As a fan of S. T. Gibson, Evocation was one of my most anticipated books of 2024, and I'm glad to say I was not left disappointed. Evocation was exactly what I expected and just what I needed. I absolutely loved the balance between the exploration of occult forces and character dynamics, Rhys was my least favorite character, surprisingly, but Moira and David took me by surprise, especially David. At first I though I was going to hate him, but it turns out that, though he absolutely is an asshole, he's charming and layered, and works really well as a character for me. Moira was a delight, such a healthy, mature ray of sunshine (and now I want her as a BFF!).
Evocation was different than both Dowry and Malice, which I knew going in, and though that initially had me a little concerned, S. T. Gibson quickly put my concerns to rest with how funny and witty the tone of this book is.
I had such a fun time and can't wait for the sequel.
Oscar Reyes remains one of my favorite audiobook narrators and did a fantastic job bringing this story to life.

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the next one! A deal with the devil leaves David Aristarkhov the victim of his family's curse. His old flame Reese is the only one he can turn to, however there is so much bad blood between them, and Reese and his new wife Moira are not exactly eager to help David. David and Reese also happen to be a part of a secret occult society and Moira is also gifted. As they begin to work together and paranormal activities start occurring, the three become very close and their feelings for each other grow intense. I loved the exploration of a polyamorous relationship. Also, the secret society and demonic possessions/exorcism is right up my alley. This was an amazing book!

DNF at 20%

At this point, I think ST Gibson and I are not meant to get along. 20% into this book, and I feel like nothing has happened besides a long drawn out conversation between some dudes. I've got nothing more than that.

I have wanted to pick up a book by this author (S.T. Gibson) for a while after reading so many good things about A Dowry of Blood and An Education in Malice and the premise of this book, with a psychic prodigy and a familial debt to a demon, got my attention. However, the book turns out to spend more time on the powerplays between the three main characters and their polyamorous relationship than the details and handling of the curse. Even in describing the main characters, the depictions have a cliche aspect from the precision of detail of David's clothing to the stitching of a cotillion dress to evoke Moira's southern origins. Most of the time spent in describing the secret society was either about the running for the position of the new leader or about the paperwork involved in being the leader, nothing really "magical". Perhaps this was just to lay the foundation for the magic of the society to be explored in the next book of the series, but in this book, they may as well have belonged to Phileas Fogg's reform club (from Around the World in 80 Days). What details the story did explore about magic and astrology, specifically with Moira, were handled well and were the parts of the book that I found most interesting. This book would probably be a good read for someone who is looking for a story of romance/ love-hate/ love triangle with a subplot of occult and magic.
I "read" this book as an audiobook and the parts of the narration where the story is being told (it was told in 3rd person) as narrative were good, but several of the voices that the actor used for the characters' dialogue threw me a bit. I've enjoyed other audiobooks where there are main characters of different genders and read by multiple voice actors so that the fmc is voiced in a more feminine tone. Also the choice in accents concerned me because the fmc has a southern accent, and a Hispanic character has a Spanish accent but a main character that came from Russia as a teen has no accent whatsoever is not accurate to my experience.
I received advanced access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, Tantor Audio) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

ST Gibson excels at messy relationships between complicated, fully-realized characters. This is my third book I've read by the author and it's become apparent that her books are all very character focused; normally this doesn't work well for me as a plot-driven reader, but so far she's only written bangers. 4.5/5, rounded up!

Moira is an absolute queen and who I want to be when I grow up, ostentatiously purple furry coat and all.

I really really like the narrator for the audiobook. I think he's probably in the top 3 male narrators I've ever listened to (and I've listened to ~600 so it's been a fair few).