Book Review: The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman

Publication Date: April 16th 2019

Series: The Devouring Gray #1

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On the edge of town a beast haunts the woods, trapped in the Gray, its bond loosening…

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? Read More.

My Rating⭐⭐⭐.5

The Devouring Gray is the eerie tail of a town haunted by a beast and protected by four families, each bestowed with the powers of: branches and stones, daggers and bones. 

Not only is this book told through beautiful writing but it also has a welcomed air of nostalgia in its paranormal plot. As interested as I was in the plot I did find it to be jumpy, like several scenes were missing to more smoothly transition from one thing to another.

The characters were a huge part of my enjoyment in this book, which is weird considering I disliked the majority of them.

I never thought it possible to hate a whole town of fictional people before but then this book came along and proved me wrong.

Basically in this town everyone knows about the beasts and they know the founding families, who are basically worshipped like celebrities or even gods, have powers in order to save them. In this sense I get why they’d be mad about people dying but honestly people, take it up with an adult in charge and not a group of teenagers!

It’s pretty common if you’re a YA protagonist to have either a dead parent, or a really crappy parent (or if you’re really lucky both) but the parents of the four Main Characters really take the cake in this one!

From reading this I would say Justin Hawthorne and Violet Saunders were the two main Main Characters, they got the most page time.

Violet I loved. I was rooting for her from the get go. Justin on the other hand … I tried to like him. I really did and I recognize his character growth but ugh, no. Not a fan.

I really hope Harper Carlisle and Isaac Sullivan get more page time in the next book. Harper is out for vengeance and I am right there behind her. Isaac I have fallen in love with and I need more of him in book 2!

Violet and Isaac are my favourites and oh my god I ship them! Why do I ship them so bad when they had about 5 scenes together? I don’t know but they’re both bisexual. They bonded over their tragic pasts! HER STOMACH FLUTTERED  WHEN HE SMILED AND SHE DIDN’T KNOW WHY! HE WIPED A TEAR FROM HER CHEEK!!!!!!!

Overall this book, while not perfect, was really enjoyable. I highly recommend reading during … say … government mandated country-wide lockdown, like I did. Believe me when I say it’s a good way to pass an otherwise boring day.

Props to my dad for choosing this out of a stack of “to-be-read” I had in my room, even if he did only choose it because it had pink edges.