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

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.

Evocation Book I in The Summoner's Circle

Reviews