Gizmo's Reviews: #Review - The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman #YA #Fantasy #Contemporary

Series: The Devouring Gray (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: April 21, 2020
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Contemporary

This hotly anticipated sequel to The Devouring Gray is perfect for fans of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle and Stranger Things.

Though the Beast is seemingly subdued for now, a new threat lurks in Four Paths: a corruption seeping from the Gray into the forest. And with the other Founders preoccupied by their tangled alliances and fraying relationships, only May Hawthorne seems to realize the danger. But saving the town she loves means seeking aid from the person her family despises most -- her father, Ezra Bishop.

May's father isn't the only newcomer in town--Isaac Sullivan's older brother has also returned, seeking forgiveness for the role he played in Isaac's troubled past. But Isaac isn't ready to let go of his family's history, especially when that history might hold the key that he and Violet Saunders need to destroy the Gray and the monster within it.

Harper Carlisle isn't ready to forgive, either. Two devastating betrayals have left her isolated from her family and uncertain who to trust. As the corruption becomes impossible to ignore, Harper must learn to control her newfound powers in order to protect Four Paths. But the only people who can help her do that are the ones who have hurt her the most.

With the veil between the Gray and the town growing ever thinner, the Founder descendants must put their grievances with one another aside to stop the corruption and kill the Beast once and for all. But the monster they truly need to slay may never been the Beast...

The Deck of Omens is the second and final installment in author Christine Lynn Herman's The Devouring Gray duology. This story picks up where The Devouring Gray finished. The town of Four Paths, New York was founded by Four families: Hawthorne's, Carlisle's, Saunders, and Sullivan's. The founding families are both revered and despised by the town. Only they have the powers to cage that which lies with the Gray. The Beast. The author once again rotates her story thru a variety of characters: May Hawthorne, Harper Carlisle, Violet Saunders, Isaac Sullivan plus Justin Hawthorne who is the only one of the key 5 who has no powers.

May's powers revolve around the Deck of Omens. She can gaze into the past and the future of a living focal point. She also may have changed the future unwittingly which is causing problems to crop up left and right. May isn't really a fan of her brother, Justin. Justin is the gold boy who can do no wrong even after he failed his ritual. But now, Justin's days of glory are fading quickly, and May intends to take every advantage of proving her worth to her mother. With her father's help, May hopes she can prove that she has the ability to fix what she's broken.

Ever since Harper lost her hand and was stranded in the Gray for days after her ritual, she has vowed revenge on the person who she believed abandoned her: Justin Hawthorne. Thanks to May and Violet, Harper now has her memories back and as a result, she has all but abandoned her family staying with Violet and her mother. Harper also has the power to bring stone to life and she is wicked powerful with a sword even with one hand. But, Harper has to give in a bit if she is going to learn how to control her powers before they end up getting someone killed. That means asking for help from the devil herself; Augusta.

Isaac spent years alone after his family tried and failed to kill him during his ritual. He's mad at his descendants for trapping him in a town with no future. He has the power of destruction and creation, but made the mistake of telling Justin how he feels and thus the distance between best friends has grown. Isaac thought he was alone in Four Paths. Until his older brother Gabriel returns and shares real memories with Isaac at what really happened during his ritual and what part he played. Isaac and Violet have grown closer as a result of shared hatred for Augusta Hawthorne and wanting to end the Beast's threat to the town.

Harper isn't the only one who had their memories returned. Violet and her mother Juniper now have a target for their anger; Augusta Hawthorne who was once close to Juniper but has the ability to remove memories. Violet and her mother have vowed to work together to kill the beast as well as taking power from Augusta. Violet is also learning secrets about her mother, and her descendants that has shaken her to the core. Secrets which tend to have a hard time of letting go are finally revealed with shocking results. Violet also has a companion named Orpheus that just happens to be a dead cat. Yeah, she has power over the dead.

Thankfully, Violet, Harper and Isaac have formed an alliance of sorts to find a way to reveal the towns hidden secrets. If they can get May's help who has every reason to want to help fix things, they might just save themselves, the town, and everyone who lives in Four Paths. In my honest opinion, this is May's story to tell like The Devouring Gray was Violet's. May really kicks things off by asking her father, Ezra Bishop, to return to town and help her find a way to save the town and stop the corruption that is rapidly consuming the town, starting with each of the (4) families areas that they protect.

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. Violet, May, Harper, Isaac, and yes, even Justin, must work together to keep the town, and the wider world, safe from what creeps through the woods when no one is watching. Or, is the Beast really that evil? Could deeper, darker secrets going back to the founders days unravel everything that has been taught and passed down? Or, is the Beast playing games with the founding families as a way to pay them back for years of being a prisoner in the Gray?

This story has been compared to 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. I will say the ending of this book holds ties up storylines in a way that is both curious and made me go hmmm, what was that? Especially when it came to the relationships between Justin & Isaac, Isaac and Violet, Harper's desire to walk her own way, and May's ability to put hurt feelings aside for just a minute and work with others to fix things she helped break.

Deep in her mind, the pathways spiraled and wound. May felt something unfurling in her own mind—a path that was hers. Thin and spiky, coiling around itself like a tangled knot of possibilities that could not yet be unraveled.

It pulsed in her mind like a beating heart, and for the first time, during a reading, May let her own bias in. She reached for it, grasping at the tendrils, and pulled that path into focus, let the roots worm their way into her mind.

It’s mine, she snarled, at the cards, at Four Paths itself. Whatever happens next belongs to me.

A surge of energy coursed through her, to the card in her hands. It burned white-hot between her interlaced fingers, tracing across the maps of old wounds that had long since faded. It was only her sense of self-control that kept her from crying out, from flinching.

May felt the path lock into place. Felt the card in her hand vibrate—then shift, until the heat on her palms had faded away to embers.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She could feel blood pooling beneath her nostrils and at the rims of her eyes; she blinked, and copper splatters appeared on her pajama pants.

“What was that?” Augusta said sharply.

May’s lie was quiet, easy. “The cards had more to tell me.”

But it had been just the opposite. She’d had more to tell the cards—and they had changed. They’d listened to her.

Hawthornes couldn’t do that. But she had.