I am a little mixed on this one. Overall I enjoyed it, enough to finish it but it had flaws that annoyed me.
It started out strong, but quickly became a book I could easily put down and pick up to read days later and parts of it dragged on for so long it would take me days to get back into it. It's a 303 page book and it took me over a month to finish it. I can read that many pages in a couple of days when inspired.

For one, there was so much detail and so much world building crammed into this book that it often drowned out the main plot of the book and it definitely dragged out the story way to long.

And the main characters often felt more like caricatures instead of real people.
I found the supporting characters, and the world as a whole way more interesting and believable than Isolde and Warren Wilby. I didn't dislike them, I just couldn't get that invested in them.
And unfortunately this book had several instances of one of my least favorite tactics of some authors, that of having otherwise highly intelligent seeming characters make stupid mistakes in a way that feels forced just so the author could move the plot along, or to justify a scene.
Some of their mistakes made sense with how the story played out but others were them being idiots and somehow walking away unscathed, which often felt incredulous to me.

For positives, even though I found the world building to be overwhelming, I have to say it worked.
I found this world incredibly fascinating and engaging, it had depth and felt real. At times I could feel like I was there.
And I found the magic systems to be fascinating, nothing earth shattering new, but I loved how the author wove them together and it felt like he never broke his own rules.

The main mystery driving the story at first felt a bit cliched, but not in a bad way, just in the way plots involving royalty often do. But there were enough twists and turns here that I did not see the ending coming but it felt earned in the end.

Overall, the pros outweighed the cons, I would definitely recommend reading this book and I am very interested the next book a chance and seeing where he goes with this. ( )

This had a lot of fun elements, I loved the relationship of the main couple, the dragon in a bag, the mystery that entailed likely bastard children of royalty. All that was good, but I needed this to be more plot forward, which sounds insane giving how plot heavy this, but I got lost in the interesting new pieces of the world that kept popping up or the unexpected language, and then would have to fumble around for where I was in the plot when another beat came along. Maybe I am just distracted at the moment, but I can usually keep the line of a story despite detours. ( )

Nice Victorian-ish action/detective/adventure. The protagonist couple is charming, and the dragon in a bag is fun. There are a couple plot holes I felt were frustrating - things our heroes missed that they shouldn't have. But overall, enjoyable ( )

"The Hexologists" by Josiah Bancroft is a well-crafted world of magic and mystery. The story centers on the charming duo of Isolde and Warren Wilby, husband-and-wife private detectives, who bring humor and warmth to the story.

The Victorian-inspired city bustles with magic and technology and is vividly described in detail, which adds to the overall depth of the story and its intriguing mystery, which starts with an unusual request to help solve the king's unnatural desire to be cooked alive. The twists and turns of the story lead us to the dark underbelly of the city to the stately manors of the wealthy. Add in the wonderfully witty dialogue, which helps keep the story light and engaging.

However, the novel might not be for everyone. The story does suffer from a slow start, as the story has to serve as an introduction to the world and its characters. The overall plot of the story might be complex for some readers since it contains numerous twists and turns that require close attention. If you're a fan of fast-paced action, the focus on character development and world-building might not suit you.

I found this book to be wonderfully written and was able to speed read through it in a few days, which shows that I really enjoyed the story. ( )

Wow, I really like this. Yes, there were some larger words that I had to look up. I've heard others call the 'Ten dollar words'. It read like a female Sherlock Homes. I like that the characters were flawed and didn't have all the answers. ( )

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: September 26, 2023

3.75 rounded up
I loved the Wilby's relationship - two middle aged folks who have been married for over a decade who are still completely infatuated with each other and will absolutely throw themselves into an abyss for each other. There was a lot of great stuff going on with this book and this world but it took me a little bit to get into and sometimes it didn't 100% flow for me. On occasion it felt like he was using big and/or unique words just to see how many he could fit into the book. I'm definitely interested in picking up the next book to see how the story continues though! ( )