Produktdetails
- Verlag
- Penguin LLC US
- Erschienen
- 2024
- Sprache
- English
- Seiten
- 400
- Infos
- 400 Seiten
210 mm x 140 mm
ab 12 Jahre - ISBN
- 978-0-593-69628-6
Besprechung
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Praise for The Invocations:
"Sutherland (House of Hollow) pits three teens against a monstrous evil in this devilishly bewitching novel steeped in dark academia and set in a fantasy London where only women wield magic. Vivid descriptions, mellifluous prose, expert pacing, and a slow-burning romance keep the tension high and the pages turning while intimately written character arcs probe themes of misogyny, grief, and dynamics of gender and power...the twisty, haunting tale unveils the chilling social inequities that disempower women." Publishers Weekly, starred review
Dark, twisty and beautifully written Readers will find themselves rooting for this ragtag team of wannabe witches [and] speeding through to reach the explosive, satisfying ending. Hand to mature readers who like a little LGBTQIA+ romance with their witchcraft and necromancy. School Library Journal, starred review
"An empowering story about women fighting back against the violence of men and making the choice to forge one s own path in a hostile world, in addition to a grotesque murder mystery sprinkled with demonic deals. Readers hungry for their next dark, witchy, feminist read will have plenty to feast on here." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books¶
"Three young women team up to track down a serial killer who s targeting witches Sutherland expertly weaves together their lives in intricate and fascinating ways. Filled with feminist rage and a sprinkle of queer romance, this lushly written tale methodically builds to a heart-pounding confrontation The evocative body horror, distinct and compelling leads, and twisty plot will keep readers immersed in this grisly story. A thrilling and exquisitely grotesque showcase of young women taking charge." Kirkus Reviews
A gorgeously twisted modern fairy tale that shimmers with magic and mystery, The Invocations is thrilling, irresistible, and unforgettable. Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying
"This is pitch-dark academia at its best and most captivatingly haunted: by demons and dead languages, occult magic and richly imagined supernatural disaster. If you ve ever dreamed of leading a magic-touched double life in England s most history-heavy places, The Invocations is your next obsession." Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
The Invocations is stunning. Perfectly plotted, gorgeously written, with a heart-pounding finale that will leave readers gasping. An intricate, twisty, brilliant book that pulls you in from the very first line and refuses to let go until the final page. I loved it. Katherine Webber, bestselling author of Twin Crowns
Lyrical, grotesque and pulsing with feminist rage, this is sapphic horror at its very finest. Sutherland is a luminous (albeit slightly terrifying) talent. Laura Steven, author of The Society for Soulless Girls
"Sutherland s Invocations has been one of my favorite reads of the year. This story is exceptionally crafted. Equal parts visceral and haunting, its twists and turns will lure readers in, and its compulsive plot will keep them engrossed until the end." Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of the Beasts of Prey trilogy
Textauszug
PROLOGUE
A GIRL walks home alone at night.
It s All Hallows Eve in London, and the street that stretches before her is empty, quiet except for the soft thud of her boots on the sidewalk and the rustle of autumn leaves plucked by the wind. Hazy sodium lights struggle to shift the dark.
The girl is dressed as a witch. Cartoon-green skin, pointy hat, a fake wart on her nose. She is coming from the Electric Ballroom, where, at a Halloween concert with her housemates, she saw the boy she likes kissing a girl dressed as a sexy angel. It immediately made her regret her costume and want to go home.
Now she slips through the gap between two buildings, past the canal-side pub she goes to with her friends in the summer. A girl sits on the other side of a window decorated with bat decals, her face smeared with blood. A couple in matching hot-pink jumpsuits are breaking up on a bench.
The girl takes a few steps onto the footbridge that leads over the water and down onto the towpath on the other side.
It is here, on the bridge, that she pauses. The canal beneath her is a thin snake of shallow water. On a clear day, you can see the algae-coated detritus that collects at the bottom: the bicycles, the shopping trolleys, the tires. Tonight it is black and impenetrable. If you didn t know its depth, you might think it fathomless.
Across the water, the bars and restaurants of Camden Market are still busy with the Halloween crowd. Men and women in costumes cluster around the spaceship-red glow of outdoor heaters, laughing, drinking mulled wine out of steaming mugs.
Ahead, the footbridge slopes down to the towpath that winds alongside Regent s Canal, below street level.
The girl hovers at the edge of the dark, weighing her options.
Usually she avoids the canal after sunset. It is unlit. It is the kind of place she has been told all her life to avoid for the simple fact that she is a girl but tonight she is cold and drunk and sad and hungry for the leftover pad thai she knows is waiting for her in the fridge. The path by the water is the shortest, fastest route home.
Yet something tells her not to go any farther. Perhaps it is the memory of what happened to her on another night like this one. The stranger waiting in the dark, all the warnings she had been given growing up suddenly manifesting as flesh and breath and muscle.
Then the girl remembers the words at her wrist and runs a fingertip over the cool metal letters sunken into her skin. Words that took her a year to find. Words that mean she no longer has to fear the night or anyone who might be lurking in it.
She crosses the bridge. She plunges down into the blackness.
The first part of the walk is fine. The path is narrow and cobbled. The canal is bordered on both sides by converted warehouses turned into blocks of fancy flats. Light from their windows reflects on the smooth surface of the water, creating an eerie mirror world just below the real one. Houseboats sit snug against the canal s edge, the smell of woodsmoke clinging to the air around them. A huge, fat dog sits atop one, watching her as she passes. The sounds of revelry dissolve into the distance, but there is still life here. Still people to hear her, if she were to scream.
She crosses beneath a bridge. It is mauled with graffiti and lit with shocking blue light to discourage drug use. Combined, they make the place feel dangerous. She moves on quickly, back into the waiting shadow.
The next stretch of the walk is worse. There are no more houseboats. There are no more fancy flats. There is no one to come to her aid. There s more greenery along the side of th
Langtext
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.
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Three girls, one supernatural killer on the loose . . .
Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to consider that her murdered sister is gone forever and there is nothing she can do about it. Rather than grieving and moving on, Zara decides she will do whatever it takes to claw her sister back from the grave even trading in the occult.
Jude Wolf may be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul has been slowly turning necrotic. It s a miserable existence marred by pain, sickness, and monstrous things that taunt her in the night. Now that she s glimpsed what s beyond the veil, Jude s desperate to nd someone to undo the damage she s done to herself.
Enter Emer Byrne, an orphaned witch with a dark past and a deadly power, a.k.a. the solution to both Zara s and Jude s problems. Though Emer lives a hardscrabble life, she gives away her most valuable asset her invocations to women in desperate situations who are willing to sacri ce a piece of their soul in exchange for a scrap of power. Zara and Jude are willing, but they rst have to nd Emer.
When Emer s clients start turning up dead all over London, a vital clue leads Zara and Jude right to her. If a serial killer is targeting her clients, Emer wants to know why and to stop them. She strikes a tenuous alliance with Zara and Jude to hunt a killer before they are next on his list, even if she can t give them in return what Zara and Jude want most: a sister and a soul.
Über den AutorIn
Krystal Sutherland is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of House of Hollow, A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares and Our Chemical Hearts, which was adapted into a film by Amazon Studios. Her books have been published in more than twenty countries and nominated for the Carnegie Medal and YA Book Prize, among others. Originally from Australia, she has lived on four continents and currently calls London home.