Rhys calls his wife "little goddess" and from the very first moment he said that I fell in love with this story.
Evocation is a contemporary somewhat gothic paranormal novel about generational curses, magic, secret societies, complicated people and love in unly configurations. It’s incredibly fun, Rhys, Moira and David has such an engaging dynamic and I absolutely adored my time with this!2024-releases lgbtq magic-and-monsters ...more190 s3 comments Bella607 16.9k

actual rating: 4.5 starsgifted i-am-looking-respectfully161 s myo ??? ? *1,025 7,699

4.5 stars

trouple with a black girl, exes to rivals to lovers, tarot cards, magic and astrology… this book was literally MADE for me. the astrology was written so well. usually when astrology is written in books it’s very surface level. the tarot were written good as well, you can tell the author really does this shit fr! i d that rhys and moira had a really good relationship with each and always set boundaries. this was also just genuinely very fun and all around well written. 2023-favorites adult-fantasy paranormal-romance ...more99 s2 comments Ashleigh (a frolic through fiction)485 8,433

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinion of the book

I don't think I've ever become so obsessed with a book this quickly.

An occult dark academia atmosphere infuses every page of this book, and S.T. Gibson proves once again that she understood the assignment. She has quickly become an author who I rely on for the decadent gothic aesthetics I adore, with this story being one I couldn't help but become thoroughly wrapped up in.

But my friends...the characters. THE CHARACTERS.
This is such a deliciously messy dynamic of three, with David (our resident Medium), Rhys (David's Sorcerer ex boyfriend) and Moira (Rhys' Astrologer wife) all becoming entangled in a family curse alongside secret society rivalry. Seeing them try to work together, while also figuring out their own dynamic - learning how to exist together and communicating what they need - honestly just had me grovelling over them all.

Justice for David. My sweet precious troubled child just wants a friend :(
I absolutely would have died for him and I think I almost did.

I would have loved for this to lean even more into the academia vibe, with the story being largely focused on the curse than anything else. BUT I also did not have a single complaint while reading, just happily vibing with the story and being thoroughly swept up in it all. I have a feeling too that the secret society shenanigans will become even more prevalent in book two.

It was really quite impressive how inflated the drama of it all felt. Differing from your grand fantasy stories and their epic save-the-world plots, this one covers a much more secluded group and their individual dramas. It felt deeply personal, and you yourself are involved in the mess of their lives. Between that and the characters themselves, it's hard not to become invested.

Safe to say, I adored this. I haven't stopped thinking about it since reading and I already want book two, which will be an excruciatingly long wait. Maybe I'll prepare my defence for David in the meantime...


REP: POC, LGBTQ+, Polyamory dark-academia favourites physically-own128 s ivanareadsalot550 190

I would to thank NetGalley and Angry Robot for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Okkkk I'm going to get this out of the way first and foremost, because my feelings about this particular point was so vicious at times that I refuse to blame myself. Brace yourself.

Straight up this whole poly thing was a mess. For me, the relationship stuff read so flat that I could not have cared less who kissed who. So no, imo this book did not need a throuple with constipated energy and no sex appeal. Stop it. Daphne, Velma and Fred had more chemistry. I'm very much hoping that Book 2 will eradicate this nonsense and it will read either Book 1 never happened, or just a flashback of an "experimental college experience" that RhysDavidMoira don't talk about anymore but remained friends despite/because of it all. Ok I'm done thinking about this now.

But also...

...here are some OTHER things I was uncool about:

1 thinking someone is a "deity" because they wear shimmer in their makeup, can plot a star chart, read tarot and give great hugs is...an interesting take. Especially when the book is literally about a pact with an "i'm coming for your soul-your body/brain is an inconsequential happy meal" demon, and additionally features a haunted house that actively hates David and wants to kill him. That's the story I came for.

But stg throughout 75% of this book I was hoping a rift would open up at Beacon Hill and claim them all just so I wouldn't have to read the word "goddess" ever again. Moira reads tarot with some zodiac sparkle, wields crystals and cries when she sees dead people. Calm down. That kid from Sixth Sense was more put together than this caricature of a southern "daddy raised me right/meemaw" gal.

It was a lot.

For me.

And I'm a yoga-crystal-meditation-stevie nicks fan.

Yes, I white saged after this.

Moving on.

2 The Tone: There's a Secret Society that evokes both Victorian-occultist sentimentality and regular, ritualistic summoning of netherworld denizens (with a side of cigar and sexism), a demon possessed workaholic lawyer/spirit medium & psychic intuitive under thirty, a mansion with its own agenda, a surname in demon Collections...sounds marvelous yeah? Now slap some lidocaine on that, imagine making conversation with an upper echelon "Kitty" while wearing off-the-rack Target, and recalibrate your mouth dreams to yearn for a pistachio latte from Tatte (Charles St. location in Beacon Hill). Everything will taste ash in your mouth after that.

There's academia, there's library-core, there's prosecuting, there's childhood trauma.

But all of this landed a derivative, "dark academia meets bougie Boston" pinterest board and I'm sort of mad about that. Because there was just sooooo much potential here. And though this wasn't the greatest read for me, I still really enjoyed the ending! And I definitely d David Aristarkhov!

So I'm very much hoping S.T. Gibson will take the bones of Book 1 and do the opposite of what a series typically does and magic a 5 star Book 2, with or without the help of any and all demons or divine light beings or whatever (cringe) goddess is on call for bestselling authors these days! Definitely curious to read the prequel, Odd Spirits, and to see where this series goes next! There's still a demon to vanquish after all, and I'm weirdly invested in Gibson's secret Society occultists leveling up, and bringing some hellfire in the next installment to make up for everything that led to this less than sparkling review.64 s28 comments S.T. GibsonAuthor 10 books3,135

EVOCATION navigates complex themes around fidelity, addiction, and childhood abuse. As always, I've elected to provide the following content guidance. If you choose to read, please do so with self-compassion.

This work contains:

- Discussion of and depiction of alcoholism
- An addiction relapse
- Smoking
- Marriage in trouble
- Discussions of physical and emotional childhood abuse
- Discussions of infidelity
- Life-threatening magical curses
- Consensual sexual content56 s1 comment Zana438 125

Buddy read with Basil!

I'm glad Basil and I were on the same wavelength because this was a huge miss for us.

TLDR: I expected something along the lines of an adult version of Krystal Sutherland's The Invocations, sprinkled with the dark and suffocating vibes of Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House. But instead, this was all just #ThroupleProblems with sprinkles of the occult.

Worst of all, it read a fanfic. David, Rhys, and Moira were stand-ins for original characters from an established story and the entire occult vibes was just set dressing.

One huge issue I had with this (that I also had with An Education in Malice) was that everything felt so lite when it came to the dark themes. I wanted something much more heavier and depressing, how I felt when I read A Dowry of Blood.

But I got the feeling that ST Gibson was holding back so much. This felt YA instead of Adult (minus some of the more explicit sex scenes). I'm so, so disappointed.

I was here for the magic and demons, but that took a huge backseat to the poly relationship. You can tell that the author did research on Moira's field of magic (astrology and being a medium), but for the darker types of magic, the author didn't really bother to dive too much into lore. The Lesser Key of Solomon was mentioned, but that was pretty much it. Chaos magic made an appearance, but it felt more a soft launch for Book 2.

I was disappointed by the demon possession plotline. I thought it'd be a major part of the story, but I said with the above, it felt very watered down and tame. David sounded he caught magic covid instead of being cursed by his ancestor and possessed by a centuries old demon.

It would've been great if there had been some kind of dialogue with the demon, or if the demon actually manifested as a real being on any sort of plane (physical, astral, whatever).

Idk.

And at the end, it felt Moira just existed for the sake of having a WOC character to add diversity to a book about two queer white dudes. I actually loved her character, but lbr, the major focus was on David and Rhys.

Moira was basically the hinge that allowed Rhys and David to get back together. she just gave up and realized that Rhys and David were meant to be.

And what was even worse, most of the time Moira ended up playing the mom role to two grown men who acted teenage boys.

Gross.

The angst between Rhys and David was annoying to read about. And somehow, I ended up liking David and Moira's platonic relationship much more than either Rhys/David or Rhys/Moira. Lbr, Rhys was such a mid love interest for either David or Moira. Hell, I was rooting for David/Moira ( those two seriously vibed), but, alas, David was strictly gay.

Oh well.

I highly doubt that I'll pick up the sequel because I didn't care about the relationships at all.

But the other day, Basil told me there was a goddamn PREQUEL to this novel that established our three MCs. That wasn't mentioned in any promos that I remember. Wth. And judging by the , it wasn't received well.

Basil and I said we weren't too interested in requesting anymore of the author's arcs, but we're interested in looking into the trad pubbed version of Odd Spirits just to see if it catches our eye or sparks our interest. Knowing me, I might find it as meh as Evocation.

Anyway.

If you contemporary romances with a splash of fantasy, then this is for you. If not, I'd skip this.

Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for this arc.arcs-read buddy-read queer-authors55 s11 comments Jess Owens360 5,095

Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for an ARC.

3.75 rounded up. I still really enjoyed this, it just wasn’t as dark as I’d hope. There are dark topics but it’s written in a more fun(?) and snarky way. I did really the main character David and d getting to know Moira. I know nothing of tarot or astrology but it was very present in this book and makes me want to learn more about both. While not my favorite of all of their works, I still enjoyed the writing. I flew through this book quickly and had a good time. Looking forward to continuing the series. 32 s Ari229 2

Okay this is going to be really long so for the people who dont want to read the whole thing here are the bullet points on why I hate this book and is the worst thing I’ve read this year

1. The way Moira was written ( she lacks depth and its clear that the author really only cared about the two men and their romance)
2. Moira’s character suffered from the strong black woman/meemaw stereotype
3. Moira was cheated on
4. Didn’t the prose - felt very fanficy (very descriptive for no reason) and the dialogue between Rhys and Moira felt scripted so didn’t believe in their love
5. not the fun toxic gay relationship I too realistic to be fun
6. Moira was never treated a real person by Rhys - he treated her salvation and loved her for how he made her feel
7. Didn’t how David’s addiction was written
8. Book was advertised as polyamorous and it is by the dictionary definition in reality the romance is between David and Rhys two ex lovers and ex best friends who still have feelings for one another after almost a decade for separation and who should honestly just be together by themselves and fuck each other up and leave Moira out their mess
9. Moira was a side chick in her own marriage, was cheated on and instead of being rightfully angry Gibson wrote her to be okay with it because it was “inevitable”….el oh el
10. Moira was given the fandom treatment - the way fandom treats the female characters, saying the female character is a “girlboss” and a “bad bitch” and nothing else and going back to obsessing and discussing the male characters and their favourite gay ship
11. Rhys as an entire character fuck him

i dont even know where to start with this review. I have so many problems with this book and I hate that. I really do cause this was on my 24 books to read in 2024 and was a highly anticipated read because when I read a Dowry in Blood back in 2021 when it was still self published, it changed my life and rewired my brain, it was that kind of 5 star read. Ironically this book also rewired my brain by how fucking awful it was, it was that kind of 1 star read. It was soo bad that after I finished it I literally had to take a walk, reconnect to nature caused I just…could not believe what I just read and the fact that this has so many glowing …I must’ve gotten the wrong arc. S.T Gibson owes me $1500 for making me read this during Black History Month. And I mentioned BHM because my main problem with this book is how Moira, the black female “main character” is written and treated.

Moira was done so fucking dirty in this book I dont think I would ever get over it. this book isn’t racist but…..its giving racism babes. Moira deserves so much fucking better than the bullshit David and FUCKING RHYS put her through (rhys is also one of the main problems I have with this book but im not gonna get into that now. Lets just say I never met a good male character named Rhys… fuck all Rhys’). The way Moira was written… it was giving a fujoshi trying to beat the misogynist allegations, it was giving how male shounen authors write their female characters, it was giving how fandom treats female characters. How they ignore the female characters in favour of the male characters and their prefer mlm ship and to beat the misogynist allegations, they simply just hail the female character as a “girlboss” and as a “bad bitch”. Never discussing the female character in any shape of form that explores her depth and treats her as a real character that has flaws and weaknesses that contributes to the story. That’s how Moira was written. It was just abundantly clear that the author only cared about David and Rhys and their relationship because Gibson barely gave Moira any depth and substance to her character. All Moira ever was was the caretaker, the emotional support system for both Rhys and David. To me it seems as if Moira only purpose was to serve as conflict between Rhys and David, an obstacle, she was never written to be a real character with depth, and the barely there depth she was given, it was in relation to David. All Moira ever was, was a “goddess” and a person to depend on. She was never treated as a real person by David and Rhys, especially Rhys. Rhys treated her as his salvation, treated her an object that showed he was normal and good and that he wasn’t the person he was when he was with David. What attracted Rhys to Moira was that she wasn’t David. Thats fucking it. And I dont know if im explaining it well how Rhys constantly calling Moira a goddess, constantly saying she comes first and shes the best thing that ever happened to him is, actually not good. I said earlier Moria was simply a salvation to Rhys and him calling her a goddess wasn’t some cutsie romantic shit and was extremely similar to how fandom treats the forgotten female character if you’ve ever been in a fandom you know what I’m talking about.

Additionally Moira’s character was kinda giving the meemaw stereotype but softcore. it was giving the strong black women stereotype.Gibson just utterly fuck up Moira’s character and it was so clear that she only really cared about Davi and Rhys and im ???? why not just write a mlm story. Moira was the mature one, the emotionally intelligent one, the support system, but no one actually supported Moira. Everyone just used her and this is why im saying that S.T Gibson owes me $13430 for making me read this shit during black history month cause Gibson hated Moira im sorry i had to say it. Never fleshing out her character, making her into a stereotype, making her the side piece in HER OWN FUCKING MARRIAGE. and this is the cherry on top of the whole shitpie that is Moira’s character. This book was advertised as polyamory so im thinking im about to get some delicious angst and yearning and sexy times between all three characters but nope. Not all three characters are romantically involved with each other David only s Rhys and Rhys is in “love” with both David and Moira and Moira only gets to be together with Rhys….Now i know this type of relationship happens in poly relationships not everyone is dating everyone in the relationship but the way this particular relationship was written…again you can’t convince me that Gibson didn’t hate Moira. I said earlier it was so fucking clear that she only cared about Rhys and David relationship and she could’ve just written a mlm relationship. there was absolutely no love and respect for Moira and when you read this book you know that the main romance is between David and Rhys and the only reason its a throuple is because Rhys and Moira were a pair packaged. You cannot convince me that Rhys loved Moira. They have been married for 5 yrs together for longer and Rhys was still in love with David his best friend was still hung up over him and in the end he cheated on Moira with David. All the chemistry and the subtext shows that Rhys is in love with David and David is in love with Rhys and that Moira was the fucking side chick in her own marriage. SHE DESERVED BETTER. i keep repeating this book couldve been so much better (not by much mind you) if Gibson just wrote it as a simple mlm romance story cause shes not equipped to write a good poly relationship ( a dowry of blood might’ve been a fluke) and she’s certainly not fucking equipped to write a black female character. how you gonna have Moira be fucking okay with Rhys cheating on her just because she was “expecting it” which is a terrible thing in on itself and then to not make her get angry ??? get upset??? just calmly accept her husband being in love still being in love with his ex ???? mind you literally two chapters before the cheating happen Moira told David that he would never come between her and Rhys so for Moira to just calmly accept the cheating and the betrayal to act its was inevitable and therefore its okay it doesn’t make sense to get mad is just fucking awful god awful shitty fuck up writing. wow the way Moirs was written it was i was transported back to the fucking early 2010s. And again the strong black woman/meemaw stereotype is coming into play with Moira’s reaction to Rhys cheating on her. Moira was never allowed to be mad it seems, always caring and being considerate to Rhys and David’s feelings and relationships and it just makes me mad cause those two shitheads do no deserve her (okay only Rhys was a shithead).

And this brings me to issue number 3 (yes we’re not done yet). Rhys. Worst character ever written he was so fucking self righteous. I know i just went on about Rhys never loving Moira only David but tbh I don’t believe Rhys actually s David either. the way Rhys treated David was fucking awful and throughout the book all I was thinking was that David and Moira should leave Rhys with his power and money, the only two things he really cared about, and run away. Rhys was just fucking awful and did not care/love REALLY love either Moira and David. He treated Moira not a real person but as a God/salvation which makes sense cause he’s catholic. He only loved hoe Moira makes him look. And he only loves David when David is sober…again which makes sense cause hes a fucking piece of shit Catholic thats so fucking self righteous ugh I hate him. And the way the story never conveys that Rhys is ever in the wrong when hes ALWAYS in the wrong. Rhys is treated as the good guy when hes fucking awful. Hes so fucking toxic and yh this book was advertised as having s toxic relationship but this toxic relationship wasnt the fun gay toxic relationship that I but it was very fucking realistic and it was David and Moira (especially Moira) were my homegirls dealing with a toxic asshole and I try to tell them to fuck that man and leave him but they wouldn’t. this toxic relationship was not fun at all and its because Rhys did not love Moira or David at all. And I truly do believe this and part of the reason why is Issue #4

The fucking writing… It’s so ironic that one of the reasons i really a dowry of blood is cause its writing. I love purple lyrical prose and a dowry of blood had that however i dont need my book to have lyrical writinh for it to be good for me to love the writing sometimes i find that lyrical writing actually takes away from the book (the song of achilles) and that good really fucking good writing and prose can be simple and still beautiful ( robin hobb i love you). But the writing in Evocation wasn’t lyrical and purple prose but it wasn’t the simple but yet beautiful prose either. I felt i was reading a fanfiction, it was overly descriptive and it was all show and tell Gibson told us everything and that’s partly why I don’t believe in Rhys and Moira’s love because it felt very scripted and force and if Rhys was not only trying to convince Moira that he does love her despite still being hung up over his ex, but he was also trying to convince us the reader….and baby it did not work.

Issues number whatever atp I forgot, how David’s addiction was written. It wasn’t written well. It wasn’t written and treated a disease which addiction is. This book makes you want to believe that David is this awful unloveable asshole and yh he was an asshole in the beginning but tbh not that much of an asshole and he was quite cute and adorable. And yes he has flaws but he truly wasn’t this awful guy that the book and especially Rhys, treated as. David was the only well developed character in this book and he was so interesting but I hate the way his addiction was handle and I hate the way his relapsed was handle and how Rhys immediately resorted to anger when he realize and treated David as a fucked up and treated it as if was inevitable and unsurprising that David relapsed instead of being sympathetic and realizing that something had to be deeply wrong for David to relapsed after 3 fucking years of sobriety. Im not saying David shouldn’t be held accountable and responsible for his actions but the way Rhys reacted knowing that his actions and his selfishness was what led to David relapse was so fucking disgusting to read and the way the book never paints Rhys as in the wrong is sooo…ugh its so annoying. But yh I dont the way David’s addiction was handled not saying David should be coddled but he needed sympathy and concerned considering the situation and him impulsively relapsing after 3 years of sobriety and not anger and disgust from Rhys and his self righteousness.

Yeah i hated everything about this book the only thing I d was David’s and Moira’s friendship but even that has a bitter aspect to it considering how Gibson wrote Moira’s character.


Anyways Thank you Angry Robot/Netgalley for granting me an arc for what was unfortunately a highly anticipated read for an honest review
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