Description

From the acclaimed author of Senlin Ascends comes the first book in a wildly inventive new fantasy series where magical mysteries abound and only one team can solve them: The Hexologists.

‘Bancroft is a wonder as ever! The Hexologists was a joyous delight on every page – buoyantly inventive, witty, poignant, gripping, and deeply satisfying’ Madeline Miller, author of Circe

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 antiroyalist 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.

‘Fantastic! The Hexologists fizzes eloquently with wit and elegance, but also has marvellous worldbuilding and an excellent plot – and a central pair of characters who I quite simply love. A cocktail of a book made with the very best champagne’ Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library

Publisher Review

Bancroft is a wonder as ever! The Hexologists was a joyous delight on every page – buoyantly inventive, witty, poignant, gripping and deeply satisfying — Madeline Miller, author of CIRCE Josiah Bancroft’s imagination will astound you. One of the most inventive fantasy authors out there — Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga Bancroft has returned to the page in force, deploying his crystal prose and razored wit around a tale that mixes whimsy and threat in equal measure. He’s a gift to the genre and we should support his work — Mark Lawrence, author of THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN Fantastic! The Hexologists fizzes eloquently with wit and elegance, but also has marvellous worldbuilding and an excellent plot – and a central pair of characters who I quite simply love. A cocktail of a book made with the very best champagne — Genevieve Cogman, author of THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY The Books of Babel are something you hope to see perhaps once a decade – future classics, which may be remembered long after the series concludes — LA TIMES It’s rare to find a modern book that feels like a timeless classic. I’m wildly in love with this book — Pierce Brown, author of RED RISING, on SENLIN ASCENDS Josiah Bancroft is a magician. His books are that rare alchemy: gracefully written, deliriously imaginative, action-packed, warm, witty and thought-provoking — Madeline Miller, author of CIRCE This light and charming tale encompasses a twisty mystery, detailed Victorian-esque worldbuilding, and nuanced protagonists who love each other dearly, all relayed in Bancroft’s superior prose. Readers will be eager to see how the series evolves — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)