Lit Analysis #2 "The Devouring"

  “The Devouring” is a charming tale about a Teenage girl named Reggie and her encounter with terrifying creatures known as Vours. These are nightmarish creatures that feed off the fears of humans and are able to take control of their bodies. The worst part is you can’t tell the difference between Vours and normal people. When Reggie unleashes the evil of the Vours during the winter solstice and they take control of her little brother it’s up to her to save him from the nightmare realm known as the Fearscape. The overall theme of the novel is that even the darkest of fears can be conquered with a strong will. Throughout the entire novel the author keep s and extremely dark and grotesque tone. Rarely does it stray from this. For instance when Reggie first enters the Fearscape in her brother’s mind she finds herself in a twisted carnival, where the author goes on to describe the children in this place, and there is a very detailed description of maggot infested, horrifying faces.

  Reggie is described right off the bat as an awkward teenage girl with messy hair and not too much going on in the looks department.  However a lot of the time the reader is given a lot of little tidbits about her through her actions and interests. For example she a maternal nature due to her mom leaving her family, this is explained by the way she treats her brother. No the authors syntax and diction basically stays the same when revolving around the human characters however whenever a Vour is encountered the language takes on an extremely cold a nature. Reggie changes drastically   between the beginning and end. During the beginning Reggie is described as an introverted cowardly girl who kept to herself and buried her nose in horror novels, but by the end she is a brave, strong individual who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. By the end of the novel this is one of the few times I came away feeling the characters as real people because they were written so realistically there for allowing me to connect with them because of their relate ability.