Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland

9 reviews

natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Continuing the decadently lush and creepy vibes of House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland’s newest standalone is just as eerie and hauntingly sinister; with protagonists I found just as vividly compelling as the Hollow sisters. 

Given how much I LOVED House of Hollow, you can imagine how high my expectations were for this. But I’m glad to say Sutherland absolutely nailed it! The simmering undercurrent of feminine rage, the witchy occultism and satisfyingly phenomenal ending, I was absolutely hooked.

I don’t think my words can truly capture how amazing this was but I will try my best. From the heart-stopping action which never let up, to the mystery surrounding a string of murders, and the skill with which Sutherland effortlessly intertwined the lives of our three protagonists: Emer, Jude and Zara (all from vastly different backgrounds) was nothing short of breathtaking. 

I really loved them all and was utterly captivated by the emotionally complex backstories and thought processes that brought each girl to life. The vibrancy of their individual personalities and differences they embody, did briefly have me questioning how they could possibly get along, let alone solve such a complex case.

But watching their relationship shift and evolve as they got to know one another, shared their feelings, experiences, and generally became closer was really uplifting. And did help lighten the mood between all the tense, bloody and (predominantly) gory events the trio find themselves in. 

Though I should admit, given I grew up in the London borough this is partially set in, (Zara attends a rival school to the one I graduated from) so my enjoyment is somewhat entwined with nostalgic memories of my own teen years in the area (when my love of all things witchy and paranormal really took off.) 

In any case, if you’re eager to delve into something spooky or unapologetically witchy this October. Or yearn for a fiercely badass cast of FMCs (who team up to not only track down a killer, but stop him for good) and live for stories with plenty of plot twisty action — then you absolutely have to consider picking this up. 

Though given the subject material I do suggest checking the TWs beforehand (as it does deal in a lot of dark themes.)  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I love a witchy book that takes a different approach to magic and The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland is one of the darker, more unique versions of magic I've read. In this world, magic is tied to making a pact with a demon, stamped on the witch's skin, which comes with a cost, and there is no room for mistakes. 

The three main POV characters are Jude, Emer, and Zara. The first, Jude, is a novice witch who's made quite a life-changing mistake with her pact and is seeking help to fix it. Zara, grieving her murdered sister, is determined to find answers and a way to bring her sister back. Jude and Zara are brought together while researching the murders of other witches, all of whom were former clients of Emer, the curse writer.

It's a dark, bloody tale, with a significant amount of body horror about three characters trying to track down a murderer targeting witches. I would recommend checking it out if you enjoy witchy books and horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

caidyn's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Wow, this wasn't what I expected. It was way darker than I anticipated, but so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

lexihworth's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katielouisef's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

   I enjoyed the book, but I figured out who the witch hunter was pretty easily, so that plot "twist" was pretty dull. I did love the ending and I hope there's a sequel, which there seemed to be a setup for.
   While dark there were enough moments of levity to keep it from being a thoroughly depressing book.

Narrator Rating: 5 stars
   The narrator did an excellent job with tonal shifts and giving each character a unique voice.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-0/5  Heartfelt-2/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-3/5   Inspiration-NA  
Love aka Romance-3/5   Mystery-2/5    Predictability-4/5   Spice-0/5    Suspense-2/5    Tear- 2.5/5  
Thrill-3/5 Humor-2/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lawwenlouis's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

jaedia's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I read a hefty chunk of this during a three-day migraine. Day one I could barely read at all, day two I was just so desperate for something to do that wasn't a screen. 😅 So that was a new experience for me (I've only been having migraines for a couple years, if that). 

I enjoyed The Invocations a lot. At first I worried the purple prose was going to fall on the wrong side for me but quickly fell in love with the way Sutherland describes everything and paints pictures with words. And the three girls: Jude, Emer, and Zara, felt pretty 3-dimensional to me, to the point that Jude in my mind looked quite different to the Jude on the cover art, the other 2 as well, actually - I struggle to visualise characters at all, usually. I also just adore dark witchy stories. This one has gore, and demons, and dark power, and women who are angry. It really really hit the spot. 

There were a few points that bothered me, however, though they were small niggles rather than outright problems. For one... quite a few typos. I maybe noticed 7 or 8 throughout the book? Which isn't great for a traditionally published book. Not the end of the world though, they don't make it unreadable. Also without spoilers, one character has a magical injury, you learn about it right away when they are introduced, and the extent of the injury and the pain it causes... it really bothered me that they could walk around and do things. Like, yes there were times if they were running or doing manual labour they'd be visibly struggled or just bow out completely, but it's never made into much. I experience some minor pain at times and can't walk when it gets really bad, and there are others who need to constantly use crutches or a wheelchair. Pain like that isn't something that you grin and bear, get used to, magical or not. It wipes you out. I would have at least liked for them to have a walking stick, you know? Would have felt more real. Also: disabled representation, we could always use more.

Aside from that, the rest really are just small things here and there. Perhaps a person feels too much like a walking cliché, something feels a little too convenient, that kind of thing. These are generally things I notice when I read young adult fiction, however, and I tend to just brush them off. The instances in this book where they came up just didn't affect what I was reading. The overall writing and excitement of the story and what was happening to these characters was solid enough that it more than made up for any issues I had. 

If you don't mind a little gore and enjoy dark stories about witches and the occult, with queer leading ladies, nonetheless, you might really get a kick out of The Invocations. And if you do, I definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings, as it is horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Excrement, Car accident, and Pregnancy

marywahlmeierbracciano's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Invocations is set in a world where only women can use magic, but it comes at a price.  Butch heiress Jude learns this the hard way when a misguided curse leaves her with a necrotic wound.  Zara’s racing against time to learn how to raise her sister from the dead before it’s too late.  And Emer, a gifted polylinguist and curse-writer and the sole survivor from her coven, knows that being a witch is a dangerous thing.  The three young women are brought together when it’s discovered that a serial murderer is targeting Emer’s past clients—women who were willing to sell part of their soul for magic.  Grief leads the way in this whirlwind story, gruesome and truly scary as it confronts generational wealth, misogynistic violence, demons, and empowerment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Sexual violence, Torture, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic