Genre: YA fantasy, LGTBQ, Horror
Content warnings: blood, death, murder, self-harm, child death, death of parent, gore
Synopsis:
From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.
Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it’s feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.
Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.
Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.
As Zara and Jude enter Emer’s orbit, they’ll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.
My Review
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
I loved this one! It was not quite on the same level as House of Hollow for me, but The Invocations has definitely made Sutherland an auto-buy author for me.
The Invocations is the perfect witchy horror book for October chock full of magic, dark academic aesthetic, and feminine rage. We follow three vivid female characters throughout this novel as they hunt down a serial killer who has been targeting witches before they become victims themselves.
Emer Bryne witnessed the murder of her entire family by witch hunters when she was only seven years old. Since then she has lived in isolation, helping other women survive in a world made for men. But now someone is targeting the girls who have come to Emer for help.
Zara’s sister was murdered a year ago and she is running out of time to bring her back. She has spent a year trying everything possible to resurrect Savannah and her latest discovery leads her to a witch that just might now what she’s looking for.
Jude Wolf has three demons tied to her soul. She has spent the last two years trying to uncurse herself with absolutely no luck. These curses have ruined her life, decayed her body, and isolated her from her family. She needs a witch. And she just might have found one.
The three girls come together to hunt a killer, bring back a dead girl, and break a curse or two.
Each character was so well developed and I was never bored, as I sometimes find I am with multiple povs. I read this in only four days because I could barely put it down.
The romance, while a background plot, was so adorable and fit into the plot really well. Seeing Jude going from flirting with everyone she meets to being totally flustered around Emer was so so cute. On Emer’s side, she has thought of nothing but revenge until she meets Jude and realizes there might be more that she wants out of life. These two make an adorable couple, but all three of them make such a wonderful found family vibe.
My only complaint is that the feminist commentary was sometimes more overt than I would have liked them to be. They sometimes took me out of the story. It was a tell rather than show moment and I felt it was unnecessary to make such statements when the events of the plot make them for you.
Overall, I loved this book and I cannot wait for Sutherland’s next book!
Jules Reads 