The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft – Review

Published: September 26, 2023

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: The Hexologists #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 386 (Paperback)

My Rating: 5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
The Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, are quite accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. Well-acquainted with the weird, they never shy away from a challenging case.

But when they are approached by the royal secretary and told the king pleads to be baked into a cake—going so far as to wedge himself inside a lit oven—the Wilbies soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that could very well see the nation turned on its head. Their effort to expose a royal secret buried under forty years of lies brings them nose to nose with a violent anti-royalist gang, avaricious ghouls, alchemists who draw their power from a hell-like dimension, and a bookish dragon who only occasionally eats people.

Armed with a love toughened by adversity and a stick of chalk that can conjure light from the darkness, hope from the hopeless, Iz and Warren Wilby are ready for whatever springs from the alleys, graves, and shadows next.

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The Hexologists is the start of a brand new fantasy series of the same name from beloved author Josiah Bancroft. Bancroft is well known for the unique worldbuilding in his Books of Babel series and I was excited to see what new and creative tale he wove this time. Much to my delight, I loved The Hexologists!

Iz and Warren Wilby are hexologists, which is one of the four magic types that can be found in this Victorianesque world. Hexologists draw wards or symbols to cause various magical effects – defensive or offensive – and it requires a great deal of precision and art skill. Iz and Warren might practice this magic, but they’re much more well known for taking on difficult cases and that is how they come to investigate whether or not the king has an illegitimate son. The king is also quite ill and seems to be trying to bake himself like a cake, which is a whole other problem. This seems like a straightforward case, mostly requiring our investigative couple to chase down a few leads, but as in all good stories, it’s anything but that.

This was a delightful rollick of a story featuring everything from creepy talking bird flocks, ghouls, dragons, and even a particularly destructive mandrake golem. Every new page was a treat, made even more enjoyable by the duo of Iz Ann Always Wilby and her tweed garbed husband, Warren (or War for short). It’s so rare to find a happily married couple as the main characters in any genre of book and I reveled in their obvious love for one another and how they worked seamlessly as the best partners in both life and work. Iz isn’t a people person, but she’s tremendously intelligent and War has never met a stranger and can chatter amicably with almost anyone. He’s a brilliant cook as well, which is important when one must feed a dragon! Iz charges into danger and Warren follows along with their bag of endless mysteries, the portalmanteau, to either clean up the mess or drag her to safety.

I really couldn’t be more delighted with this book and can’t wait to see what is in store for the Wilbies in the next installment. I must admit, I didn’t love the Books of Babel series the way so many people did and didn’t finish it, so I’m really pleased to find that I loved the start of Bancroft’s new series. This will be making my list of Best Books of 2023 for sure!