The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov.
As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father’s death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he’s curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society.
But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David’s days are numbered, and death looms at his door.
Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he’s ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is through his wife, Moira. Thrust into each other’s care, emotions once buried deep resurface, and the trio race to figure out their feelings for one another before the Devil steals David away for good…
**
I received a review copy from the publisher. All thoughts are my own.
Review:
With how much I adored A Dowry of Blood, I was so so so excited for ST Gibson’s next venture. What I got instead, however, was a complete letdown.
Of the main trio, David, Moira, and Rhys, only David really felt like a fleshed-out character. Rhys gets a little bit as a by-product of him being in David’s flashbacks, but not much else. Moira, tragically, really gets no development beyond Wholesome Feminine Magic User and who occasionally spouts lines a Tiktok witch would say. Naturally, the fallout from this means that the chemistry between these three is close to non-existent (except for David and Rhys), especially between Rhys and Moira who are supposed to be married!
The story, frankly, wasn’t much better. This is very much one of those ‘vibes over substance’ stories. There are several moving parts, David and Rhys’ romance of course, but also the demon haunting David’s family, David and Rhys’ rivalry for who will inherit the leadership to their Secret Magic Society, a small side plot of David and Moira learning to get along. All of which sound interesting, but almost none are well-developed!! The Secret Magic Society and the importance of being chosen as the next leader are never expanded on, which means that this bitter rivalry David and Rhys have over this just holds no weight. David and Moira learning to get along fell laughably flat for the reasons above.
David and Rhys’s romance was probably the only thing saving this book. Their banter was surprisingly fun at times and it’s abundantly clear this was the relationship the author really wanted to write. Which, given that Evocation was advertised as a poly-trio, poor Moira’s been side-lined in her own book. For readers who do care, Moira and David do not get together. They share Rhys and become friends and confidants by the end of the book, but David is explicitly gay and only has romantic feelings for Rhys. Whether that still meets the definition of a poly-trio, I’m not exactly sure, but relationships here and M/M and M/F, not M/M/F.
Finally, Evocation commits one of my book cardinal sins: where a competent main character and a plotline built around said character’s competencies are established, only for the resolution to never invoke said character’s competencies, but instead be solved with bullshit (in this case, the power of love and friendship) instead. Just, why?? It just feels like lazy writing.
Overall, I rate this book a 2/5. I was coming straight in with my love for Dowry filling my heart, but this book was a bucket of cold water. Vibes over substance, poor character development and relationship chemistry, and a mediocre plot. There’s a good story in here somewhere, but not in its current edition.
r/Fantasy 2023-24 Bingo Squares:
- First in a Series
- Romantasy (hard mode)
- Published in 2024
Publication Date: 28 May 2024
Publisher: Angry Robot
Format: eBook, ARC
Pages: 400
Word Count: ~103,000
ISBN: 9781915202680
Buy It Here: Amazon | Google Books | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads