Things I liked: •the sultry magic vibes~ I liked that there’s a little bit of everything (exorcisms, seances, tarot, spooky houses) •Exploration of healthy relationship dynamics that aren’t considered the societal norm

The story does a good job delving into traumatic pasts, privilege, class disparity in the workplace and relationships, addiction, and mental health. I enjoyed each characters’s POV, and seeing the way their life experiences affect their outlooks on life, love, and friendship. There’s some build up to a poly-relationship, but I wish there was a little more communication between the characters.

What I didn’t like: A lack of personality and chemistry between the characters. It felt like the MMCs relied mostly on broody tension and shared history rather than an obvious chemistry. Moira had more of a unique voice and presence, but I found some of her dialogue to be cheesy at times. Now, this could TOTALLY be an audio issue- the narrator made David and Rhys have rather gruff, flat voices that perhaps took away from their characters. I also found the plot/relationship pacing to be a little off. I know this is a character driven book (I do love character driven books) but as the relationship “stuff” was escalating, the plot just disappeared for a good chunk and suddenly came back for the last 10% of the book (maybe an exaggeration but that’s what it felt like 🤷🏻‍♀️). I think I prefer just a taaad more balance? I was a little disinterested at times, but overall I thought it was good, had beautifully written parts, and I can see why people love it. I think I might have enjoyed this more with my eyeballs.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book. I have soft spot for any stories that dabble into the occult and this book was no exception! I do hope there will be more from this world and eagerly await it.

This book was really good. I surprisingly was so invested in the love story that was by far the highlight. The loving self sacrifice just can’t get over it! Is there going to be a second one? I can’t wait!

Thanks netgalley and tantor audio for letting me reviw this ebook! Also, this was my fairyloot book for april, and the edition was STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS.

david is a boston lawyer with family money....but hes also a powerful medium whos family has had dealings with the occult for generations. He belongs to a secret society of magic, along with his ex, Rhys. While magic has always been natural to david, rhys loves the ceremony and ritual, and works diligently at his craft. Rhys also works hard to make his marriage to moira, another empath and overall QUEEN, happy and stable. But as davids thirtieth birthday approaches, david weakens with a psychic sickeness, and turns to rhys and moira for help.

I thought this book was fun- i liked all the characters so much and wanted to hang out with them. Howver, i wish that there was more focus on the society's magic workings, and how rhys got wrapped into the magic. Same with moiras family magic workings- however i have hope there will be more about these in the series future. Ive seen other reviews say that they wanted more from the demon drama, but i thought the purpose of this book was to world and relationship build, and i think the foundations of the relationships between david/rhys/moira were layed well.

I think the audio narrator did a good job bringing a sense of action and import to the story and good pacing. He did a great job with the mmc voices, but sometimes moiras over the top southern accent was too mcuh and took me out of it. Overall, and an enjoyable audio experience.

I look forward to more installments in this series.

I'm sorry to say it but this lacked the magic the last few books I've read from this author. The beautiful prose I've come to love was not there for this story. And it wasn't a bad story at all, just not what I hoped to read. For a poly romance with the history that there is between characters, I expected something messy and complicated, but it was weirdly easy. Like everyone was fine with it without a second thought? I also wanted there to be more emphasis on the actual magic of this world. I'll read the sequel if I can get my hands on it but I think I'd be just as okay to skip it.

I love all things occult, so the oremise if this was intriguing. A man possesed, tarot, communes with the dead, haunted mansion, secret societies. This has it all except, it all somehow felt like background filler to the two male characters, a relationship that is toxic at times. The books primary focus was on them, which kind of annoyed me as well because Moira, our black female lead, could have been such a stronger voice and character. But she primarly came off as a sweet southern woman who gave permission for her husband to resume a second romance with his ex and take care of them both. I didn't particularly like their "throuple" and it definitely was not an even romance. Rhys just got both his loves and David and Moira are now fast friends.
Back to David, he is possessed by a demon and his house is haunted and he can see dead people, was abused as a child and a recovering alcoholic. None of those things were given much attentoon though and I didn't quite connect with him or Rhys to really understand them. The possession also seemed to take a backseat, I would have thought it'd have been more urgent but it isn't until it's too late. I also didn't understand the curse, like what actually will happen to him?
I sadly just felt bored and even sometimes angry with the scenarios and didn't enjoy this one as I had hoped. So much more could have been explored, especially the occult in Boston.

I really enjoyed S.T. Gibson's other works (Dowery of Blood and Education in Malice) so I was very excited to receive this ARC! I found this book to be a bit harder to get interested in compared to the other two which had me hooked right away. I think I just struggled to connect with the characters. At about 30% of I way in I was shoked that I was so far into the story because it still all felt like set up and I was waiting for the plot to begin. The main premise of the story, that David has been possessed by a demon, was left on the back burner for so long. A more accurate synopsis would mention that the political aspect of running an occultist society is a main storyline. That said, I am glad that I kept listening and I did enjoy the story overall by the end. But if this wasn't an ARC, I'm not sure that I would have finished it.

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

4.75

Moira is mothering.

Rhys and David are mothering.

This entire world is MOTHERING.

Acacian is literally my queer fantasy dream, I loved all of the characters, the world building and also the romance.

I NEED THE PHYSICAL BOOK RIGHT NOW IN MY HANDS!!!

Damn.
After how OBSESSED I was with A Dowry of Blood and how GOOD An Education in Malice was, this one really fell flat. The pacing was poor, the characters were lackluster, the stakes were neglected... I'm struggling to find a positive, honestly. ((Even the narration on this audio ARC (thanks Netgalley!) wasn't very good-- granted I listen at 2x speed, but it should still be pretty smooth. This narrator sometimes added pauses where there weren't any (bc dumb me got a physical copy too) and at other times completely disregarded page breaks. There were also a few instances, closer to the start, where I could just tell it was edited-- a slight change in tone or volume that would throw me off. )) By the time I was finishing this up I was falling asleep and I didn't even care. Quite frankly, I needed more from this. I needed more backstory about David's relationship with his father and WAY more context for his relationship with Rhys. I didn't care at all about the stakes in this book because we spent about 70% pretending they didn't even exist and I can't even remember what we were doing in that time. In a Dowry of Blood I could really feel Costanza's turmoil. This book didn't make me feel anything.
Apologies if this is incoherent, I should've been asleep well over an hour ago but I'm just cranky about this and needed to stay up to rant.

This was so different from the other two books I have read by this author. There was an actual story, which I enjoyed. But the beautiful writing and sex scenes were definitely classic S.T. Gibson. I definitely wanted to see the poly relationship develop more, but I guess we will get that if there is a second book. Overall, it was a fun, magical story with some interesting characters.

Really didn’t care for this one!:

* The lush writing of Gibson’s previous book, A Dowry of Blood, has been replaced here by pedestrian prose. I’m not sure if this was somewhat intentional, with the shift in setting from medieval/Renaissance Europe to present-day America, or an effect of the audiobook narrator’s wooden delivery, or something else.

* Speaking of the audiobook narrator, he didn’t know how to pronounce many words (medicinal, chaise, etc.), and his Southern drawl for Moira (combined with Moira’s clichéd Southern belle dialogue) was just painful.

* The premise — that David is a medium who has been possessed by a demon thanks to an inherited curse, forcing him to seek out the assistance of his occultist ex-lover Rhys and Rhys’ wife Moira, who’s also a medium — promised an intriguing fantasy story. What we got was a heavy-handed setup for a polyamorous relationship and politicking over who’ll be the new head of the local occultist society, causing all three of our main characters to somehow forget about the pressing demonic possession issue for much of the book. The fantasy elements (being able to see spirits, the demon itself, etc.) were extremely light.

* Even with this bait and switch, we’re told a lot of information instead of shown it, especially with the occultist politicking subplot. This made it hard to get invested in the plot.

* David is 29 and enormously wealthy, as we’re told over and over again. He acts like petulant spoiled brat for much of the book and I simply couldn’t warm to him.

I just cannot connect with this book. I don't think it's the audiobook narrator but these characters all seem so flat. There is no chemistry between any of them. And on top of that I'm absolutely bored.

I'm giving it two stars because I think the theme is interesting and may appeal to some but it just didn't hit the way I expected it to.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this title. I received an audio ARC but I am leaving this review honestly and voluntarily.

I love S.T. Gibson and everything she does, and this was no exception! Sultry, intriguing, and character-driven, Evocation was a riveting story that I flew through. I really appreciated the focus on the character's backstories and connections to one another, and how much time was dedicated to letting their respective relationships evolve. At no point was I left with a gap in my understanding of their connection, and that detail excellently demonstrated the type of ongoing trust and slow building blocks necessary for a polyamorous relationship such as this.
While I am glad that the characters were the central focus of this novel, I did find myself wishing for more detail provided on the rituals, magic, and occult practices that the characters focused their lives around. They were so frequently performing rituals or using their magic, and I did not often find a strong description of what they were physically doing, what the goal of the ritual was, or how their magic differed from each other. The pieces we did get were excellent and I think helped to further characterize each lead MC, but I wanted more from that just to expand on one of the most interesting elements of the story.
In terms of Oscar Reyes' narration, I enjoyed his performance for David and Rhys, but found myself wishing for someone else to narrate Moira's chapters. I know that full-cast audiobook narration is not always feasible and I have been spoiled by it recently, but it felt off that a Southern Black woman's voice was being narrated by a non-Black person. Reyes' accent was great, it just felt like not the best choice for the character & book. I also find that I much prefer sex scenes from a female character's POV read by a female voice, and there was a disconnect with it read by a male voice.
Thank you to Netgalley, Angry Robot Books, and Tantor Media for the audio ARC!

I went into Evocations thinking it was going to be a dark and wickedly smart page turner. Sadly, as I got further into the pages, it became clear that every aspect of the tale was falling a bit flat for my taste. I never truly connected with any of the characters, they all felt like outlines of characters I could grow to care about, but the pages just didn't provide enough depth. I found the plot to be mildly engaging but I think this was meant to be a character driven story so in my opinion the world building and plot only slightly buoyed the overall package.

I have heard great things about this Author, perhaps Evocations wasn't a great starting point.

i loved the gothic/paranormal vibes in this book. it felt atmospheric and i liked the idea of Moira's character but i wish we got a little more of her because it felt as though the focus was on David/Rhys. Moira was supportive and intelligent yet she just seemed to be used as the device to get David and Rhys back together. the cheating part was not executed well in my opinion and Moira was done dirty there. had this book been just David/Rhys, would probably been a different review. i liked the writing style, (probably because i had it on audio) but i loved it in a dowry of blood and so my expectations were high. had i not been listening to the audiobook i don't know if i would have finished because as atmospheric as it was, i could not get through Moira being done so dirty.

Evocation by S.T. Gibson and narrated by Oscar Reyes is a deliciously opulent, gothic-esque novel revolving around the life of Boston Attorney David Aristarkhov by day, psychic, occultist and in an ancient pact with the Devil by night. Quite the dichotomy and a blinding premise to start off a new series, but what really set this book up was the interplay and relationships between David, Rhys and Moira

Oscar Reyes has the perfect timbre and range for this audiobook and capture the ambience with elegance and style

ST Gibson has a powerful narrative skill and as a series starter, this was perfect. Great character development and world building, action packed and witty, wry and endearing. I am excited to see where this series goes

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, the author ST Gibson and the narrator Oscar Reyes for this brilliant ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

I had a hard time with the narrator’s voice. I did not enjoy his southern accent or his tone when he voiced Moira and the way he deepened his voice for David just did not sound natural. It made it very hard to get drawn into the book. There were also times that I suspect were added in after the fact because the voice did not match with the book up to that point.

Other than that, this book was amazing. The characters had such growth, and I found myself loving and wanting to know more about all of them. I typically lean towards reading books with a different brand of magic, so this was brand new for me. I do think in a different book I might find myself bored with the topic of the occult, but here everything just drew me in.

I am already hoping for more to read and can’t wait to read the prequel for Moira and Rhys's story.

From the moment Moira entered the scene, I was hooked on this book. She is the perfect divinator, and I love her character. This book is told from the perspective of three persons, David, Rhys, and Moira and it flows so well. The way the story switches perspective isn't jarring, especially in audiobook form, and holds a graceful continuity that leaves the reader wanting more. I found the characters loveable and cannot wait to see what happens to this little group once they settle into their new roles.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a delicious work of character fiction. While I’m very used to Gibson’s work being stand-alone, it wasn’t that hard for me to adjust to. This felt like a loving laying of the foundation for a very interesting series. More than the magic and the world, though, I’m in love with these characters as the relationships they build throughout this book. I’ve always thought character writing was one of Gibson’s strengths and she proves me right once again! In Evocation we see something we rarely see from polyamorous representation and that’s the hard beginnings. I loved the gentle balance that is slowly woven between the three lives of our main characters who, in their own rights, are complex individuals, they read flawed and human and you can see how their sharp edges will slowly slot together in the puzzle of their relationships.

I keep saying ‘I love’, I realize, but I can’t help myself. This book’s weaknesses, to me, really all lie in the fact that it’s the first in a series (books that usually end weak for me, because I’m not the biggest fan of cliffhangers). It leaves a lot of growth left to be grown which I’m so excited to see come to fruition throughout the rest of the series. Can’t wait for the journey to continue!

If you liked Dowry of Blood, An Education in Malice, or have a book hangover from the Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender, I’d recommend Evocation by S.T. Gibson.