Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - The Invocations

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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lawwenlouis's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

jaedia's review

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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.

Content Warnings

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

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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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