There are no spoilers in this review.
The Devouring Gray, Christine Lynn Herman
Publishing on April, 16th, 2019 by Titan Books.
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 was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so obviously I went in with some expectations and I’m glad to say these were mostly met!
I ENJOYED…
☂️
- The Devouring Gray managed, from the very first page, to captivate me. The way the author sets the book, in this small town, Four Paths, surrounded by forest, where everyone knows each other and everyone fears the Beast in the woods, killing mercilessly. The atmosphere of the story was one of the strongest suits of the book, for me.
- The world was also so well-constructed, even if confusing at first: the history of the town, the founding families and their powers, the rituals they go through and everything, I loved how it all came together.
- The second favorite thing about this book was, for me, the cast of characters which I absolutely adored. Told from multiple POV, I grew fond of each of these characters and was so happy to see each of them had their own motives and character arcs as they evolved through the story.
- VIOLET, our main character, is trying to deal with her grief and trying to figure out the truth about Four Paths and her family’s history. She was a great main character, also casual bisexual rep yay.
- HARPER. I loved Harper so, so very much: she’s dealing with some unresolved issues with Justin, her former best friend, she’s one badass warrior and fighter and I just loved her so much. She is missing one arm from the elbow from a ritual gone wrong.
- ISAAC. I have such a soft spot for Isaac, friends, because he’s this paperback-in-my-back-jeans-pocket-all-the-time person with these strongest powers ever, yet kind of a loner too and a fierce protector of Justin, too.
- JUSTIN. He’s the popular boy in the city, yet facing so many family issues with his mother and I appreciated his growth in the story so much.
- I loved these characters’ interactions so much, friendships for some, growing, changing, mending or breaking, growing feelings yet without an actual story there, because it was not the focus of the story overall.
- The mystery was thrilling to read, too and I loved to figure out, along with Violet, what’s happening in Four Paths, her own powers and her own family history.
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- The only thing that made me drop a star here, is that I feel like the story got a little confusing at times and, despite the great world-building, I felt like I needed more explanation on some elements, especially on how the Gray “works”.
OVERALL
☂️
The Devouring Gray was a solid, thrilling debut that I had such a fantastic time reading. The atmosphere and the cast of characters quickly won my heart and that ending just had me gasping in shock. I can’t wait to read what happens next and, for fans of fantasy stories and atmospherical, small-towns reads, I’d definitely recommend this one.
Final rating: 4 drops!
The biggest thanks to Titan Books for sending me a free review copy of this book for review. This did not, in any way, influence my thoughts and rating.
Trigger warnings: drinking, blood, description of dead bodies, loss of a loved one, grief, violence, trama, talk about sacrifice and assault.
Diversity: Bisexual main characters (Violet, Isaac, Augusta – #ownvoices queer rep), side f/f relationships (hinted).
Did you read The Devouring Gray? Do you want to?
What was the latest book you’ve read that had a great, captivating atmosphere? Let me know in comments!
I’ve seen this book quite a few times lately, and your review definitely intrigued me! The atmosphere the novel seems to have looks interesting. Also, I do love a good cast of characters, so I’ll add it to my TBR 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that! the cast of characters really was amazing, I loved them all, I hope you will too 🙂
Thank you so much! <3
This is one of my most-anticipated books, too! I’m glad it’s a fun read. Hopefully I’ll get a copy soon.
I hope you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy soon, it’s such a good book 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment <3
I’m going to read this very soon, it’s also one of my most anticipated of the year. So I’m very happy to see you’ve enjoyed it ?✨?
Ahh very happy to hear this, Sofi, I hope you’ll love it 😀
Glad you enjoyed it Marie! I really want to read this as it seems to have a perfect atmosphere, but the characters also seem awesome and makes me even more excited to read this book!
Thank you so much, Tasya!! I hope you’ll love it as much as I did, the characters were amazing! 🙂
Ahh there has been so much hype around this one! It just sounds SO good. I’m so glad you enjoyed it, even if it was confusing at times! It makes me so happy to see on the page bi rep too ahh, and the characters sound so lovely?! I loved reading your review ahh, makes me even more excited to read this one! ?
Ahh thank you Aline, this makes me so, so happy, really <3 I hope you'll enjoy it just as much when you get to it! <3
Wonderful review Marie! But honestly I don’t like it when books get confusing and you just think you are missing some more explanation to really graps everything …
I get that, this can be so frustrating at times. I loved the character and the writing overall enough to make me look past it, but sometimes in some books, you just can’t unfortunately :/
Thank you for your comment!! <3
I’ve been so excited for the devouring gray and this has just made me more so 😛
Ahhh yay this makes me very, very happy <3
Can I just say I’m still not over your design! I think the last book I read with a really captivating atmosphere was Ace of Shades. I love how deadly and dark everything in that book is AHH.
Ahhh you’re too sweet thank you ??
I NEED to read Ace of Shades, I’ve heard so many great things about it! 😀
I am so glad you enjoyed this book!! It sounds really interesting and the characters sound great. I love it when you can connect to them, definitely makes a strong read. Plus I love the name Isaac and he sounds great!! I might pick this up one day… (soon I hope)!! Great review!! <3
Isaac was my favorite ahh <3 I hope you'll be able to pick up this book sometime and will love it 🙂
Thank you so much! <3
I haven’t read the devouring gray yet but it’s so high on my TBR for the month! And I keep hearing good things about the atmosphere so I’m excited to read for myself and see what the fuss is about! I’m also so happy that people seem to love all of the characters because as I character-driven reader, I really do need to care about the characters I’m following. Thanks so much for this review—I really think it was super informative and concise ❤️❤️
Oh thank you so much for your sweet words, Caitlin, this means a lot! ❤ I’m with you, I need to care about the characters in order to fall in love with the book, too! 🙂
Thank you!! ❤
Great review for this book Marie, and I’m glad you enjoyed it so much as well considering it was one of your top anticipated reads for this year. I haven’t seen much of The Devouring Gray around but I may have to check it out, it sounds like the four characters are well written and developed, especially if there are four POVs in this book and it didn’t make the plot feel disjointed or confused. Honestly it sounds like everything was well-written, and if you could only think of one con then this book is definitely worth me checking out!
Again great review. 🙂 <3
Thank you so much, Beth! I really appreciated how the four POV were written, each of them stood out to me and I loved how each character was developed, too ❤ I hope you’ll enjoy it! 🙂
Uuuuuh!!! I am really glad this mostly met your expectations 😀 I do get that worlds like that can sometimes get confusing. This has happened to me before as well, but it makes me super pumped to have this book on my to buy list. I think I might get it the next time I order stuff 😀
I can’t wait to hear what you think of this one, I hope you will love it! 😀
Great review! I’m glad you loved this book! It’s not my most anticipating read but I’m looking forward to read it! I hope I’ll get to it soon! 🙂
Thank you so much!! I hope you’ll give it a try sometime 🙂
I loved this review, Marie!! I was super super excited for this book — and I still am, but a little less more so now that I’ve learned that there are no POC main characters, which just really surprising to me (because the author seems like a huge diversity champion on twitter!). Nonetheless it still looks like such a cool atmospheric read, and I feel like I’ve been in the mood for those kinds of books lately. So glad you loved the book! <3
Ohh thank you so much, so happy you enjoyed my review! <3 It was such a great, atmospheric read and I hope you'll still give it a try 🙂 <3
This one looks so so good and I’ve seen a ton of positive reviews for it! Also, I love the UK cover so much. So much. SO MUCH, MARIE
I know right, I love that cover SO much as well, so spooky and intriguing! I hope you’ll read and love it! 😀
Yayyyy! I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! It’s definitely made me super hyped to read it. It’s finally getting a bit colder where I live and I think it will be the perfect time to enjoy an atmospheric read. I actually didn’t know we had a bisexual main character, which is super awesome & fitting, since for Pride Month, I’m hoping to read only books with queer rep. It’s also super nice it’s an own voices novel!
Thanks for the detailed review, Marie!
Ahh yay! I can’t wait for you to read this, I hope you’ll enjoy it. I loved the atmosphere SO much 😀
Thank you so much for your sweet comment <3
Great review! The characters sound so good, and I’m all for atmospheric small towns (though as a city girl I will admit that even a hint of a small town automatically creeps me out ?). And I LOVE the photographs ? the trees, and the sun, and the book go together so well!
Ahah really ? well that will make a fun, creepy read for you then ? I really would recommend that one though, it’s such a great read 🙂
Thank you, Chana, you’re so sweet! <3 <3
You’ve made me fall in love with this Isaac character in just a short description. Wow!
Ahh this makes me so happy, thank you so much 🙂
Awesome review! You defo piqued my interest for this one! 😀
YAY! I’m so glad, I hope you’ll give it a try 🙂
AAHHHH I am so glad this book mostly met your expectations! This is a book I’ve been anticipating (rip my NetGalley request was denied lol) but I am really excited to pick it up at some point, especially since you enjoyed it so much. Confusing worldbuilding can be hard for me but I have been known to forgive it when I love the characters and story a lot. Great review!
Ahhh I can’t wait for you to read this, I hope you’ll love it just as much as I did. I loved the characters so much, I could forget about the confusion I felt at times ahah 🙂
Thank you!! 😀
I read the Devouring Gray this month and gave it 4/5 stars, just like you! I really loved it and can’t wait for the sequel!! Your review was so lovely as always <3
I can’t wait for the sequel either, especially with that ending!
Thank you so much! <3 <3
I’ve been seeing this book EVERYWHERE and it’s compared to so many of my favesssss. Dark forest aesthetic is pretty much what I like in books ?. And the characters sound GREAT (but I can see why one would have a soft spot for Isaac)!
Ahhhhh, I hope you’ll be able to give it a try sometime and that you will loveeee it 😀