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.

I really enjoyed the first installment in this new series by S.T. Gibson! This is my first book by Gibson and I can see why people really enjoy her writing. We are introduced to Moira, Rhys, and David (yes I did think about Schitt's Creek a lot) in Evocation, three imperfect and incredibly interesting characters. Rhys and Moira are married and David is Rhys' ex-boyfriend. David has to go to Rhys for help when he starts blacking out and hearing a voice in his head.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was watching the bond between Moira and David grow. They start off not liking each other at all and end really relying on each other. I'm also excited to see the relationship between David and Rhys grow more in the upcoming books.

Title: Evocation
Author: S.T. Gibson
Page Count: 400
Time Length:
Dates Read: 6/3-6/8
Format: Audiobook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review: This was an Arc given by Netgalley for an honest review.

This was my first read by Gibson and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. David, Rhys, and Moira are strong characters that form a romance that is sweet. David is dealing with an old family curse. Rhys and Moira will go through a thing to help David.

I will definitely be reading more by this author. I would also recommend this to friends.

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.