Ugh I love this story. It was a wonderful blend of contemporary and the occult. The narrator did an excellent job differentiating the different characters voices as well!

I was drawn to this book by the cover and it's reference to the hanged man from a tarot deck, but the story kept me hooked as we wandered through a world of mysticism, astrology, star charts, tarot, and mediumship. I find the occult fascinating and this book allowed me to explore the secret, underground world from a safe distance. Secret societies, curses, magic, and demonic forces will often draw me in pretty quickly.

With regards to the story and the relationship triangle we are presented with the three main characters, Rhys, David, and Moira; I didn't mind we explored the bisexuality of some of the characters, and complicated relationships with people's pasts lingering into the current. Sometimes people are crappy, sometimes relationships are strong, and sometimes they need flexibility. I didn't have an issue with the way the author wrote about the dynamics.

I think, personally, I would have loved to have seen the story focus more on the mystical forces rather than the relationships but this is completely personal preference. I think the author did a pretty good job of balancing them. I think my only real critique is the pacing was a bit slow for my taste, and there were a lot of angsty moments where people just would not talk to each other openly.

I do want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advance reader audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I do plan on doing a YouTube book review some time in June 2024 on my channel Coffee, Books, and Rain, as well with a bit more insight into my thoughts.

Evocation should have been exactly the book for me - magic and demons and realistic relationships are my jam! Unfortunately this iteration of the ideas is a hard miss for me.

The story is not fun to read. So little actually happens, and the tidbits of magicky plot are buried under a deluge of explanation. The painstaking development of a polyamorous relationship feels manufactured rather than genuine because of the lack of chemistry between the characters. Even the attempt at developed characters can't save the book when their thoughts and motivations are overexplained and utterly flat and mostly pretty awful.

On the plus side, the growth of the platonic relationship between Moira and David is easily the best part of the story. Fiction doesn't depict nearly enough important non-sexual relationships, so I will always cheer them on when I find them!

This is a personal grievance, so take it or leave it - I have no patience with sex scenes that will only use coy descriptors ("her nub," "his length," "her button"). Either leave the sexy times out or else call things what they are, because the pseudo description feels like a high schooler trying to push boundaries. If - unlike - me you prefer your fictional sex suggestive rather than direct, great! This writing will probably hit the sweet spot for you.

The audiobook narrator does a good job, though his narration style didn't work particularly well for me either.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the audio ARC in return for my honest review. I truly wish I had had a more positive reaction to the story I had been looking forward to reading.

A perfect paranormal romance full of astrology, tarot readings, seances, and of course demon possession. This is a satisfying look at the beginning stages of a bi polyamorous love triangle, including a second chance romance in the form of exes to rivals to lovers. I loved each of the MCs and appreciated how each relationship grew on its own timeline. Book two cannot come soon enough!
The narrator did a great job of creating separate and easily distinguishable voices for all characters.

I read An Education in Malice earlier this year and found it to be just okay; however, I thought S.T. Gibson's writing skill was so strong that I wanted to give them another try. I'm so glad I did, because I really enjoyed Evocation. I loved following the complexity and familiarity of David, Rhys, and Moira as they navigate a whole lot of past feelings and sexual tension! (Side note- I just want to be BFFs with Moira, what a delight!)

This book expertly combined dark academia in the modern day, a magical realism story, and a poly romance with great communication. I really enjoyed it and am now invigorated to read more by the author! I read this book in an audio format and thought that the narration style created intrigue and clarity as we swapped character POVs in a meaningful way. I'm so grateful to Angry Robot Books for the Advanced Reader Copy!

Despite being a 400 page or 10hr in terms of audio Evocation sucked me in from the very first page. The book tackles heavy themes like fidelity, addiction, and childhood abuse, all within an occult, dark academia setting.
The story follows David, a medium; Rhys, his sorcerer ex-boyfriend; and Moira, Rhys' astrologer wife as they all get entangled in a family curse and secret society drama. The gothic atmosphere is captivating and just what one needs on a cloudy moody day.
Character dynamics are crucial here. David, Rhys, and Moira form a complicated throuple. David, in particular, is troubled yet endearing, and I found myself rooting for him. However, the book tries to juggle a lot—ancestral curses and complex relationships. Sometimes, it felt unbalanced. The relationship between Moira and David, which isn’t sexual, felt the most authentic.
Despite some unevenness, I enjoyed the book. The detailed portrayal of astrology and tarot was impressive, and Gibson's passion for these subjects shines through. While "Evocation" might not be my favourite of her works, it’s still a fascinating dive into magic, personal drama, and complex relationships. If you’re into dark academia and occult fiction, it's worth checking out. I’m looking forward to the next instalment!

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to the audio version of Evocation.

This was a good sorcerer/witchcraft starter for a series.
A little bit of spice .5
The character building was great and they all seem to work together well
Hoping to continue this series as I did get the special edition hard cover.

DNF @ 62% - I am just bored to tears. Plot was non-existent and I just didn't like any of the characters, which made it hard to continue.

3.75 💫 for STG’s newest release!

Happy release day to one of my favorite authors.

If you’re a fan of secret societies, tarot, astrology, and messy relationships I highly recommend you pick this book up.

You’re following David who is a very high strung lawyer with a side practice being in a secret society that is part of the occult. You’re also following Rhys (David’s ex boyfriend) & Moira. David is concerned that he is possessed by a demon and asks for Rhys’s & Moira’s help.

This book was more character driven than plot driven. I will never be able to get over STG’s writing. The knowledge she put into this book was so unreal and I felt like I was learning new things about astrology and tarot cards and magic. This book follows a polyamorous between the 3 and when we got to that point I just didn’t feel as connected with them as I have in past STG books. But the point of this book I do believe was about messy and complicated relationships! Overall, I’m excited to see where this story goes and I will be continuing the series when the other books come out.

Thank you NetGalley & Angry Robot for this arc! 🪄🧙‍♀️

With great power, comes greater setbacks. Over the years David has grown his credibility as a medium for the secret society he works with. Recently, he has been experiencing strange issues and the only people he thinks can pull him out of this mess are his Ex & his wife. Helping David may unearth several other emotions that Rhys can't decide what scares him more: not helping his old love OR losing his present one in the process.

The plot was certainly riveting with magical society and the presence of supernatural aspects & enchantments made it all the more engrossing. I wasn't really a fan of polygamy or multi-partner relationships so it was a little difficult to enjoy the dynamics between David Rhys and his wife (Moira). The constant clash just kept me at bay from really rooting for the characters. Nevertheless, the storyline involving curses, dark lore & the writing style kept me going and I did enjoy most of what I read.

David is a powerful and well known attorney by day. By night he is a medium for a secret society. When his normally reliable powers begin failing David must reach out to his former love and now rival Rhys for help by going through Rhys's new wife Maura. The three decide to work together using their different magical abilities. Rhys and David's already strained relationship is further tested as their secret society is picking a new leader and both are vying for the position.

This book was very entertaining. I really enjoyed the magic system and world building. All of the characters were incredibly strong. I love seeing more books featuring polyamorous relationships coming out now. I can't wait to read the next book in this series! The audio narration by Oscar Reyes was great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

*3.5 stars*

I feel like this had a lot of potential but just fell a little flat for me.

The plot was very predictable but not necessarily in a bad way. I enjoyed both the world and the characters I just feel like we didn’t get enough time with either to feel fully satisfied. I am really interested to see where the series goes in the future and I’ll definitely read the next book.

The audio was fine but something about the way the narrator over emphasized sometimes made it seem a little theatrical in a bad way. Something about the audio made it hard to feel immersed and forget it was being narrated.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

4.5 for this one. First of all I want to say that the narrator almost made me dnf at the beginning. I hated him so fucking much I wanted to stop listening
. But after like 40% I got used to him I guess and I got more into the story. I absolutely adored the characters especially Moira and David, ST Gibson is definitely the queen of character development. Rhys was kinda meh for me and also kinda wanted to make me stop reading it. But I loved the friendship and asexual romance of Moiras and David’s relationship. Will definitely recommend this further I really loved it at the end.

I think I expected something similar to An Education in Malice and of course this wasn’t that at all so I ended up being a little disappointed. This is still an amazing story, with immaculate gothic vibes and ST Gibson’s incredible relationships they always seem to write. Evocation has more of an occult magic system and I really enjoyed it, even if it didn’t invent anything new, it worked well with what it had and succeeded at depicting a magical world that felt real. I think ST Gibson’s strength is in the way they write about relationships/situationships and all the nuances in between: the love triangle was great because it was an actual love triangle and not a corner which I love that we’re getting more of those. A great book even if I was a little disappointed because I expected something a little more like their previous book which I absolutely adored. 3.5 stars

I'll talk about this one on my channel. But a new book by an author I adore and one who writes angst as no one does.

The problem is that this book is my least favourite by her. The other novels were marketed more as gothic romance, which is fine that’s why I read them0, but Evocation felt like it was going to be more of a fantasy focus book, and it wasn’t. It might have been my own expectations, but the novel was mostly focused on the relationship of Moira, David and Rhys. The relationship was good, but it didn’t give me the same emotions as in an Education in Malice and a Dowry of Blood, so I’m a little bit sad about that.

In general, it was entertaining but nothing that I’ll probably remember in the long run. I’ll read the next book just because of the author but for now my favourites are definitely the standalones.

The real rating is a 3.5.

4/5 ⭐️ - Book Rating
3/5 ⭐️ - Audiobook Rating

The audiobook for this was fine. I thought Oscar Reyes did a nice job but his voice took me a while to get used to in terms of the overall vibe of the book and I'm not sure if it quite clicked for me. Good, but not great and I don't know if I would necessarily recommend audiobook over just eyeball reading it.

The book itself was actually kind of a pleasant surprise. I've read and loved Gibson's, "A Dowry of Blood." "Evocation" leans more as a contemporary romance with some fantasy elements rather than a fantasy romance, which I think was to its benefit. It has an occult dark academia feel (which I'm not typically a fan of, but enjoyed in this) and centers around the relationship dynamics of David, Moira, and Rhys. I fell in love with the three of them and it's their relationship that really drives the story forward. Having it set in Boston was also an added bonus for me.

I would recommend checking this book out if magic, secret societies, romance (poly relationship), and character driven stories are your jam.

Thank you to NetGalley, S.T. Gibson, Angry Robot and Tantor Audio for my early access to this.

The story was good. I can't say that the dynamic of the main characters was my favorite, and I didn't care for the narrator as much.. (I listen to books sped up so it's probably my fault) But overall, I love S.T. Gibson's writing.

thank you to netgalley for providing me with an ALC of this book!

really starting to think 'a dowry of blood' was a fluke at this point.

'Evocation' follows David, his ex-boyfriend Rhys and his wife Moira as they do some occult things and David and Rhys are also part of a society that does occult things but it's never really specified what those things are so it mostly just feels like a club of boys hanging out and talking about doing magic but we never really figure out what that magic is and if this description sounds vague it's because the entire book was vague and i really couldn't tell you what it's about?

the main characters read very 'i'm not like other girls/boys' despite having nothing really special about them. if you're in it for the mystery or suspense you're out of luck. this is a character study at best and on top of that all of the characters are boring and stubborn. there is no tension to be found, despite the characters ending up in a life or death situation.

if you're in it for the polyamourous romance you're ALSO OUT OF LUCK and probably better off reading 'a dowry of blood' instead, where the author did manage to explore the concept properly.

as i mentioned in my description of the story, the plot is very thin. there's little to no worldbuilding and i dare you to tell me what the magic system in this novel is actually set up to do (no really, please tell me because i genuinely don't know).

Evocation was everything I desired after reading the book description and it enticed with each page!

I thought S.T. Gibson did a wonderful job of gently introducing a complicated (but a very modern) relationship between the three main characters. I was immediately immersed into their feelings for each other and couldn’t wait to see where this story was leading me.
The fact that the book is written from different perspectives added so much more depth to learning the progression of their relationships. You get to experience three different lives and three different personalities that somehow fit in a very unique way.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see the author spend a proper amount of time not only on the character’s relationships, but also on the occult experiences and new age practices. It was a delight to not only connect to their personalities, but also to envision a world full of divination, seances, spirit summoning, astrology, tarot readings and so much more.

Although I only see one way this story could progress, I’ll be very curious to read what the author has in store for the next title.

Moira is a ball of bright light and Southern charm, raised to be polite until wronged. She is full of healing energy and has magic that’s been passed down for generations of powerful women. She is a born intuitive that reads people’s emotions and has built a successful (but fair) business specializing in divination, reading stars, and birth charts. Moira is married to Rhys who calls her his “goddess” and his “home”.

Rhys is a member of a secret society that values discretion. What used to be a powerhouse filled with elite members is now its shadow resembling an occult fraternity. A demon-summoning social club that is still hanging on to the hope of the “better days and new money” to come. Rhys has no inherent supernatural abilities, but has a well-established reputation in the occult community due to his obsessive scholarly focus and an undying interest in everything occult. This combination earned him a consideration in the title of a High Priest.

David comes from an extremely wealthy family of immigrants from Russia and is an obvious choice for a successor. The rumor is, his ancestor made a deal with The Devil which would explain their wealth and the supernatural knack for persuasion. Being a workaholic and a prosecutor in Boston, David has no time to believe in such things. Earning the trust of the elderly society members who are stuck in their ways and the younger members who are looking for a change takes a lot of energy, but will be worth it if he earns this title. David will not bow down to anyone, especially Rhys.

Until one day David is faced with a supernatural problem that he cannot explain and has no choice but to ask Rhys and Moira for help in the only way he knows - by offering them both a deal they cannot refuse.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ARC of this audiobook.

A queer urban fantasy that delves into the intricacies of love, curses, and the supernatural, with an emphasis on love.
I truly did love this book it had a great secret society vibe, however, I felt like it focused more on the past relationship between the two male main characters than it did anything else. I would've preferred more on the curse itself, David's family, magic systems etc, the main hook was "The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov." but I felt like that's all we knew about him too.

The choice of narrator was spot on his voice fit in with what I would imagine the characters would sound like (excluding Martha, his southern drawl wasn't quite it)