EVOCATION by S.T. Gibson – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Evocation by S.T. Gibson
Series: The Summoner's Circle #1
Published by Angry Robot on May 28 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The nitty-gritty: An emotionally charged tale of sorcerers and possession, Evocation is a glimpse into a fascinating fantasy world.

Evocation is an evocative, magical series opener that follows a group of occultists living and working in Boston. If you’ve ever read an S.T. Gibson book before, then you’ll know that her stories focus heavily on interpersonal relationships, and Evocation is no different. But while the relationships are front and center, the worldbuilding is rich and exciting as well—or at least it has the potential to be (more on that later). I enjoyed this immensely, and I’m ready for the next book!

The story centers around three main characters. David Aristarkhov is a prosecutor by day and and occultist by night. He can channel spirits and demons, and makes money on the side performing séances. One night, however, the séance David is performing is interrupted by a voice in his head, shouting an unfamiliar name. Soon after, he begins to feel sick and even passes out. Worried that he may have become possessed, he reluctantly decides to contact his ex-boyfriend Rhys McGowan, a powerful sorcerer who may know how to help.

But Rhys is none too happy to hear from David, the man who upended their relationship and later nearly ruined his marriage. Rhys’s wife Moira isn’t fond of David either, after he accused her of the unthinkable and put a wedge between her and Rhys. Despite their past history, Rhys and Moira agree to help, especially after seeing David’s desperation.

The Beacon Hill house where David grew up houses David’s deceased father’s occult library and is the perfect place for the three to start looking for clues. As they hunker down and read through old journals and reference family trees, they discover an Aristarkhov family curse—once thought to be a fairy tale—and David is in the crosshairs. Rhys and Moira are determined to help David, but with both old (Rhys and David) and new (David and Moira) feelings surfacing, it’s hard to tell which is more dangerous: the demon, or the unexpected emotional bonds growing among them.

Every S.T. Gibson book I’ve read deals with polyamory to some degree, so if that’s not your thing, you should probably look elsewhere for reading material. In Evocation, there is only the suggestion of Rhys, Moira and David hooking up, so I suspect the author will explore this further in the next book. I enjoyed the way her complex relationships develop over the course of the story. Rhys and Moira appear to be deeply in love, but they’ve had some rocky moments in their marriage and are still working through them. When David bursts into their lives, his presence is like a bomb going off, and all three start to reevaluate what they mean to each other. Moira and David in particular go through a big change. They hate each other in the beginning, but a weird, magically charged emotional connection brings them together quickly. I thought they were really cute together, and watching Rhys’s reaction was interesting to say the least.

I also want to mention the dynamic between Rhys and David, which I thought was very well done. They have a volatile history, mostly involving David’s alcoholism and how it eventually destroyed their relationship. It’s no wonder Rhys doesn’t want anything to do with David, who is struggling not only with sobriety but the lingering effects of growing up with a toxic father. David ended up being my favorite character, mostly because the author gave him so much depth and emotion. And in fact, he’s truly the “main character” of Evocation since most of the action revolves around what he’s going through.

I loved the contemporary Boston setting, the perfect city to hide a secret society of sorcerers. The glimpses we get of Gibson’s world are fascinating. The Society that Rhys and David belong to is like an old school men’s club, which one of the characters refers to as a “demon summoning social club.” Although I was a bit irritated that women aren’t allowed, by the end of the book the author addresses that issue in a positive way. My favorite setting, though, is the library in David’s Beacon Hill house, a dusty office stuffed with impossibly rare occult books. The whole house is creepy, and as soon as Moira steps foot inside she mentions that it’s full of bad energy. There’s a reason for that, which I won’t tell you about! But I loved all the scenes set in the house, as the three try to figure out a way to save David from the family curse.

As much as I loved the world building elements, though, I wanted more. Often we hear the characters discussing doing magic or summoning demons, but we don’t really get to see those things happen—until the end. During Society meetings, the men lounge around in dark rooms, smoking and drinking and talking about magic. It was a little frustrating, I have to admit. I’m still not exactly sure what some of the characters do that makes them “sorcerers.” The ARC I read was fairly short, less than three hundred pages, and I would have loved at least fifty more pages to fill in more of the world building details. I’m also curious about how Boston fits into the magical world on a larger scale. There seems to be a lot of political drama surrounding the hierarchy of this world, and I’m hoping the author does more of a deep dive in the next book.

Gibson outdoes herself at the end, though, in a thrilling finale that takes place at the Beacon Hill house. Without spoiling anything, Rhys and Moira have to save David before a certain thing happens, so there’s a ticking clock in the background that added so much tension to the story. She sets things up for the next book as well, which makes me very eager to continue this series. Fans of contemporary urban fantasy with a strong relationship element will have lots of fun with Evocation.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.