The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman
I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £5.63 Kindle eBook
WARNING – This book will contain some spoilers for The Devouring Gray -reviewed here
With the Beast subdued, the town of Four Paths discovers a new threat: a corruption seeping is from the Gray, poisoning the roots of the town and its people. Only May Hawthorne realizes the danger, forced to watch as her visions become reality.
Meanwhile, the town is riven by change: Harper Carlisle is learning to control her newfound powers, and how to forgive after devastating betrayals; Isaac Sullivan's older brother, Gabriel, has returned after years away; Violet Saunders is finding her place and Justin and May's father has finally come home.
With the veil between the Gray and the town growing ever thinner, and the Founder Families all returning to their roots, the time has finally come to settle ancient grudges, to cure the corruption and stop the Beast once and for all.
But more than one kind of beast preys on Four Paths...
The first part of growing up is learning how you can be an individual and start being reliant on your family to tell you what to do. The next stage is independence – learning how the world works and that your actions have consequences. Our jobs, our loves and our lives get guided by decisions. But in fantasy consequences may mean more than a bad working shift or dating experience it can mean the end of the world. Last year I loved The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman and this year sees the completion of the duology with the release of The Deck of Omens. It was a welcome return to this strange magical town and a particular set of brave but flawed characters trying to do the right thing in the shadows of their parents. This team they deal with the outcomes of their own decisions and find that the fate of the whole town is on the line.
To refresh the memories in The Devouring Gray we followed Violet returning to the mysterious town of Four Pines where her family had lived for many years. There she finds that she is a descendent of the four Founding Families of the town. This however means far more than bragging rights at historic society events; as Four Pines sits on the boundary of a strange realm known as The Gray and within that shadow version of Four Pines dwells an entity known as The Beast; who has been searching for a way back into our world and leaving a trail of mangled bodies in its wake. The Founders are entrusted with strange powers to protect their residents from The Beast’s attacks. As Violet discovered the town’s secrets and met her fellow generation of Founders she found a web of deceit, conspiracies and betrayals that needed unravelling but by the end of it four friends – Violet, the non-powerful Justin, the broody Isaac and the newly empowered Harper faced down a threat. But the aftermath has created new tensions in the dynamics of the founding families and now a strange corruption appears to be emanating from the Gray – the Beast appears not to have finished with the town and the Founders may this time need to make a far greater sacrifice.
I absolutely loved the Devouring Gray it has a great set-up; wonderful dark atmosphere and Herman created characters you ended up really pulling for and indeed it felt like we had only just scratched the surface of the town’s mysteries. I was curious how the story would develop. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the high standards of the first book were maintained and Herman has also taken some risks and avoided just a repeat of the first book. If the first book was very much focused through Violet’s eyes which helped us discover the town just as much as she did; Herman has opted for a wider focus. Indeed, this time there is a lot more focus on May Hawthorne the wielder of the tarot cards known as the Deck of Omens. In the first book an important but secondary character this time far more involved in the plot. While Violet was the town newcomer surprised to find magic is real with May we have a character familiar with Four Pines and indeed one who has until recently been unquestionably loyal to her family cause and maintaining their powerbase. But after the events of the previous book and seeing how ruthless her family can be – especially to her brother’s friend Harper she is starting to realise the family may not be always acting for the greater good of everyone.
Looking more widely the book has given each of the current Founders a difficult challenge all caused by the aftermath of the previous story. Violet has a found her mother restored with memories is proving a new family relationship to navigate through. Isaac is starting to realise he can move on from his past but then finds his older brother on his doorstep threatening to awaken family secrets and for Harper she has finally found her powers released but she realises Justin had a key role in hiding the truth that led to her loss of them in the first place. The group is definitely bruised and at the start of the book looking increasingly fractured. What I really enjoyed is the way the characters organically interacted and navigated these emotional hurdles wasn’t just a couple of scenes brooding then a decision to focus on the Big Bad. Herman pulls us along their emotional states and they actually talk and react to one another. Each character is human and flawed – learning to be honest with one another (and their parents) is a key theme here. Rather than rebelling against their parents this time the group is focused on learning who they now are and what they want – which gives the story a lot of emotional depth.
This works really well as this time the stakes feel heightened. While before we had just one wandering monster in the form of the Beast this time with this strange spreading Corruption that is turning Four Pines strangely Gray and impressively creating roots that want to bury in people’s skin there is more an apocalyptic tone. If the first book felt a personal threat to the Founders this time its them watching their world start to fall apart. Impressively rather than make this ongoing regular series here we have a duology that is prepared to end the wider tale. As well as the horror of the corruption taking bodies over, we get into the real story of Four Pines, The Gray and The Beast. The backstory of the books gets explored a bit further and we see a larger game has been getting played for many years. It’s so refreshing refreshing not to just be told the mystery is never solved until next time (take that JJ Abrams!)! The quest to end the story never feels easy and you sense that it can easily go in the favour of destruction and death.
This was a very satisfying conclusion to a fine series and I still maintain this is a wonderfully created tale that easily creates its own thing that would make a fine TV show like Stranger Things or Buffy. I will be sorry to leave Four Pines and its Founders (well what is left of it) but I am very very interested in what other tales Herman has to tell us.
