For the Twins [Equinox by David Towsey]

Christophor Morden lives by night. His day-brother, Alexsander, knows only the sun. They are two souls in a single body, in a world where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun. Night-brother or day-sister, one never sees the light, the other knows nothing of the night.

Early one evening, Christophor is roused by a call to the city prison. A prisoner has torn his eyes out and cannot say why. Yet worse: in the sockets that once held his eyes, teeth are growing. The police suspect the supernatural, so Christophor, a member of the king’s special inspectorate, is charged with finding the witch responsible.

Night-by-night, Christophor’s investigation leads him ever further from home, toward a backwards village on the far edge of the kingdom. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more his day-brother’s actions frustrate him. Who is Alexsander protecting?

What does he not want Christophor to discover?

And all the while, an ancient and apocalyptic ritual creeps closer to completion...

David Towsey's Equinox caught me off guard. The concept of a shared body with alternating personalities is enough on its own, let alone globalizing that experience to the world build. The complexities that arise of such an arrangement were fantastically explored in the book and I bought into the concept completely. In Equinox, Christopher Morden, essentially a witchhunter, and Alexsander Morden, a wandering spirit musician, share a body and, forcibly, experiences. The demands of Christopher's profession bring the Morden pair to a town on the edge of the king's expansionist offensive, contrasting the northern, Reikova sensibilities to the southern lands. That juxtaposition is discussion fodder alone. The Catholic underpinnings of Christopher's religion against the admittedly exaggerated image of the supposed "uncivilized" peoples of the south? That speaks for itself. 

Overall, I was enveloped in the story. I really enjoyed my read. And I wish that's all I had to say, but it's not unfortunately. We have the mention of the family of suspect having ties to the king's family. Relationship and characters are super well developed, and foreboding visions are had. But when it came to how they played their part, how they unraveled, how they translated in action - it was super confusing. From Christopher's interpretations of prophetic augurs to the deaths of the wunderkinds who knew so much of the evil goings-ons in the village, there was some suspiciously convenient pacing and events. The end conclusion, as one supposes evil to be, was obscure and ambiguous. Was the day-sister in on it as well or was she just sympathetic? Why were the Mordens key to the ritual? What were Olesca's motivations? Considering the likely future events, one evil defeated arguably in defense of another? But I can't deny how much I enjoyed the book. My gut says 5 stars and 4 stars feels to low, so I will be giving this read 5 stars with the understanding that it was at least 4.5. I need it made into a movie or a series, immediately.

Equinox (ISBN:9781801101646) was published May 2022.