Book Review: The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

Published April 2019 by Disney Hyperion|360 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: The Devouring Gray #1

Genre: YA Contemporary

Branches and stones, daggers and bones,
They locked the Beast away.

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.

I was pretty excited about The Devouring Gray but it ended up being okay for me.

I was pretty bored throughout the story, which is a shame, because the idea is pretty cool.  I really liked the world and what each family could do.  I really liked the vibe and feel, and it reminded me a lot of the Beautiful Creatures series.

I didn’t particularly care for the characters and I still feel like I don’t know who they are.  I could not begin to tell you anything about them or what they’re interested in.  They just weren’t memorable, at least for me.  I felt like we didn’t get enough details of the characters, especially Violet.  Everything was really vague, and very surface-level.  The entire book, though narrated by 3 different people, honestly felt like it was narrated by one person.  That’s how similar each voice sounded.

It was a little bit confusing at first because you don’t really know what’s going on.  You’re thrown into things, which is fine, but it took a while for things to make sense.  I eventually got it, and I’m glad it made sense eventually because the world is really cool and interesting.

For some reason, I was expecting it to be a Beauty And The Beast re-telling.  To be clear, it’s not, but considering the bad guy is called the Beast, and Violet was new in town…I was expecting a slightly different story, that’s all.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the story as it is, because there isn’t.  I think I made some assumptions about what the story was going to be, and I ended up being way off.  That’s what I get for assuming things.

2 stars.  The Devouring Gray was an okay read for me.  I liked the world and the feel of the book but the characters didn’t really stand out.