Krystal Sutherland: "The Invocations" (ARC Review)

Title: The Invocations [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Krystal Sutherland [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 14+ (please note: this is dark YA - you may want to take a look at the WARNING! section)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Modern, fascinating, empowering and (briefly) trans-inclusive take on witchcraft and women's oppression.
Cons: Needs a good dose of suspension of disbelief.
WARNING! Body horror/mutilations, multiple kinds of violence (no rape/sexual harassment though), death/killing, near-death, fire, blood and gore, bodily fluids. Misogyny, stalking, familial abuse (again, not of the sexual kind).
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy an all-female story with found-family vibes and a touch of F/F romance. Those who like a dark-magic-fueled plot imbued with social commentary.

Blurb: 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. 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. Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara 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. 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. (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Penguin Random House/Nancy Paulsen Books for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

SISTERS ARE DOIN' IT FOR THEMSELVES

After the excellent House of Hollow, Sutherland delivers another pull-no-punches, yet at times lyrical supernatural horror with a trio of strong female protagonists and a coming-of-age (or more like...coming-into-one's-powers) angle. Yet, despite these common traits, The Invocations brings a great deal of novelty to the table, and if personally I was more enthralled by its predecessor both due to the story and the often luscious prose, there's a lot to love in this ode to magic and accidental sisterhood.

First thing first, The Invocations is one step ahead of House of Hollow when it comes to its explicit (and inclusive) stance on feminism and womanhood, and its commentary on patriarchy and toxic masculinity. Sutherland provides a fresh take on witches and demon-binding, while giving a reason why only women can become cursewriters and including trans women in the deal. She puts together three characters from totally different walks of life - reckless billionaire daughter Jude, orphaned geek/grieving sister Zara and magically-gifted outcast Emer - who start off as allies by necessity (and with disparate agendas), but end up forging a strong bond and kicking patriarchy and misogyny in the teeth together, if at a price. As usual with Sutherland, the horror and supernatural angles are top-notch - but the real horror here is the men's sense of entitlement and the violence they inflict on women in order to perpetuate their privilege, not to mention, the way women play into their hands sometimes (for instance, despite her rebel attitude, Jude craves her father's love and approval so much as to perform dangerous magic on herself in order to get them, and isn't above suggesting that Zara use her feminine charms to speed their investigations). [...]

YOU MAKE IT EASY

Other aspects of the novel left me a little lukewarm. Mainly, I found myself needing to suspend disbelief for events and actions that didn't have anything to do with the supernatural, and for certain plot points that, while allowing the story to unfold and entertain, were overly convenient or got resolved too easily. Also, I don't think all the main characters were equally well-developed. Emer and Jude stole the scene, while Zara was mostly defined by her sigle-minded obsession with bringing her sister back from the dead, to the point of never really pausing to think about the possible consequences or, well, the madness of it all - not to mention that I found her guilt complex to be a bit disproportionate in the face of what happened between her and her sister before she died. Lastly, the main clue about the villain(s) was hidden in plain sight, and yet a certain revelation seemed to come out of the blue. However, the mix of supernatural and real-world horror worked very well, there was an unexpected and interesting twist with regards to black magic, and the story did come together nicely in the end. If you're not afraid to go to some dark places with your reading, and you're looking for a modern spin on witches, definitely keep The Invocations on your radar.  

                                                                                                          

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