"The Hexologists: A Tangle in Time" by Josiah Bancroft

Note: This review contains light spoilers for The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft.

Iz and Warren are out to see a play when they come across a grizzly murder of a reclusive artist. A detonation goes off, and then suddenly they’re back at the theater, trekking through the rain, no idea that they’re about to stumble yet again across a murder scene that refuses to stay consistent in Iz’s memory. It’s not until she realizes that there’s a problem with the very foundation of magic itself that’s to blame do the Warrens begin to make progress, and in doing so realize just how devastating past decisions can be on the present.

The Hexologists: A Tangle in Time by Josiah Bancroft is the second book in The Hexologists series and offers a roller coaster ride of a sequel. Bancroft’s ability to combine both a murder mystery and time-bending plot lines added substantial opportunities for creative misdirection such that it was difficult as the reader to recognize just what was going on. However, far from being a turn-off for the book, it situated the reader deep within Iz Warren’s perception and allowed them to follow her thought process as she began to unravel the mystery surrounding her seeming obsession with a particular path through the city to an artist’s home. Ultimately, this serves to build on the portrait Bancroft was able to paint in the pages of the first book and lay the groundwork for a fascinating series moving forward, should he choose to pursue it.

For casual readers, The Hexologists: A Tangle in Time would appeal to anyone whose interests lay in the direction of murder mysteries; ultimately, the novel is a more than a story about murder, but murder is the beating heart of the story that takes the Warrens on a trip through a history of the decisions that cause various time lines to branch out from the main one. However, this approach opens the door for a wider audience to enjoy the story too, since the murder mystery morphs into a story much like Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library because it explores how decisions shape the futures accessible to us and, by extension, how to understand the meaningful impact of our life choices.

For writers, Bancroft’s novel builds on the lessons begun in The Hexologists by offering insights into how to flesh out characters that don’t necessarily conform to stereotypical gender norms. However, going beyond this lesson, writers could find value in Bancroft’s novel if they’re looking for a way to splice disparate plots into a singular, cohesive storyline. While it may be relatively easy to write within a single genre or using a particular trope such as the murder mystery structure, it adds depth and complexity to the story when a writer has to balance two distinct forms of storytelling while ensuring the audience doesn’t get lost in the mix. The Hexologists: A Tangle In Time managed this quite effectively, and added a third type on top of the first two, which makes it something that resists traditional classification, and that is something every writer should aspire to in their work.

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