*Beware Spoilers Below*
The Deck of Omens continues pretty much straight off where The Devouring Gray ends. Though the Beast is seemingly subdued for now, a new threat looms in Four Paths: a corruption seeping from the Gray into the forest. And with the other Founders preoccupied by their tangled alliances and fraying relationships, only May Hawthorne seems to realize the danger. But saving the town she loves means seeking aid from the person her family despises most–her and Justin’s father.
I really liked that we got more perspectives from May and we learnt a lot more about the Hawthorne families dynamics and how she fits in. Her relationship with her mother is pretty toxic and I found in this book that I really can’t stand Augusta. She doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities and doesn’t do a good job explaining any of the reasons why she has run the town the way she has. May definitely had the towns’ best interests at heart but she kind of went about things in a way that wasn’t ideal. Secretly inviting her father back and welcoming him with open arms and exposing him to everything without any thought as to why he chose to stay away for so long. I just had a feeling about him and the amount of information May was sharing with him and how invested he was in this town even though he married into it. Which I guess was validated in the end.
Once again I loved the friendships between all of the characters and how much they have grown over the past couple of months, Harper and Violet especially. We see their bonds really strengthen as they try to figure out how to overcome the corruption and save Four Paths. The romances I felt weren’t really necessary per se. I feel like YA books especially like to pair up all of their main protagonists, though I appreciated that they weren’t all fairy tale endings.
There were times when they were just going back and forth throughout the novel and doing all of their investigations about what the corruption is and their theories regarding their ancestors that got a little tedious and boring. Though they made several plans and attempts to kill the beast and fix the corruption I wasn’t as invested in this story as the previous book. There weren’t as many twists action wise that kept me entertained it was more so about the past and coming to realisations about their powers and how the founders came to be. Which was interesting but again wasn’t as captivating.
I thought it was a solid duology, other than predicting who was behind it in the end every other plot point was a surprise. This was definitely original and unlike anything I have read before which was refreshing. We see growth from most of the characters and I was invested in most of their arcs, some more than others for sure.
⭐️3/5 stars A good continuation and conclusion of everything set up in the first book.
amyleighreads.com 