, just let the story take me from A to B. Of course it ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, or more like a hint for the overarching story starting out. Honestly, so far this year, this was one of my biggest surprises and favourite reads. I do recommend it for anyone who is into fun mysteries with outstanding characters. Just a bit patience to get used to the writing style and you will definitely have fun with it. And I'm already waiting for book 2. :/

CAWPILE SCORE
C-10
A-8
W-9
P-8
I-9
L-9
E-10
TOTAL-9/10

CAWPILECharactersI absolutely love the characters in this book. Warren—Love his personality that he loves to cook and that he sometimes has a bit of a scary side. Isolde IZ—her obsession with figuring things out and the love that She and Warren share together was amazing.Old GebPrincess ConstanceHorace AlmanVictor CholmondeleyDr. Luella Timmons-WilbyProfessor Silas WilbyTurdus Feliovox—Just hilarious DragonAtmosphereThe feel of the city and the pollution was real and everpresent and the scenes describing the places they visited really worked for me.WritingJosiah's writing in this book was amazing. It had so many hilarious parts that had me laughing hard at silly jokes, and then turn to some serious thinkingPlotGreat plot with lots of twists, turns, and stumbling blocks to keep me entertained the whole time I was reading it and guessing with the characters who was responsible for what.InvestmentLoved every minute of reading this book. Very funny. Very hard to put down especially after 75%LogicEverything followed the rules that it should. And was easy to follow without me having to concoct loops for it to work.EnjoymentAbsolutely amazing book. So much fun. I'm so glad this is the start of a series, I can't wait for more adventures of the HexologistsMiscSmall Sherlock Holmes Vibes mixed with Warehouse 13 vibes. Humor was amazingDragon Tug of WarGreat opening line. The king wishes to be cooked alive,” the royal secretary saidThe love that Warren and Iz show each other. Maybe a bit too frequent reminder that they have lots of loud sex, but I'm not really complaining.
I will be talking about it on Libromancy https://libromancy.podbean.com/