It’s for sure an awesome feeling to listen to an audio book edition of one of my favorite books of this year. It brings to life these characters that I hold close to my heart. The narrator was a perfect choice to bring this book for life.
I honestly fell more in love with this book listening to this audio edition. The narrators voice gave new life to a book I already loved.
For sure would recommend this audio book to anyone looking for a book to get lost in.
Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for an Audio Edition of this book. Y’all are the best.

Evocation is a contemporary somewhat gothic paranormal novel about generational curses, magic, secret societies, complicated people and love in unlikely configurations. It’s incredibly fun, Rhys, Moira and David has such an engaging dynamic and I absolutely adored my time with this!

Thank you NetGalley for this audiobook!

I really enjoyed this book, though for a book about the occult there is honestly less magic happening than I'd expected and a lot more longing/whining and politics. I really enjoyed Moira and David and would love to have seen more of the side characters who were all very entertaining whenever they showed up. This book definitely had quite a lot of world building so I'm hoping for more in the future.

I just don’t think this book was for me. I was very excited for it, but I possibly built up something different in my mind than what this was. I was hoping this would be something like Ninth House or Hell Bent with that wonderful S.T. Gibson flair that we got from A Dowry of Blood and even An Education in Malice. But to me this just did not feel the same. It felt like we get a glimpse into the lives of people who are in and run secret societies, but no real look into the politics of it. As well as having a range of diverse representation, but those characters felt one dimensional, as if they were placed there just to check the box.
This one just did not impress me.

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ARC of "Evocation" by S.T.Gibson.

I enjoyed the spooky atmosphere and the gothic style of the book. While other books tend to only scratch astrology on the surface level I enjoyed the deep dive of the book. The entangled relationship and dynamics of the three main characters were well written and interesting to explore.

The narration was great and kept me engaged the whole time.

This book was so good. Its giving 'acts of violet' vibes in the best way. I love the authors' ability to completely captivate and the narrators ability to weave the words into reality.

I really enjoy S. T. Gibson’s writing style. The story is more romance driven than plot driven, I was expecting the occultist/demon vibes from Ninth House but it’s more of the messy relationships from The Atlas Six.
If you are looking for a MFM romance with some supernatural elements definitely give it a read!

The narrator was great with the voices, he really suited the story.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy! I really loved this! It was different from S.T. Gibson's other novels that I've read but I had such a good time! I loved the spooky atmosphere, the depth of our main characters and the occult mystery slowly unfolding throughout. The way Rhys worships his wife and calls her his Goddess had me in a chokehold. David and Moira's connection was so endearing. As a spooky ghoul myself this was right up my alley. This was an excellent start to a series and I am patiently waiting for the next instalment to see where David, Moira and Rhys end up!

After reading a Dowry of Blood and loved the writing style I had to give this a try! I really love gothic style books and mixed with the paranormal
and curses this covers it! It really felt like a cool and intriguing way to think the exorcist mixed with secret societies and magic. Loved following Rhys, Moira and David

"If you cracked Rhys open he would probably have paperback pages inside him, instead of organs. Books have been his only saving grace. The magic of a written word, both figurative and literal, have been responsible for all his successes"

it was... okey, not gonna lie, I'm a little disappointed, cus a dowry of blood was phenomenal and an education of malice was great as well, but this one felt lacking and a little flat,

there was this big life and death situation the whole book, but I didn't feel the high stakes and the seriousness of it all, they were just doing side quests the whole book, while the literal demonic possession was hanging above their heads and denying their attraction to each other, but the poly was good, st Gibson knows how to write complicated relationships,

also there were very little rituals in this book which theme is occult, the vibe was there, but the rituals themselves were only at the beginning

2,5/5⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

This is definitely different from other ST Gibson titles, but I was here for it.

Evocation is kind of a cosy fantasy/mystery but it really shines in characters and character development. David Aristarkhov is the last in his family line and while performing a summoning to speak to the dead, something strange happens. A voice in his head...something not quite right. He contacts the only person he can think who is smart enough to figure out what's happening, Rhys McGowan, a sorcerer and David's ex and rival in a society they're both part of.

Rhys has moved on from David and married the lovely Moira, a witch who typically works with tarot cards. While neither wants to get involved in David's drama, which has trended towards toxic for them in the past, they are quickly sucked in when it seems like David might actually be in danger.

The plot is good, but is also really just a set up to get the characters close together. As they work in close proximity, Rhys and David realise they never stopped having feelings for each other, but Rhys loves Moira. And David is starting to get very close to Moira, teaching her new magic in exchange for her help. I loved the dynamic between the three and by the end there were some incredibly tender and emotional moments that really made this story special. I can't wait to see more of the three of them together in the next books!

Evocation by S.T. Gibson was such a fun and entertaining read. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. I thought the relationships between these characters were fantastically done. It was fun!

The audiobook was great, I liked the voices for each of the characters and I felt like it brought something extra to the story. I cannot wait to listen to the rest of this series in audiobook.

DNF at 25% - I think this is a novel that my brain needs to read in physical form because I'm not fully tracking in an audiobook form. I'll be reading this in a tandem read once I get my physical copy of the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook.

Overall, it was good but definitely focused way too much on the relationships in the story and not nearly enough on the occult which would have been fine if the relationships weren't generally "meh".

It took a bit too long to get interesting for me. As for the narrator, hard pass. A breath every third or fourth word is extremely distracting.

David Aristarkhov is used to things coming easily for him. A gifted psychic, a bewitching warlock, and a world-class prosecuting attorney, he's never had to work much to be successful. Combine that with his devastatingly good looks, his penchant for dressing to the nines, and his extensive wealth, he'd be anyone's dream man. Except for Rhys - David's ex-boyfriend and the only man in their magical society who can go toe-to-toe with David and come out unscathed. David's success is nearly mythological, with stories going back generations about the Aristarkhov family's wealth and eminence being tied to a deal with a devil. So when a demon appears to collect on a generations-old deal, who else is David to call but his ex-lover and sometimes-adversary?

I found myself completely engrossed in the world that Gibson created for these characters, and I am thrilled to learn that there is a prequel novella that I have since requested as a purchase for my library (Odd Spirits). I am eager to continue my exploration of David and Rhys's world when book 2 arrives!

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and ST Gibson for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Old demon deals already had me obsessed. This was so fun and just the right amount of messy.
S.T. Gibson nailed it with this series. So looking forward to where this story goes.
Oscar Reyes did an incredible job with the narration.

Overall I enjoyed this read, but I wanted more depth to the occult side of things. For the most part this book focuses on the relationship between the three characters, which was a little bland. I think the character of Moira could have been left out completely or been given so much more. She was just kind of there loving and supporting and cooking food and taking care of everyone. She was strong in her own right, but her strength was in taking care of others and telling her husband it’s okay to be in love with his ex? I did love that Rhys called her little goddess though ✨.

For the narration, it grew on me, but the faked deep voice given to Rhys reminded me of when you would pretend to be a man to prank call 😂.

Thank you to NetGalley & RB Media for the audio arc of this book.

I like it more than an Education in Malice, but not nearly as much as a Dowry of Blood. That being said, I did enjoy this for the most part!

If you’re looking for a plot driven book, this isn’t it, and that may have been why I couldn’t get invested until maybe the half way point where I finally felt like I saw where the story was going.

I believe they wanted me to allow the couples to drive the story, but I truly think I only liked 1/3 of the characters and that was David. He had deep work on his backstory and I’ll always love the snarky, quick-witted character, they do it for me. Rhys fell flat into this “I love my wife, but I can’t deny my ex” repetition and Moira was lovely and caring, but I didn’t ever really understand her.

I really liked the occult elements and magic system, so now that I’ve read this, I’m definitely interested in the rest of the series, it’s just that it felt like a very long prelude or pilot episode.

"Evocation" by S. T. Gibson is a paranormal fiction thriller. This is the first book in the new series, "The Summoner's Circle". I liked this spooky book, and I want to read future books in the series.

When the demons get nasty and one uninvited spirit takes over, David Aristarkhov needs his well versed magical long-lost friend and ex, Rhys, and Rhys's wife, Moira, to help solve the problem. David is a medium who likes to summon and channel spirits and do seances. Rhys likes that, too, but he is an archivist who prefers rituals to summon and control demons. Moira is a psychic who can see ghosts and does astrology charts and reads tarot cards.

Characters - 5/5
Writing - 5/5
Plot - 5/5
Pacing - 5/5
Unputdownability - 5/5
Enjoyment - 4/5
Narration - 5/5 by Oscar Reyes
Cover - 5/5
Overall - 39/8= 4 7/8 -> rounded up to 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Tantor Audio,
and S.T. Gibson for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Angry Robot, and RB Media for an eARC and an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5!

I loved Gibson’s previous releases, and like them, I really enjoyed her prose in Evocation. Once again I really enjoyed her atmosphere and the overall vibes of the novel, but this was maybe a little rougher than I’d been expecting. I enjoyed how messy David and Rhys were, but I do kind of wish Moira had gotten equal screen time? I’m personally not too fussed about this because this is the first in a series and David and Rhys obviously have a history together, but I do hope to see more of her in future installments. As always I think Gibson does really, really solid character work and I did really like the main cast and find this a fun, easy read, though the plot itself was fairly basic (which, fair, this is a character driven story). I think I mostly just want to see more, in terms of relationships, characters, and magic, but as a first entry, it definitely did its job in hooking me and making me want to know what happens next, especially the way it ended.

The audiobook was fine, though perhaps not my favorite. I think he did a good job with David and Rhys’ voices, though his Moira felt a little… over the top, maybe? Regardless, I had an overall good time.