The Devouring Gray: Review
"Branches and stones, daggers and bones, they locked the beast away." - The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman
Okay, I knew going into this book that I was going to love it. After all, Rhiannon has been raving about it since they read the ARC, and I trust their opinion wholeheartedly, as we have very similar reading tastes and, as a witch themselves, they also respect the whole "super-picky-about-witchcraft-books" thing. (BTW, Rhiannon is a fellow booktuber from the channel Crescent Moon Reads. They're kind of completely wonderful and have actually taught me a lot about witchcraft that I had originally forgotten. Okay, random shoutout over.)
The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman is about a small town called Four Paths surrounded by deep, imposing wood. Despite the town's mysterious origins, the people of Four Paths all agree on one thing; hundreds of years ago, four people managed to bind a terrible creature known only as the Beast, trapping it in an alternate layer of the town called the Gray. Now the descendants of the four Founders are being haunted by the Gray in horrible ways, and the fate of Four Paths is resting in the hands of four very unwilling teenagers.
This book enraptured me from page one. I didn't want to put it down (although I knew I would have to eventually). Every twist and turn had me begging to see what was on the other side. It was like Riverdale, Stranger Things, and The Raven Cycle all wrapped up in a neat little bow. Despite hating Riverdale, I thought the book was constructed beautifully, poetic and harsh prose flowing out of every corner. I understand Rhiannon's obsession with it now.
The Pros:
1. The atmosphere of the story. I couldn't read one paragraph without being entranced by the words Herman left on the page. Similar to Laini Taylor and Madeline Miller, Herman demonstrated an incredible ability to use flowery descriptions for gruesome images, like watching a natural disaster; beautiful and terrible at the same time, so it's impossible to look away. I know that some people find overly-descriptive writing to be bothersome, especially plot-driven readers, but I found it wonderful. I especially loved the oversaturation of color used in the book--how the Gray is this all encompassing lack of color, and the contrast of the real world on top of it, red-brown brick and dark green pine needles and the turquoise hair of Violet's sister Rosie.
2. The relationships between the characters. I want to shout from all the rooftops that Isaac and Violet are endgame and no one can tell me otherwise. Two chaotic bisexuals reigning terror and love across the sleepy town of Four Paths, what more could a girl want? Of course, I will be just as happy if none of the Founders descendants end up with each other, because Violet and Isaac are both broken children and need to come into their own before pursuing others, but I really love the idea of them as a couple.
3. The representation. I know I mention this in practically every book review I write, but it needs to be said. The amount of representation Herman gives us in this book is phenomenal. Two bisexual main characters, another MC with a physical disability, another having both mental disability and a toxic homelife (actually no scratch that--all of the main characters have toxic families, and they all are able to either rise above it or get out of it completely). Older bisexual (at the least, they could easily be pan or demi or anything else, their identities are never expressed) women who both have families but never stopped loving each other, dealings with anxiety, depression, hallucinations, grief, guilt, etc. etc.
The Cons:
1. The pacing of the book. I am very attuned to how a book's pacing is. There are few works out there that I would describe as having perfect (to me at least, but I would never try to say that my thoughts are the right ones) pacing, and sadly this book doesn't make the cut. The Devouring Gray is 355 pages long, and the first 200 of those pages are just setting up the characters. Nothing even really happens until the last 50 or so pages, and then everything happens all at once. I'm not big on stories that climax so high and then barely come down. Unfortunately I see it happen a lot in the first book of a series, which this is, and even more so from an author's debut novel, which this also claims the title of.
2. The Beast as a villain. Okay yes, the Beast is a terrible thing. Like, legitimately terrible. But, unless I read this book wrong, it didn't start out that way. The Founders ripped apart its magic and then trapped it in an alternate dimension with no life, I would be pretty pissed if that happened to me, too. And then to top it all off, they exploit the magic they stole from it and constantly rub it in it's face. Basically what I'm saying is, as much as it was a bad guy, I don't blame it for how it acted. Okay yeah, taking over Stephen's mind and heart was a really shitty thing to do, but like...I don't know? The real villains were Augusta and Harper's dad. I feel like the Beast was just an accessory.
Overall, this is definitely a 5 star read for me. I loved every minute of it. And I cannot wait for the sequel, even though it's going to be over a year until we get one. Maybe by then I'll have actually grown in the community so I can get an ARC of the sequel. That would be awesome.
Until next time!
Okay, I knew going into this book that I was going to love it. After all, Rhiannon has been raving about it since they read the ARC, and I trust their opinion wholeheartedly, as we have very similar reading tastes and, as a witch themselves, they also respect the whole "super-picky-about-witchcraft-books" thing. (BTW, Rhiannon is a fellow booktuber from the channel Crescent Moon Reads. They're kind of completely wonderful and have actually taught me a lot about witchcraft that I had originally forgotten. Okay, random shoutout over.)
The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman is about a small town called Four Paths surrounded by deep, imposing wood. Despite the town's mysterious origins, the people of Four Paths all agree on one thing; hundreds of years ago, four people managed to bind a terrible creature known only as the Beast, trapping it in an alternate layer of the town called the Gray. Now the descendants of the four Founders are being haunted by the Gray in horrible ways, and the fate of Four Paths is resting in the hands of four very unwilling teenagers.
This book enraptured me from page one. I didn't want to put it down (although I knew I would have to eventually). Every twist and turn had me begging to see what was on the other side. It was like Riverdale, Stranger Things, and The Raven Cycle all wrapped up in a neat little bow. Despite hating Riverdale, I thought the book was constructed beautifully, poetic and harsh prose flowing out of every corner. I understand Rhiannon's obsession with it now.
The Pros:
1. The atmosphere of the story. I couldn't read one paragraph without being entranced by the words Herman left on the page. Similar to Laini Taylor and Madeline Miller, Herman demonstrated an incredible ability to use flowery descriptions for gruesome images, like watching a natural disaster; beautiful and terrible at the same time, so it's impossible to look away. I know that some people find overly-descriptive writing to be bothersome, especially plot-driven readers, but I found it wonderful. I especially loved the oversaturation of color used in the book--how the Gray is this all encompassing lack of color, and the contrast of the real world on top of it, red-brown brick and dark green pine needles and the turquoise hair of Violet's sister Rosie.
2. The relationships between the characters. I want to shout from all the rooftops that Isaac and Violet are endgame and no one can tell me otherwise. Two chaotic bisexuals reigning terror and love across the sleepy town of Four Paths, what more could a girl want? Of course, I will be just as happy if none of the Founders descendants end up with each other, because Violet and Isaac are both broken children and need to come into their own before pursuing others, but I really love the idea of them as a couple.
3. The representation. I know I mention this in practically every book review I write, but it needs to be said. The amount of representation Herman gives us in this book is phenomenal. Two bisexual main characters, another MC with a physical disability, another having both mental disability and a toxic homelife (actually no scratch that--all of the main characters have toxic families, and they all are able to either rise above it or get out of it completely). Older bisexual (at the least, they could easily be pan or demi or anything else, their identities are never expressed) women who both have families but never stopped loving each other, dealings with anxiety, depression, hallucinations, grief, guilt, etc. etc.
The Cons:
1. The pacing of the book. I am very attuned to how a book's pacing is. There are few works out there that I would describe as having perfect (to me at least, but I would never try to say that my thoughts are the right ones) pacing, and sadly this book doesn't make the cut. The Devouring Gray is 355 pages long, and the first 200 of those pages are just setting up the characters. Nothing even really happens until the last 50 or so pages, and then everything happens all at once. I'm not big on stories that climax so high and then barely come down. Unfortunately I see it happen a lot in the first book of a series, which this is, and even more so from an author's debut novel, which this also claims the title of.
2. The Beast as a villain. Okay yes, the Beast is a terrible thing. Like, legitimately terrible. But, unless I read this book wrong, it didn't start out that way. The Founders ripped apart its magic and then trapped it in an alternate dimension with no life, I would be pretty pissed if that happened to me, too. And then to top it all off, they exploit the magic they stole from it and constantly rub it in it's face. Basically what I'm saying is, as much as it was a bad guy, I don't blame it for how it acted. Okay yeah, taking over Stephen's mind and heart was a really shitty thing to do, but like...I don't know? The real villains were Augusta and Harper's dad. I feel like the Beast was just an accessory.
Overall, this is definitely a 5 star read for me. I loved every minute of it. And I cannot wait for the sequel, even though it's going to be over a year until we get one. Maybe by then I'll have actually grown in the community so I can get an ARC of the sequel. That would be awesome.
Until next time!
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