Nuanced Characters, Complex Relationships, and a Hidden Horror Make for an Excellent Debut [Review]

The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

Format/source: ARC/ALA Midwinter
Published: 2 April 2019 
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Length: 368 pages 
Genre: Contemporary speculative fiction (horror/fantasy)
Target Age: Young adult
#OwnVoices: Bisexuality, depression
Content warnings
★★★★½

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.

Description via Indigo

Review

Christine Lynn Herman has pitched The Devouring Gray as Stranger Things meets Riverdale. I can confirm that this book embodies the best of those two media. Take a lurking other-world dimension that houses an unseen monster from Stranger Things, set it in a Riverdale-esque moody small town with a dark past and tense present, shake it up with practical and believable teen behaviour, sprinkle in a good dose of bi rep, and ta da! You get to enjoy reading The Devouring Gray.

Violet, Justin, and Harper provide the POVs that narrate the story. Justin’s best friend Isaac is the only member of his founding family living in Four Paths. I loved how Isaac, despite not being a primary protagonist, plays a significant role in the narrative because of his past, status in Four Paths, and nuanced relationships with the other three protagonists. I look forward to reading about him more in the sequel (where I expect/seriously hope he will be a POV character).

While Isaac turned out to be an unexpected favourite, my overall favourite aspect of the book is the interactions and relationships between each of these four characters. The evolution of how Violet and Isaac react to each other and the tense relationship between Justin and Harper in particular stood out to me as being well-written and developed. Each of these characters also have difficult and complex relationships with their families, which adds further gravity to the plot. There is a bit of romance, but again, it feels realistic to me and not overly complicated for the sake of creating drama. (As someone who dislikes romance, you know it is pretty no nonsense when I enjoy it.) Plus, lots of bi rep!

Another aspect that made The Devouring Gray such an enjoyable read for me is the pacing and style. I love how key information was revealed naturally through the course of the character’s behaviors or thoughts. I.E. the ‘surprise information’ is a natural thing for the character to think/do, but the reader isn’t expecting it. Does that make sense?? Basically, I’d be reading a page, okay, story is continuing, how nice, and then suddenly I’d read a line and go “Oh whoa what??” and then have to reread it confirm I had just been given a juicy tidbit. Throughout the story, I never felt like anything was being deliberately withheld, so when information was revealed it was a great surprise.

I feel like I’ve been a bit wishy washy in this review and haven’t conveyed everything that made this book such a great read for me. (Part of that is because I’ve been intentionally vague to avoid spoilers.) If anything I’ve written here intrigues you, please do give this book a shot!

The Bottom Line

An excellent debut from Christine Lynn Herman. I immediately added the sequel to my TBR after finishing this book and I can’t remember the last time I did that. A must read for fans of the genre.

Further Information

• Read an excerpt
• Author website
• Interview @ Writer’s Block Party
• Review by Aimal @ Bookshelves and Paperbacks (who describes this book as having her “Ultimate Book Aesthetic™“, which I agree with, at least for YA fiction)
• Review by Kendal @ Mystic Reads Book Blog
• Review @ Kirkus