Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Contemporary
After the death of her sister, seventeen-year-old Violet Saunders finds herself dragged to Four Paths, New York. Violet may be a newcomer, but she soon learns her mother isn’t: They belong to one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods.
Justin
Hawthorne’s bloodline has protected Four Paths for generations from the
Gray—a lifeless dimension that imprisons a brutal monster. After Justin
fails to inherit his family’s powers, his mother is determined to keep
this humiliation a secret. But Justin can’t let go of the future he was
promised and the town he swore to protect.
Ever since
Harper Carlisle lost her hand to an accident that left her stranded in
the Gray for days, she has vowed revenge on the person who abandoned
her: Justin Hawthorne. There are ripples of dissent in Four Paths, and
Harper seizes an opportunity to take down the Hawthornes and change her
destiny—to what extent, even she doesn’t yet know.
The
Gray is growing stronger every day, and its victims are piling up. When
Violet accidentally unleashes the monster, all three must band together
with the other Founders to unearth the dark truths behind their
families’ abilities... before the Gray devours them all.
The Devouring Gray, by author Christine Lynn Herman, is the first installment in The Devouring Gray series. With the stylized setting and character-driven drama of Riverdale, if Riverdale was plagued by the Upside Down from Stranger Things, as well as similarities to The Raven Cycle, this
debut contemporary fantasy follows a group of teens with dark secrets
and the power to save the town of Four Paths, New York from a monster that has been lurking in the shadows waiting for the right time to break the chains that binds it.
Violet Saunders and her mother Juniper return to Four Paths, New York after a heartbreaking loss of Violet's sister.
As Violet soon discovers, there's a whole lot that her mother, as well as her aunt Delia, have kept from her, including a new found ability that shocks her to the core. Her family is one of the descendants of the Four founding families along with the Hawthorne's, Sullivan's, and Carlisle's. The founding families that are both revered and despised by the town. Only they have the powers to cage that which lies with the Gray.
The other pertinent characters are Justin & May Hawthorne, Isaac Sullivan, and Harper Carlisle. Each has different abilities, except for Justin who recently failed his ritual, (which every descendant is supposed to go through, and none of them are the same), and is masquerading around town to hide the fact that he has inherited no powers. His sister May uses the Deck of Omens to see what will possibly happen in the future. May was not one of my favorites.
Justin and May's mother, Augusta, is the town's sheriff who is getting blow back thanks to the dead bodies that are increasing in regularity. She can also remove memories. She is diabolical, scheming, power hungry and has no issues with sending Justin away.
Isaac Sullivan is Justin’s best friend. He’s bisexual, and has powers
of destruction and creation. The whole town fears him after a horrible
accident that killed his whole family. He is the only Sullivan left in Four Paths.
Harper was once best friends with Justin, but after she failed her ritual, lost her left hand, and was left in the Gray for days, the whole Hawthorne family
dropped her like a hot potato and she’s been an outcast ever since. Her family has the power to bring stone to life and she is wicked with a sword. Harper attempts to sway Violet to her way of thinking in order to stop the town from being destroyed by those who are unhappy with the town's leadership.
I can't forget the Beast. The Beast is a mysterious sentient creature which was trapped by the Four Founders of the town over a century ago. The
Beast is hell bent on breaking its constraints and Violet and the others,
must work together to keep the town, and the wider world, safe from
what creeps through the woods when no one is watching.
So, let me finish by saying that I haven't gotten past season one of Riverdale, haven't watched either season of Strange Things, but have read The Raven Cycle a few years ago. After reading some key selling points, I offered up the similarities for readers to decide whether or not they are factual or not. I will say the ending of this book holds all sorts of curious plot lines for the sequel. Including Isaac and Violet, as well as Justin and Harper's reaction to what happens at the end of this story. God willing, I will be adding the sequel to my 2020 TBR list.
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After they found the third body that year, Justin Hawthorne knelt in his backyard and prepared to hear his future.
His
sister, May, dealt the Deck of Omens facedown on the grass between
them. The all-seeing eyes on the backs of the five cards stared emptily
at the canopy of leaves above. Justin’s skin prickled as he studied
their irises—white like the eyes of the dead.
He
hadn’t seen the latest body, but the remains of the corpses spat out by
the Gray always looked the same. Eyes bleached the color of milk. The
rib cage inverted, bones slicing through bloated skin like antlers
rising from the body’s back.
“I don’t have to
ask the cards.” May’s voice didn’t lend itself well to gentleness, but
she was trying. Justin hadn’t asked for a reading since he failed his
ritual. She knew how much it had cost him to ask now.
Because it should’ve been him commanding the Deck of Omens. Him wielding his family’s abilities and protecting their town.
Yet he was helpless. A rotten branch on a healthy tree.
The
Gray had grown bolder this year, luring victim after victim into its
world, where the Beast hungrily awaited its prey. Justin had believed,
foolishly, that coming into his powers would be enough to make it stop.
But he had no powers. And now another man was dead.
Justin
wouldn’t sit idly by as others died. Powers or not, he was still a
Hawthorne. He would find a way to keep Four Paths safe.
His fate lay in the cards.
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