Evocation: A bit of a disappointment

Author: S.T. Gibson

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m wondering whether or not I should be surprised by my ambivalence towards this book. While I enjoyed the rich prose of S.T. Gibson’s A Dowery of Blood, I also felt that that book had a very choppy and light plot. Perhaps without the added flourish of the lush prose in the previous book, the focus Gibson gives to characters rather than plot is laid even more bare.

This book follows David, a prosecutor by day and Medium/Psychic by night. At the beginning of the book, he learns that a family curse may be threatening his life, so he turns to his ex-boyfriend Rhys, a sorcerer. Rhys and his wife, Moira, an astrologer and witch, attempt to help David figure out what the curse is and how to break it.

This book is largely a character study and really looking at the relationship between these three characters, and I didn’t feel like there was a ton of plot. There are some side plots that have to do with supernatural secret societies in contemporary Boston and some of the politics within them, but unfortunately these were not well-developed enough to add a large amount of interest to the story. Despite the importance of these societies and what was going on inside them to the characters, we see relatively little of the magical elements, and the paranormal themes seem to be mostly a backdrop for the building and re-building of the relationships between these characters. 

While I did enjoy the development of the characters and their relationships, the weakness of the various plots left much to be desired, and especially around the middle, it felt a bit boring.

This is the first book in a series, so I might consider picking up the next one when it comes out, but it will heavily depend on its synopsis.