Received a copy of this book from NetGalley, but unfortunately, it ended up as a DNF (Did Not Finish) for me.

Starting with some positives - the story mainly unfolded through dialogue, which felt natural and engaging, and the characters, particularly the protagonist Rian, were intriguing and well-defined.

However, I struggled with the pacing at the beginning; the plot seemed slow, lacking the elements to keep me invested.

One aspect that affected the immersion was the use of German phrases. While attempting to infuse authenticity, these phrases felt awkwardly placed and translated inaccurately, disrupting the flow of the narrative. As a reader familiar with the language, these instances took me out of the story.

Regarding the dialect, it came across as forced and inauthentic, personally affecting my connection to the characters and the overall narrative.

Ultimately, while this book might appeal to others, it didn’t align with my reading preferences. As a non-native English speaker myself, I understand the challenges but believe a professional review of language nuances could greatly enhance the overall experience.

The Conductor was a very interesting and well researched historical novel taking place in 1835 Philadelphia. The main character is an 11 year old girl named Rian. She is an interesting and precocious young girl who develops an interest in slavery. I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for this E-ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy of this book.

Sadly this was a dnf for me.

First, a few positive notes, which aren't a lot.
The story was mostly told through dialogue, which I liked, because mostly it felt very natural to me.
The characters were interesting and had their own voice. I really liked the main character Rian.

Unfortunately the story felt very slow and there wasn't much happening in the beginning that peeked my interest.

The german phrases were awkward and mostly wrong, It felt like they were translated with a bad translation program.
For example:
A character calls to Otto (one of the main characters): "otto one thing". otto responds: "was ist das"?, probably to say:"what's that?". But he woildn't respond like this in German. He would probably just say "ja?", because "was ist das" means that you are basically asking "what is this over there?", like you are pointing at something and want to know what it is.
“Was die Sache [What’s the matter?]" - You don't talk like this in German. It is even wrong grammar. You could say: "Was ist die Sache?", but even then nobody would understand what you are asking them. What you can say instead is "Was ist dein Anliegen?", which is very formal or simply: "Worum geht es?"

My english is far from perfect, but when I plan to write a book in that language I'll at least ask a native speaker to look over my text.

Also the dialect felt very cringe and I would have prefered that the author would have leave it out.

That's it for my review. I'm sure other people will like it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and NetGalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Oh my. I'm in love with this book.

Unfortunately I did not notice the expire date when I requested this and I will not be able to finish it before the date. From the ~30% that I was able to read I found the book enjoyable and interesting. I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of the 'melting pot' that was Philadelphia of the time, and the seemingly well-researched references to the steam and railroad technology. When I do finish the book I will post a complete review to goodreads and my blog.

At a time when men and women’s rolls were definitely defined little Ryan Krieger was the tomboy. She was raised by her father and saw the ugly side of racism all the streets of Philadelphia and personally with her uncle‘s best friend who was in escape slave. Little did she know that her time to help the cause would come and it would come sooner rather than later. I have read a lot about slavery end and before the 1800s but I have never heard of little Ryan story before and can’t wait to find out the rest. This is a heroic tale of a little girl who is courage is bigger than most grown man I’ve heard day. I love this book I found it engaging it totally consumed me from beginning to end and although I wanted to review it for a while I knew there was no way I could do it justice. if you love history and historical fiction then you definitely need to read the conductor by Roger a Smith it is so so good! I received this book from NetGalleyShelf the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Thank you Net Galley and BooksGoSocial for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked how the book taught you a lot and was clearly well researched by the author. I thought it was a great idea to add footnotes to the storyline to further increase the reader’s understanding of the plot and what certain words/places meant/were. Overall, this was a great debut novel.

However, this book was very slow-paced, which in books I tend not to like as I start to feel bored and I prefer much more action. I also felt that there wasn’t much excitement in it and I was struggling to finish it.

This book had obviously been very well researched. It is well written with an engaging storyline and well developed characters. a really interesting read