The Devouring Gray isn’t a standout young adult novel, which is probably why I hadn’t heard of it until I came across it while browsing books on Book Outlet. Or maybe Herman’s publishers just didn’t do a good job of advertising it. However, I did enjoy reading this novel and became invested in the characters and the story, so if you also enjoy reading YA novels, you should give this novel a read.

The Devouring Gray is about the small town of Four Paths, New York and the four founding families that use their magical powers to protect the town against the Gray, another dimension that imprisons a monster. At the point in time the novel takes place, the Gray is starting to grow stronger, and more and more people from Four Paths are being dragged into the Gray to be killed by the monster.

The four main characters of the novel are each a member of the founding families: Justin Hawthorne, whose family basically rules Four Paths (his mom is the sheriff). Justin has failed the Hawthorne family ritual and therefore has not inherited his family’s powers, but he must pretend otherwise so that his mother does not lose her (tenuous) hold on the town; Harper Carlisle has no powers either and no left hand, which she lost while completing her family’s ritual. She was trapped in the Gray for days, but still managed to survive. She hates Justin for abandoning her after she didn’t inherit her family’s powers; Isaac Sullivan is Justin’s best friend and a bit of a wildcard. He’s reckless and dangerous with his powers and must be controlled by Justin otherwise he’d probably be chased out of town with pitchforks; Violet Saunders is new to Four Paths and is grieving the death of her sister. She knows nothing about the history of Four Paths, the founding families, the Gray, or that she has powers.

What I liked about this novel is learning about the history of Four Paths as Violet learns about it. Violet is essentially on a quest to learn her family’s ritual so that she can complete it and fully inherit her family’s powers in order to stop the Gray, which seems to be growing even more stronger now that Violet has moved to town.

I also appreciate that The Devouring Gray is not heavy handed on love triangles and unrequited love, which is opposite to what you typically read in YA novels. Instead the focus here is on toxic familial relationships. Each of the four main characters has issues with their families: Justin’s mother is controlling and seems to despise him because he didn’t inherit the family’s powers; Harper feels inadequate to her family also because she didn’t inherit the family’s powers, but her relationship with her father becomes even more complicated during the subplot that involves overthrowing the founding families; Isaac’s issues with his family are only hinted at in the novel because his family abandoned him and left town after he completed his ritual; Violet resents her mother as her mother comes across as cold and unfeeling in the wake of Violet’s sister’s death.

The Devouring Gray inevitably ends on an interesting enough cliff-hanger that I will have to buy the second book (I don’t understand why every YA novel must have a sequel or be part of a series?). So, you can expect a review of the second book, The Deck of Omens, from me at some point in the future.