Evocation by S.T. Gibson

TL;DR: Not for everyone but definitely for me. A Dark Academia lite story about curses, families, and love.
Source: NetGalley, and I purchased my own copy on finishing it! Thank you to the publisher!!

Plot: David begins to experience troubling symptoms that are linked to an old family curse. He goes to an old flame and his new wife for help – it gets very relationship heavy and messy.
Characters: My favorite part of this was the characters because none of them were particularly nice or people I’d like to be around, but I found them fascinating to read about.
Setting: The setting wasn’t the strongest but it captured the location and vibes enough that it didn’t feel too lacking or flawed.
Magic: Very traditional ‘real life’ style paranormal fantasy with rituals, circles, spells, etc.

Thoughts:

Evocation by S.T. Gibson is very much going to NOT be for some folks. I’m more than willing to tell you the flaws on this one, but I enjoyed it all the same. The story is simple enough, David is trying to break a curse set down on him generations in the past and ends up asking for his ex and his ex’s wife’s help. The story is very Dark Academia but make it almost the diet version, and the characters are messy and unlikable to an extent as well.

As I stated, the flaws are obvious in this. The ‘fix’ to the problem is very handwaving away. They band-aid it and clearly set it up for a second book. The story also keeps it very tightly focused on the relationship between the characters as opposed to putting a lot of effort into the story itself. If you’ve picked up the author’s latest work before this, An Education in Malice, it’s very similar in feel.

That aside this just worked for me. If you go in the expectation that you’re following the characters and their interpersonal issues closer than any curse or larger issue you’ll do great. Also if you enjoyed An Education… I think this would be one you enjoy. I enjoyed it enough that I’ve ordered my own copy and will most definitely continue the series.

4.5 out of 5 Haunted Mansions