The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland - A Review

“I did not come this far to only come this far.”

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I’m feeling particularly feral today, so let’s do a review for:

1. One of the best urban fantasies I’ve ever read.

2. One of the best urban fantasies I’ve ever read, with three of the most wondrously chaotic gremlin women as our lead characters.

Let’s dive in with the enthusiasm of a raccoon finding a fast-food garbage can. ALLON-SY!

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Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and men who hate women…

Zara Jones is smart, driven, and shattered by grief. Her sister has been murdered, and Zara cannot accept that she’s truly gone. So, what is a smart, driven girl to do? Well, study up on the occult and work out the necromancer’s ritual to bring her big sis back, of course. 

Jude Wolf is rotting from the inside out, and no amount of her family’s insane wealth and privilege can save her. After a demon pact gone horribly wrong, Jude’s only hope is to find a cursewriter who actually knows how to fuck with demons and live.

Emer Byrne is a cursewriter. A real one. She’s also living her life as a ghost. Haunted by the massacre of her family at the hands of witch-hunters, Emer lives in the shadows of society. The demons who raised her have taught her how to move through the world without ever leaving a permanent trace… except the invocations she writes for women and girls in need.

The three young women are less drawn together and more thrown at each other when horrific crime scenes begin cropping up all over London. Women across the city, not just murdered but butchered, desecrated, mutilated.

The connection? Each one of the victims had sought out Emer to write them an invocation—a woman given the ability to walk through shadows to escape her husband’s wrath. A teenage girl who will not let her sister become a victim of their Uncle is gifted control of fire in her hands. 

It takes six murders to figure out the truth. Each victim, a woman that Emer has tried to help, is missing the exact patch of skin where their invocation was infused into the flesh. 

The man killing them is stealing the magic that Emer granted the women. With each kill, he steals the skin that grants him power he is not supposed to have and uses each new gift to cause even more devastation. 

Caught in an uneasy alliance, Jude, Emer, and Zara must find a way to work together.

Zara wants her sister back.

Jude wants to be rid of her literal demons and preferably not die in the process.

Emer wants justice that has been denied for too long. 

But all three are united in wanting to find and stop the killer, stalking London’s streets with his stolen, unnatural powers.

Only women are supposed to be able to use magic - because even the Devil does not trust men with the kind of power that invocations can give… 

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Magic, murder, and witches, oh my!

The Invocations is a fucking ✨EXCELLENT✨

It’s raw and messy, and so are the three main characters. 

If you get more than halfway through without wanting to smack Jude and Emer’s heads together, then congratulations, you have a stronger will than I - and I adored all three girls, btw - loving characters and also feeling the urge to hit them with a chair at points are not mutually exclusive ideas. 

I think I’ve mentioned in my 26 for 26 post, but I’m also working on my review for the first Krystal Sutherland book I read, ‘House of Hollow.’ Given these are currently the only two of Sutherland’s books I’ve read, it may seem presumptive to declare her a queen of feminist body horror, but alas, I’m gonna declare it anyway. 

The stuff of Sutherland’s that I have read or am aware of is UN👏SETT👏LING👏. Like, feeling a blade trace your veins without any of the physical pain, kind of off-putting and in ‘The Invocations’ where she combines that psychological fuckery with a masterclass of urban fantasy? Chef’s kiss 💋

Urban fantasy is a beast of a genre all on its own. It is so difficult to get ‘right’ - or at least ‘not wrong.’ Go too far one way, and it’s the worst kind of campy, or take the slightest wrong turn, and people will throw bricks at you, screaming “UMMMM ACTUALLY, THAT’S NOT URBAN FANTASY, IT’S…” 

I’ve read a lot of fantasy. I’ve read a lot that's been promoted as urban fantasy, either by the publisher, the author, or existing fans. 

And I can list on one hand both the number of books and authors combined who have hit the urban fantasy nail on its annoyingly vague head. 

The Invocations and Krystal Sutherland are on that hand. 

There is a long list of trigger warnings for this book - take care of your brain ya lil fckers - yes, that is a threat. 

But I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone - women, afab, and my non-binary pals especially, but anyone who loves characters written with visceral humanity, a good supernatural mystery, and/or who loves a writer who won’t shy away from the darkness.

10 out of 10, five stars, 100% would recommend.

I have A LOT of favourite lines from this, but the interaction below is one I will stand by till they light the pyre I stand on:

“It offers power only to women.” 

“What about trans women?” Zara asks, writing the question in her document. “How does that work?” 

“Of course I have written invocations for trans women,” Emer says. “Demons do not care about bodies. They only care about souls.”

So… yeah. Trans women are women, all women are powerful, and at the end of the day, I’m with the demons on that one.

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This is not a nice story. 

I’ve found that the ones that mean the most can rarely be described as ‘nice.’

This is a story full of pain and rage, hurt and guilt, power and fury. 

This is not a nice story - but there is a strange kind of peace to be found when the smoke clears.

And an awful sort of beauty among all that horror.