Name: Evocation
Rating: 3.357142857142857 (7 reviews)
ISBN: 9781915202680

S.T. Gibson

When a family curse threatens David’s life, he will turn to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend, Rhys—which means he will have to open his heart to Moira, Rhys’s wife. The day David Aristarkhov’s occultist father died, he bought himself an Audi, drank every drop of liquor in the house, and abandoned his life as a teen psychic prodigy. Now pushing thirty, David is a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a medium for a secret society. But when the Devil comes to collect on a deal David’s ancestor made, he reluctantly reaches out to his ex-boyfriend Rhys for help. However, to get to Rhys, David will have to befriend Moira, Rhys’s wife. The trio gets a little too close for comfort as they combine their powers to unravel the century-old curse, and if they don’t break the curse by David’s thirtieth birthday, he won’t live long enough for everyone to figure out their feelings for each other.

Book I in The Summoner's Circle

Evocation

Hannah Nugent

Ghosts were a different matter entirely. They lingered like watercolor washes over a painting, always just out of perceptibility but heavily, heavily felt. Ghosts were ripples of trauma echoing through the living world, reminders of horrible deaths and broken hearts and long, dark passages to realms Rhys wasn’t ready to contemplate. 

Steph

This is the perfect book to read during autumn, thanks to its witchy and gothic vibes. I'm pleasantly surprised that this book doesn't feel as heavy as A Dowry in Blood and An Education in Malice. Despite addressing serious topics like alcoholism and abuse, it maintains a lighter tone, which I appreciated and led me to rate it higher. This one features a healthy polygamous relationship as with the author's other books. I enjoyed reading how the three characters, who started disconnected, found solace in each other and made the relationship work. However, I think the main plot suffered a bit. I would have loved to explore more about the curse, but since this is a series, I'm hoping the author will delve deeper into that in the next book.

A captivating read. While the pace of the book is definitely fast, it does lend itself to a believable world of magical realism with established relationships and characters. S.T. Gibson does a fantastically wonderful job of showing rather than telling with this first installment and I personally cannot wait to read more. 

Cole Stoots

Great complex characters but I wanted more of the magical world and plot to go with the focus on the character relationships.

I liked it but I felt like it moved a little fast, I wish we could get some more character time and also some more setting bc the concept is so interesting, I am excited to get more though!

fris🐝

I finished this in one sitting. I haven't done that in years. I suppose it helps that I am doing a dopamine fast right now, so I do not have anything to do but read. However, I could have gone to other books throughout the day, and I didn't. I chose to finish this one.

Still, while I would day this is a good book, I would not say it is the best I've read. First off, if you go into this expecting intrigue and a mystery, you will be disappointed. The main draw of this book is the characters and their relationships with one another. If you do not want a lot of romantic angst, this isn't for you.

Good for me; I DID want a lot of romantic angst. Also, as a social worker, I really appreciated how the topic of alcoholism was handled. I'm not joking; I got misty-eyed at a few parts, which never happens. I loved the characters, but that didn't stop me from wanting to smack them upside the head a couple of times (in a fun way). 

I don't think this book is anything profound, but I do think it has a lot to say about queer, polyamorous love. I appreciated that and can recommend it. All I can really say is I enjoyed my time with this book. Check it out if this sounds interesting!

Emily B

3.5 Stars:

I finished this in one sitting. I haven't done that in years. I suppose it helps that I am doing a dopamine fast right now, so I do not have anything to do but read. However, I could have gone to other books throughout the day, and I didn't. I chose to finish this one.

Still, while I would day this is a good book, I would not say it is the best I've read. First off, if you go into this expecting intrigue and a mystery, you will be disappointed. The main draw of this book is the characters and their relationships with one another. If you do not want a lot of romantic angst, this isn't for you.

Good for me; I DID want a lot of romantic angst. Also, as a social worker, I really appreciated how the topic of alcoholism was handled. I'm not joking; I got misty-eyed at a few parts, which never happens. I loved the characters, but that didn't stop me from wanting to smack them upside the head a couple of times (in a fun way). 

I don't think this book is anything profound, but I do think it has a lot to say about queer, polyamorous love. I appreciated that and can recommend it. All I can really say is I enjoyed my time with this book. Check it out if this sounds interesting!

LOVED. I found it really impressive what Gibson was able to accomplish in only 300 pages. Great character arcs and development, and interesting plot that moved along at a decent clip, and a poly romance that was heavy on stunning tension and even a dare I say a bit slow burn? The occult was also interesting and not over powering the actual story in the book. It was everything I wanted out of this book, and well written on top of it all. 

Katie Allard

thank you to angry robot books for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

oh man, i was really hoping i’d love this a lot more than i did. coming from previously reading a dowry a blood, a book that explores toxic relationships and polyamorous relationships all under beautiful prose, i had much higher hopes.

personally, the polyamorous relationship just didn’t feel developed all that particularly well. and dare i say… a bit toxic still. conversations between moira and rhys didn’t happen until 

something occurred between david and rhys. and somehow moira was okay with that? even through she specifically mentions that he needs to be upfront about everything. i would’ve thought that would have meant before anything physical or emotional even began happening. i don’t know… maybe i’m overthinking it a bit but it just wasn’t my favorite way to develop the “V”.

rhy and david have a complicated, toxic past that they don’t seem to get over for a fair majority of the book. rhys and moira seem to have been undergoing marital problems at the start of the story too. for rhys and david to develop this relationship it felt almost bordering emotional cheating for my preference. david and moira's friendship felt like the most healthy development for the majority of the book! i was just heavily hoping for better communication from the start about feelings and intentions.

okay, now onto the actual story of the book. i think the magical world could’ve been explored so much more than what we actually got. with like a 1/4 til the book ends, we’re thrown a new type of magical sect, chaos magic. but then we’re told literally nothing about it?? and i think that’s how the vast majority of the magic systems were during this book. it was obviously so focused on the spirit sickness david was facing that it shirked discussing how any of the society was founded, structured, how magic came to be. how people have (or develop?) magic. maybe that’s the fantasy nerd in me that wanted more. and with the way the story ended i do think it could be explore a lot more,

if done correctly. so for that reason i’d probably still be tempted to continue on. but also because of the way it ends with clearly more story there. i assume duology? guess we’ll have to see.

alright, and this is a note that i’m hoping only applies to arc readers, but i guess a note before i mention this. i’m not usually one to mention spelling/grammar issues in an early copy because i obviously expect a few more passes. but usually there’s only like one or two here and there. this copy was rifled with them. at one point a chapter was even labelled with the wrong character name, which was so confusing to me for a good few pages. i really do hope this book gets a few more passes before may.

i should say, overall this may seem like i’m only bashing this book. but i’m not. i honestly see such potential for this story and where it can go. i think the concept is so unique. i love the characters individually. and with where we ended this first book with, they could easily become favorites of mine. it’s just these few gripes that made it tough to get through at certain points.

ash (smokedshelves)

thank you to angry robot books for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

oh man, i was really hoping i’d love this a lot more than i did. coming from previously reading a dowry a blood, a book that explores toxic relationships and polyamorous relationships all under beautiful prose, i had much higher hopes.

personally, the polyamorous relationship just didn’t feel developed all that particularly well. and dare i say… a bit toxic still. conversations between moira and rhys didn’t happen until after something occurred between david and rhys. and somehow moira was okay with that? even through she specifically mentions that he needs to be upfront about everything. i would’ve thought that would have meant before anything physical or emotional even began happening. i don’t know… maybe i’m overthinking it a bit but it just wasn’t my favorite way to develop the “V”.

rhy and david have a complicated, toxic past that they don’t seem to get over for a fair majority of the book. rhys and moira seem to have been undergoing marital problems at the start of the story too. for rhys and david to develop this relationship it felt almost bordering emotional cheating for my preference. david and moira's friendship felt like the most healthy development for the majority of the book! i was just heavily hoping for better communication from the start about feelings and intentions.

okay, now onto the actual story of the book. i think the magical world could’ve been explored so much more than what we actually got. with like a 1/4 til the book ends, we’re thrown a new type of magical sect, chaos magic. but then we’re told literally nothing about it?? and i think that’s how the vast majority of the magic systems were during this book. it was obviously so focused on the spirit sickness david was facing that it shirked discussing how any of the society was founded, structured, how magic came to be. how people have (or develop?) magic. maybe that’s the fantasy nerd in me that wanted more. and with the way the story ended i do think it could be explore a lot more,

if done correctly. so for that reason i’d probably still be tempted to continue on. but also because of the way it ends with clearly more story there. i assume duology? guess we’ll have to see.

alright, and this is a note that i’m hoping only applies to arc readers, but i guess a note before i mention this. i’m not usually one to mention spelling/grammar issues in an early copy because i obviously expect a few more passes. but usually there’s only like one or two here and there. this copy was rifled with them. at one point a chapter was even labelled with the wrong character name, which was so confusing to me for a good few pages. i really do hope this book gets a few more passes before may.

i should say, overall this may seem like i’m only bashing this book. but i’m not. i honestly see such potential for this story and where it can go. i think the concept is so unique. i love the characters individually. and with where we ended this first book with, they could easily become favorites of mine. it’s just these few gripes that made it tough to get through at certain points.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book.

Evocation is a dark academic book that deals with the occult, a secret society and a trio of characters that are easy to fall in love with. I would be reading this book on my lunch break and would hate the fact that I had to return to work instead of continuing to read. The setting is absolutely perfect for snuggling with a blanket and hot drink.

Speaking of the characters, they were such a delight to read about! David is the medium and you may have thoughts about him in the beginning, but trust me, that will change. Rhys is a research king and is also David’s ex. I personally am a fan of exes having to work together, as well as being rivals. The final addition to this trio is Moira, she is Rhys’ wife but more importantly an astrologer. The dynamic between the three is complicated and messy but then you watch them all grow and it is magnificent. I giggled a few times during some of these conversations.

What I felt did let the book down, is there is this rivalry for high priest but we do not see too much of the society outside of meetings where they chat within their clique. I would have liked to see more variation or additional plot in regards to the society, for me this would have created more tension in the rivalry. Hoping this is the case in the sequel.

Whilst I was invested in this book and the characters, I did not feel as much intensity in the plot as I would have expected with this synopsis. This is very much a personal preference of mine and the writing is excellent. You really get to deep dive into the lives of these characters and their backgrounds whilst being slowly introduced to the occult world.

I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait for everyone to be introduced to these characters.

Hannah Picken

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book.


Evocation is a dark academic book that deals with the occult, a secret society and a trio of characters that are easy to fall in love with. I would be reading this book on my lunch break and would hate the fact that I had to return to work instead of continuing to read. The setting is absolutely perfect for snuggling with a blanket and hot drink.


Speaking of the characters, they were such a delight to read about! David is the medium and you may have thoughts about him in the beginning, but trust me, that will change. Rhys is a research king and is also David’s ex. I personally am a fan of exes having to work together, as well as being rivals. The final addition to this trio is Moira, she is Rhys’ wife but more importantly an astrologer. The dynamic between the three is complicated and messy but then you watch them all grow and it is magnificent. I giggled a few times during some of these conversations.


What I felt did let the book down, is there is this rivalry for high priest but we do not see too much of the society outside of meetings where they chat within their clique. I would have liked to see more variation or additional plot in regards to the society, for me this would have created more tension in the rivalry. Hoping this is the case in the sequel.


Whilst I was invested in this book and the characters, I did not feel as much intensity in the plot as I would have expected with this synopsis. This is very much a personal preference of mine and the writing is excellent. You really get to deep dive into the lives of these characters and their backgrounds whilst being slowly introduced to the occult world.


I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait for everyone to be introduced to these characters.

The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov. As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society. But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door. Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is through his wife, Moira. Thrust into each other’s care, emotions once buried deep resurface, and the trio race to figure out their feelings for one another before the Devil steals David away for good… The first book in a spellbinding and vibrant new series from The Sunday Times bestselling author of A Dowry of Blood.

Evocation Book I in The Summoner's Circle

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