Kayleigh | Welsh Book Fairy's Reviews > Evocation

𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 | 𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐢𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐧
★★★.5

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
David Aristarkhov, lawyer by day and medium by night, is wealthy and talented beyond reason. So much so, in fact, that perhaps there’s some truth to the centuries old bargain with the Devil his ancestors apparently made. And the Devil is ready to collect.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟
⟡ romantasy
⟡ polyamory
⟡ lgbt+ rep
⟡ interesting magic systems
⟡ elements of dark academia

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
This was a darkly fascinating unconventional romantasy with phenomenal polyamory and LGBT+ representation that is slipped in naturally into the pages. This book depicts a world of psychics, societies and scandal, with a trio of main characters that are flawed and figuring out how to function.

This means that the dynamics between the trio are pretty complex, strongly passionate, and quick to fluctuate. Resentment seemed to easily transcend into affection in this book and the chemistry was worked on a lot through the middle section of this book

I thought that the characterizations were brilliant for each character (see quotation below mentioning Moira) and this gave the characters a level of depth I have come to adore from ST Gibson.

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝
What lets this book down is its plot. There is a lot of focus on character development and the plot feels like an afterthought. I’d have loved to have known more about the magic system and world building, however, the references to it were quite vague and sometimes a little hard to understand. This ambiguity coupled with the complex dynamics makes this story feel like a shadow that is slipping away from any grasp of reality and understanding.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘔𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘦.”

“𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦.”

“𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘴: 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩.”

“𝘐’𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵.“

𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬
Reminds me a bit of Tori Bovalino’s The Devil Makes Three with its degree of academia and battling with demons.

⟡ 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚
⟡ 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟