'Uprooted from the city, Violet Saunders doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbours treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the townsfolk are right to be afraid.
When bodies start to appear in the woods, the locals become downright hostile. Can the teenagers solve the mystery of Four Paths, and their own part in it, before another calamity strikes?'
I didn't get the chance to read The Devouring Gray when it first came out, but was instantly drawn to the book when it did. I thought that the cover was very grabbing and atmospheric, with it's surprising mix of vibrant neon pink and moody, almost haunted looking forests. The fact that I also misread the title as 'The Devouring Gay' when I first saw it also grabbed my attention, but that's really just a personal thing that I'm sure no one else would have experienced. Thankfully, the folks at Titan Books offered me a copy to help me get caught up before the release of the second book in the series, The Deck of Omens, comes out in 2020.
The Devouring Gray drops readers into the town of Four Paths much in the same way that lead character Violet is; we're placed in the middle of a town where everyone who lives there knows about the mysterious demon and the prison it occupies, and the fact that several of the town residents have supernatural powers. The book doesn't try to slowly introduce these things to the reader but rather shows us a world where these things are normal for the inhabitants. As such, I was trying to play catch-up at the same time as Violet, trying to learn more about this mysterious town along with her.
This lack of early book explanations, and following Violet as she learnt about her family history and the secrets of Four Paths meant that whilst the book didn't make any big secret about the supernatural existing there was still a lot that was left to uncover, smaller and more personal secrets that the reader got to discover. As such, the story felt a lot more character driven, and focused on the people rather than a big central mystery.
The characters are a fairly interesting and varied group, and none of them are really what they first appear. Violet Saunders is still coming to terms with the death of her, whilst also dealing with having her life turned upside down by having to move to Four Paths. Whilst at first she seems to be incredibly drawn into herself, understandably reluctant to reach out to people because of her grief, there's a brave and powerful young woman hiding beneath.
Isaac Sullivan is presented as cocky, confrontational, and somewhat uncaring. He seems full of himself and knows that he's considered something special by many of the townsfolk because of being part of a founder family. However, over the course of the book we get to see that a lot of this is just surface dressing designed to be armour to protect the incredibly hurt and emotionally damaged young man beneath, one who cares deeply for the people around him.
Justin and May Hawthorne are presented as the most popular people in school, people who command the respect and adoration of those around them. They almost seem like the stereotypical jocks or popular kids in most teen dramas, full of a sense of self entitlement and superiority; but as the narrative unfolds we learn that that's just how others see them, and that they're not only incredibly unsure of who they really are or who they want to be, but are having to battle against the image that the town, and their mother, have made for them.
Finally there's Harper Carlisle, the outcast of the founder children. Having failed in her ritual to unlock her powers she's been cast out by the other founder families, treated as a pariah not worthy of their time or attention. This, coupled with having lost one of her arms, has made Harper into an understandably angry person. She's had to rely on herself, and has channelled the pain that she's been through into a weapon to protect herself. Whilst she comes across as aggressive and uncaring you begin to see that this is all just because of trauma she's been through, and that there's a very vulnerable person beneath it all, though one that you'd never want to cross.
Whilst these teens are the main focus of the story, and their interpersonal dramas and relationships make up a huge part of the story, it never feels like the narrative focuses on this to its detriment. This isn't a teen drama story where the biggest concerns is who's going to go to the homecoming dance with the lead. This is a story about otherworldly forces that are threatening lives, and the book keeps that in mind throughout. All of the teens and their stories are so entwined with the supernatural that it would be impossible to separate them.
Christine Lynn Herman also keeps the ending from feeling cliched or neat by not having the teens come together as friends or a team by the conclusion. There's still drama there, and different personal issues that haven't been resolved. It's not like the first book in a lot of YA series where they learn to put their differences aside and work together and become friends to beat the evil. Instead, it's more like real life, where years of animosity can't just be put aside overnight, and where the emotional damage from previous actions have lasting effects. Because of this I'm more interested in seeing what happens with these character relationships rather than the plot of the demonic forces in the next book, which is a big change for me.
I also loved that Christine Lynn Herman subverts some expectations by not having a romance subplot between Violet and Justin, the lead male and female. Instead, these two are attracted to other people, and thanks to differing circumstances it doesn't even seem obvious that these relationships are guaranteed either. The author has also gone out of her way to include a number of LGBTQ+ characters, with more than one of the teens being bisexual, and even a few of the adults too. Not only is it great that there's more than just one queer character in the book (as many books just have the one token gay), but the revelation that some of the characters were in same sex relationships at some point is treated as if it's nothing out of the usual; which is such a great decision.
The Devouring Gray is a book that I had high hopes for, a book that thanks to the great reviews I'd seen of it, and I'm pleased to say it pretty much met all of them. It's got a cast of characters that are interesting an engaging, that don't become caricatures but have depths. The story has mysteries and secrets that feel natural, and doesn't fall into the trap of trying to fool the reader into thinking that this is a normal town, but presents the unusual up front straight away. The book works brilliantly as the first part of a series, one that draws you in and leaves you happy with the story, yet wanting to read more; whilst also feeling like it would have been a perfectly good stand alone story.
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