Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Invocations

WOW. If you thought House of Hollow was a wild ride, buckle up!

The Invocations follows three girls with dark magic who rile against the patriarchy to find a killer who is targeting women and stealing their powers. We meet Jude, the cursed and exiled daughter of a billionaire, Emer the feisty witch, and Zara, who is trying to bring her sister back from the dead.

I am so thankful to have received an advanced readers copy from my favorite indie bookstore and I am looking forward to conversing with Krystal Sutherland at my Library in February!

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thereadedit's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

When I first saw the cover of this book, I couldn't get it out of my mind. 3 young women against the world? Yes please.

I love that Krystal gives the power to women in her books. This book embodied every dream of women being the ultimate badasses. They refused to let someone else take their lives away. They wanted to make a life for themselves and refused to allow no to be the answer.

I loved these three characters. They each brought so much to the story and showed how 3 very different women can come together to make dreams comes true. No matter what their dreams were.

I loved exploring London through the eyes of these women and how their perception involved their surroundings. Seeing something through someone else's eyes is always so much an interesting experience and I love being in their shoes.

Emotions run high throughout this book because of the war that is raging within their world. It's not a typical war, but a war nonetheless. Amidst fighting their hardest they find the most unlikely allies in people they never expected. Not just each other but also people in their lives that they would have never expected.

I loved this so much and I was beyond sad when it ended. I got so invested in this world and these characters and I can't help but want more.

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kris386's review

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dark emotional slow-paced

3.0

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jaedia's review against another edition

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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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ivywwx's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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cburns13's review

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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nerdybookqueen's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

I got this book from netgalley in exchange for a review.

What an amazing adventure. If you enjoyed this author's other work, you'll enjoy this one.

Featuring three povs, these female leads must join together to achieve their goals and solve the mystery underlying the story. I found all three women to be very interesting and compelling characters, featuring unique motives and personalities.

Jude is working to fix the botched deal with a demon, and along the way starts investigating a string of murdered women, all with a similar signature. She meets Zara, a woman trying to find a way to bring her sister back from the dead. Together, they find Emer, the woman who, as it turns out, has written deals-invocations- with demons for all the murdered women so far. And she's not pleased they're turning up dead. Together, they work to discover whose been murdering these women, while trying to find a solution to both Jude and Zara's problems.

This story kept me hooked, every twist and turn in the tale creating an exciting adventure that had me hanging on every word until the end. I also loved the addition of sapphic main characters, enjoying their story and the evolution of their relationship through the tale.

I was so sad when the story ended, but so satisfied, and surprised, by the final act. I've already preorder the book, I loved it so much.

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