Another win from Krystal Sutherland. Three women solving a mystery. I will continue to have Krystal as an auto buy author. I've pre-ordered the B&N SE and the Evernight SE.

Compulsively readable The Invocations follows 3 young women searching for a serial killer in London. As they explore the haunting and mysterious ties that bind them, they develop friendships and more. This book explores witchcraft, demons, gore, family, and what power means for women. It was gruesome at times, as all good horror should be, but as a story it was unputdownable. YA Horror at it's finest, follow these 3 young women around the UK and be disgusted with the murders and also a bit with society. Please especially enjoy my favorite part of the book which is the explanation of why demons only barter with women, lol.

This book was the best way to start 2024.

It was amazing.

4.5 stars!

I do not know if there is another book that has played with the way we know witches to be, but this books’ version of witches/cursewriters and the invocations was incredible. It was so clever, and it clearly felt like Krystal had a whole rulebook of how this specific type of magic worked and I loved it. Would I embed myself with an invocation? Absolutely not. If I had a choice, I would choose to be a cursewriter. Languages? Writing? Creativity? My cup of tea. I do not want to be attached to a demon, no matter how nice Bael and the rest of Emer’s Demon family is.

I sort of guessed who the hunters were, but not really. I got the connection that it definitely came from Jude’s family, but definitely not the way I expected. And frankly, I should have known, their nickname was the four horsemen, like hello? Evidence number 1.

Jude was so funny. She will keep you laughing from beginning to end, “You’re a vegan influencer!” is legendary in context okay. And Zara Jones? You will always be famous. I absolutely love how she is someone that loves a challenge and a puzzle and even though I though her bringing her sister back from the dead was absolutely bonkers that made me put the book down for 3 days because I knew it was going to be bad, was fantastic. And the way Demon!Savannah just slashed through everyone? That was cinema! An upgrade to girl rage!

I was so confused about Emer for a good chunk there, like I’m sorry is she body-hopping? But then after I realized what was going on, I am impressed, she is so smart. What better way to hide then in a college campus? Genius! Her battle scene at the end? Incredible. The was Krystal described Demon!Savannah falling like dust around her? Oh my god.

The relationships between the 3 protagonists. The carnage. Female Frankenstein Monster!!! Literally the way Krystal Sutherland described the smells, and the gory scenes, was fantastic. I clearly do not read enough books like this, and I evidently need to read more. I absolutely loved Zara comparing her cutting Jude open like cutting animals in her class, the visuals that invoked and the fear but resilience? Incredible.

The weakest link –
Okay, the subtitle is extreme but it is not that bad, it’s just me being nitpicky:

A) The explanation the father gave at the end. His father in his deathbed can affect someone they met only once? Nah. In a book of unbelievable things, that was the most unbelievable explanation.

B) The romance between Emer and Jude. I would have liked a little more yearning, pinning, more signs that they had the hots for each other. I do like the little we got as it progressed, and the ending was lovely. However, it kind of felt like it came out of nowhere? Which I guess most relationships do, I just wanted more pinning. I guess I wanted more whatever Jude was doing with Reese but with Emer. More of Emer falling for Jude like: “Oh, no, absolutely not, seriously. But jude, ~ jUUUUUUUUUUUUDE~, jude you’re an idiot (she says with heart eyes)” okay bye.

Please read The Invocations, it is a wild ride from start to finish and you’ll love every moment of it.

Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Group and Krystal Sutherland for the arc!

What an amazing adventure. If you enjoyed this author's other work, you'll enjoy this one.

Featuring three povs, these female leads must join together to achieve their goals and solve the mystery underlying the story. I found all three women to be very interesting and compelling characters, featuring unique motives and personalities.

Jude is working to fix the botched deal with a demon, and along the way starts investigating a string of murdered women, all with a similar signature. She meets Zara, a woman trying to find a way to bring her sister back from the dead. Together, they find Emer, the woman who, as it turns out, has written deals-invocations- with demons for all the murdered women so far. And she's not pleased they're turning up dead. Together, they work to discover whose been murdering these women, while trying to find a solution to both Jude and Zara's problems.

This story kept me hooked, every twist and turn in the tale creating an exciting adventure that had me hanging on every word until the end. I also loved the addition of sapphic main characters, enjoying their story and the evolution of their relationship through the tale.

I was so sad when the story ended, but so satisfied, and surprised, by the final act. I've already preorder the book, I loved it so much.

Emer Byrne is a brilliant witch and cursewriter. Orphaned when her entire family was murdered by witch hunters, Emer was raised by demons in the woods surrounding her old home, feral and free. She has one purpose-revenge. Zara Jones is studious and driven, a typical Type A personality. When her sister is murdered, every ounce of her focus turns to one thing-researching necromancy in order to bring her sister back. Jude Wolf is the privileged daughter of a billionaire, exiled after accidentally cursing herself. Now rotting inside and out, the devil may care heiress has one dream-break the curse and return to her former glamorous life. Three very different young women motivated by very different things. But when someone starts stalking and murdering witches Emer has written curses for, their purposes align. Now they must hunt and eliminate a killer before they find themselves victims of an evil that is almost impossible to stop.

Krystal Sutherland’s The Invocations is brilliant and beautifully written. The language is bold, the imagery a smack to your face. It’s gloriously gory and gruesome! Sutherland has a strong, unique concept. Her world building is impeccably well-crafted. The characters are intriguing and fleshed out. They’re not flat or lifeless, but spring fully formed from the page with depth and personality. These young women are powerful and fighting to regain control of their lives, fighting the patriarchal world that has tried to destroy them, but has only left them more fiercely determined to burn that world to the ground. The Invocations is a truly captivating, enthralling read. Loved it!

The Invocations is the type of book I live to read. Love to read. The kind of book that when I open it during my ARC reading I do a fist pump and congratulate myself on finding an absolute gem of a novel that speaks to me on every level–that resonates with me on a molecular level.

The Invocations is the kind of book I read the ARC of, then buy a physical copy of and put on my bookshelf so I can read it and show it off and recommend it to people again and again.

Am I the “target audience”? Heck no. I’m in my mid-40s. The Craft came out the year I graduated high school. Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out the year after. I was a fan of the movie before the show, for pete’s sake. My own era of witchery came and went before I even had my first kid. You know what has come and not left since then, though? My anger. My rage. My fear. My fear of men. My rage at systemic patriarchy. My anger at myself for still being so afraid, even though I know there’s still so many reasons to be afraid every single day. (Then there’s more rage). It’s those feelings that make this book something I completely vibe with, along with how much I adored every single female character within.

Krystal Sutherland pulls no punches with her female characters and I’m loving it. I’m never here for females who approach this world like it’s not out for our blood. I’m never here for female characters who think we’re safe or who are complacent. Jude, Emer, and Zara are all angry at the world in their own ways and none of them are complacent about it. They’re all trying to fight in their own ways. Sure, in the beginning they’re all fighting in self-serving ways–but when they find a common cause and common enemy (hint: it’s a man) they band together to stop it. They fight through pain, blood, sweat, tears, dirt, and more. They sacrifice. Because they know no one else will.

It’s not an easy book to read. My belief is that books like this shouldn’t be an easy read because women’s lives aren’t easy. Books like this remind us it’s okay to be angry. That we can be angry. That we should be angry. And it does it in a glorious, gory, blood-soaked, demonic way. I loved it.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Body Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Occult Fiction/Sapphic Romance/Serial Killer/Supernatural Horror/Suspense Thriller/Thriller/YA Thriller/YA Fiction

i LOVED!!!! the first pages of this — so atmospheric and intriguing, and unlike anything i'd read since ninth house. unfortunately i do believe that 3 characters is too many, that we embarked on our plot too quickly, and that there was so much gore and grossness and vomit as to reduce the impact of the ultimate climax and of its impact.

i thought the ending was sweet, but the characters and their banter too stereotypey to be really memorable. i like this author though!

Thank you Penguin Group, NetGalley, and Krystal Sutherland for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book for an honest review. This has been one of my most anticipated reads and it was definitely one that I will not forget. This is the story of three girls, all with unique personalities that have a special bond. Two of the girls, Zara and Jude, need invocations from the third but first they need to stop the person that is killing her clients all over town. Emer must strike a deal with them before they are on his list. The book is interesting and intriguing and moves fast. If you’re a fan of Krystal Sutherland’s other works I highly recommend this book.

Special thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own :)

3.5 stars ✨

I want to start this review by saying that House of Hollow was one of my top reads of 2022. I devoured that book and loved it dearly. It was dark, it was gross, it was my first real taste of horror and really just a complete and utter masterpiece. That said, I perhaps did myself a disservice by expecting The Invocations to compare beat for beat.

Don’t get me wrong: this is, objectively, a strong book. The characters are flawed yet lovable, the plot is interesting, and the magic system is unique. But the pacing of this novel made it feel like a five hundred page book and even then, there are books of that length that I’ve read quicker than I read this one.

I also found the big twist to be rather predictable, if not a bit heavy-handed. I understand (and LOVE) the core messages of this story. The empowerment of women, the strength in the word ‘witch,’ and the massive screw you said to the rich and powerful men who think they own us are all incredible themes, but at the end of the day one of the true villains of this story felt contrived for a quick “guess who!” moment. Which might not make sense but I’m also writing this while on day four of the flu.

All in all, this was still a pretty enjoyable read. I also really applaud Sutherland for making an incredible rich, somewhat unlikeable character as loveable as she did.

Wow. This book was amazing.

I knew I would like this book since I’ve read others from Sutherland and liked them, as well. But this one really blew me away.

It was mysterious, with a serial killer targeting witches. It was scary, because of said killer and other aspects of the story. It was also empowering. I highlighted so much throughout the text, was able to connect to all three of the women that this story focuses on.

The ending truly shocked me. I saw it unfold before the characters did and I literally gasped. It was so well done. There were no alluding to answer of the mystery and yet the answer still made perfect sense.


This book is for all the women that been taught to be afraid and are pissed off about it. So if female rage and feminism and freedom and magic and friendship are your jam, you’re gonna love this one!

*thank you to netgalley for this ARC, given in exchange for an unbiased review

Thank you so much to PenguinTeen for sending me the Netgalley widget for The Invocations! This review is entirely my own thoughts and opinion based on the advanced unfinished digital copy from Netgalley.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

The Invocations is a gripping tale of three girls with ties to the occult, one trying to raise her sister from the dead, one trying to un-curse herself, and the other a descendant from a long line of witches. Individual searches draws the three of them together and thrust into a serial killer investigation that they need to solve, and quickly, before one or all of them winds up dead next. It's a fantastic tale of female rage and female empowerment wrapped up in a heartstopping paranormal thriller.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
OVERALL: 5🌟
STORY: 5🌟
WRITING: 5🌟
CHARACTERS: 5🌟
ENJOYMENT: 100/10
*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

STORY:
🤯🤯🤯
That is all.
.
.
.
Okay i'm kidding but that's where my head is still at 24 hours after finishing this book. Because W O W.

This story is Queer, this story is Witchy, this story is Dark. It hits hard with discussions of toxic masculinity and female rage. There were so many points throughout the story that I paused to highlight quotes or sat back to digest commentary on how women are viewed through toxic masculine eyes. There's even a fabulous point where a character brings up transwomen, and the response is "demons only care about souls, not bodies". Just yes yes yes yes yes. An argument could also be made that this book has undertones of commentary on how a certain religion has propped men up over women and demonized women. If you're going to demonize and disempower women, then might as well make them the only ones who can use magic because demons will only bond with them and that's the only way to get magical abilities. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All the fantastic social commentary aside, the plot of this story is stunning. The pacing is fantastic, never lulling too long so my poor ADHD brain has time to get distracted. This story is so dang dark that honestly, I plumb forgot this is supposed to be a YA novel. Sutherland went unapologetically hard with this story and its seriously paid off in my book.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

WRITING:

I adored Sutherland's writing style. Its rich and detailed. She's got a fabulous writer's voice full of wit and clever thinking. She's able to set up a fabulous atmosphere that had me seriously vibing all through the story. To the point that all the plot twists hit me hard and had me sitting slack jawed for awhile.

The set up of the way her world works is fantastic. She eases us into the reality that magic exists, but only through bonding with demons, and its expanded on naturally through the unfurling of the story. Its woven so naturally that suspension of disbelief is easy to obtain.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

CHARACTERS:
I loved these three ladies. Sure they made some stupid choices, but considering their ages, I felt they were rather on point for choices most late teens/early adults would make.

Jude is bold, confident, chaotic, and sarcastic. She's 100% my type. Every time Jude opened her mouth, I was living for whatever outrageous thing was going to come out her mouth next. She's definitely the driving force of this story. She might have some pretty questionable ideas/solutions, but you can't really argue with her results.

Emer is sweet, caring, and knowledgeable, wielding magic like it's second nature. Unlike Jude, her past is tragic which has turned her into an incredibly empathic person who will not stand to see women hurt and hunted any more.

Zara (or Jones as Jude calls her) is smart, calculating, and asks all the questions Jude can't be bothered to ask. She has a huge heart for those she cares about, even going as far as attempting to right wrongs through necromancy.

Together these women are empowering and drive a solid story.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

ENJOYMENT:
Oh I love this story. This is a I-gotta-read-this-again tale. This story sticks to your bones and stays with you. I absolutely recommend this story to all my female-identifying book besties out there. Read this. Cherish it. And the next time someone tries to demean you or disempower you, just channel your inner Jude, Zara, and Emer and hold on to your power. Because you are woman. And the world is going to hear us roar.

Krystal Sutherland's latest work doesn't disappoint after the brilliance of "House of Hollow." With a unique take on demonic magic and the concept of a chosen one among demons, the story is engaging. Although it starts slow, the pace picks up, and Jude's witty banter adds charm. The feminist perspective is a highlight, and while it took time to connect with the characters, the thrilling ending makes it worth the read. If you enjoyed "House of Hollow" and appreciate descriptive horror, this book is a good choice.

Krystal has done it again with story telling. I love everything she writes. She has just a way of making you feel all emotions. I loved this book, can’t wait to put it on my shelf. Highly recommend this book.
10/10

After House of Hollow, I have been looking forward to seeing what creepy, spooky work of art Sutherland would come out with next. Thankfully I was not disappointed! I loved the demonic magic system along the concept of a chosen one of the demons. How new witches are created is unique. I'm looking forward to going on a folklore deep dive to see what inspired the portrayal of witches, demons, and magic in this book. Jude's witty sarcasm was deeply appreciated, and I loved her banter with the detective assigned to the murder cases. I was pleasantly with how Jones' story wrapped up as well. Overall, a delightfully creepy book to read for spooky season.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars!

Sutherland is just such a descriptive writer! She writes horror so well. There were so many parts where I was so disturbed. There was a lot of disgusting stuff that was written like gore and sickness, but there is no doubt that you can picture what is happening.

This book had a very feminist outlook which I enjoyed immensely. Any time the author talked about how hard it was to be a woman who had to watch out for men I kept thinking to myself I couldn’t agree more.

One thing people need to know going into this book, which is why I think this is more of a 3.5 stars, is that it has a very slow start. It took me forever to get into the story or to care about anything that was happening. Once it got about halfway I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to see what would happen next. I finished most of it in one sitting at that point. Once it stopped building up each character and their motivations, it got a lot better.

For me it was just hard to connect with the characters. I didn’t really dislike any of them, but none of them stood out as people I should care about. Which made it hard to get into the book as well since there was no substance to any of the girls.

Jude was so unbearable at first. She wasn’t very likeable. She had funny quips, but any time she complained about not having money or thought money could buy her everything was so annoying. Trust me I get it, if I had a luxurious life and lost it I would be upset too, but it still drove me nuts. I felt for her that she was in pain, but she did it to herself.

Zara was fine but kind of boring. Zara seemed to be left out a lot as the story progressed. She seemed more of a background character or someone to help out when Jude and Emer needed backup, unless we were in her POV which makes sense, but I still felt like we weren’t given enough of her to fully care about her. She was the one who stood out the least to me.

I like Emer the most I would say, but even then she isn’t a new favorite character of all time. I thought it was cool what she could do and what she did at the end.

This was another case of I could have done without a relationship plotline. I liked the characters together and wasn’t mad they started to like each other, I just didn’t feel like it was necessary. It built with no warning. One minute they knew each other and the next they felt connected and wanted to be together. It just seemed kind of forced. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but not everything needs to have an endgame relationship. One part I did like was Jude flirting with Reece the whole time. That was funny and brought a “romance” into the book without it going anywhere. I think if the characters wanted to flirt with each other that’s fine, but I thought the story would have been better off if they all just stayed friends.

Speaking of Reece, I loved Chopra as a character! Some of the things were not very plausible like her helping the group of girls the way she did sometimes. But I didn’t really care because she was so likeable. She was a great addition to the cast of characters.

Side note: I loved the “Breaking Bad” references throughout the book.

I did predict what would happen in the end. I didn’t guess everything but one of the main parts I did. Which I wasn’t too mad about because I feel like Sutherland left enough foreshadowing for someone to figure it out but not everyone might. It didn’t take away from the story that I figured it out; I was more happy I got it right.

I would say that I would recommend this book! I would just warn anyone that it does have a very slow start. If you give it a chance you will probably like it too, especially if you like “House of Hollow”. The descriptive horror aspects of Sutherland’s books is really what makes me like her as an author. But I can see where someone may not like it as much because it is hard to get into and the characters don’t really stick out as much to me personally. Thankfully it really picked up at the end!

I was really looking forward to this book, since I loved the house of hollow I wanted to read whatever was next from this author and it did not disappoint! loved this story and above all loved this characters, I can't wait for their next book

Books & Bodies
Death & Demons
Curses & Crushes

This book was more. I am not sure how to explain it. The writing is stunning, the story engaging, and all of it not what you expect at the start. It has a found family aspect on two fronts that I loved.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

The arc copy I got and sent to Kindle was a little hard to read. There were missing letters, words, and whole phrases throughout the entire book so I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something. However, I was able to figure out a pattern to the missing letters and could figure out a lot of the mistakes.

Despite the errors with the file or ebook or whatever, I did really enjoy this book. I like to go into my books blind, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It sure wasn't a witch, necromancer (wannabe), and a 3x cursed girl. This book was different than anything I have ever read. It was fun, it was quirky, but it was also heartbreaking and full of feminine rage. Down with the patriarchy!

Jude is from a family who has outcasted her and she's not sure why. She still yearns to be in their good graces so she still tries to earn back her family. However, there are some family secrets that she was not let in on that might just change everything. I related so much to Jude, always wondering why her family doesn't seem love her and wondering what she did wrong; yearning for her father's love and approval.

Zara and her sister Savannah were abandoned by their mother as children, and left with an aunt to raise them. When the aunt died, Zara only had her sister until she was brutally and unexpectedly murdered. Left in the care of her abusive uncle, she only has one goal: bring Savannah back to life.

Emer is a witch, or cursewriter, whose goal is to give power back to all the powerless women who seek her out after she watched all the women in her family get murdered when she was a child. She creates a curse and binds the women to a demon in exchange for a power of their choosing.

All three young women have awful and heartbeaking stories, which is why they all fit together so well. They all know pain better than many people (men specifically) ever will. They are all so strong and after everything this book put them through, none of them ever gave up.

There is a budding, and queer relationship in this book that I am living for. After all the pain these women have felt, I am so glad that they found some light and solace in each other. This was a very slow burn, so hold on tight.

So much happens in this book in such a short amount of time. You never really get a break because someone always seems to be risking their life or carrying out a dumb plan.

This book was definitely something different than what I usually read. You may want to read the trigger warnings before diving it, but this was a good read. I will be keeping my eye out for the author's next book.

This book was 400 pages and there was no need for it. The opening where the story worked on getting the girls all in the same room and the ending was fine. But the middle was torture and nearly nothing happened it felt like.

So with Jude there was this flirting with both Zara and Emer. Except it lasted all of a second and she was over it. Yet at the end… Jude and Emer end up together in the epilogue.

I just couldn’t get into this book despise the fun concept.

This was wild. I don't read horror often but this had witches so i was all in. This is so gruesome and doesn't not skimp on gorey details and the horrors that go on. I was very gripped by the story even though I had to suspend disbelief a couple times. This is one of those that would make an amazing horror film as well. Just a complete unhinged wild time.