[Book Review]: SHADOW SHAPER by Daniel José Older (Arthur A. Levine Books)

I'm really far behind on my reviews, folks, and I'm sorry about that. I've read more than this over the past few months, but I haven't had the desire to review them all. But I did want to review one of my favorite books so far this year and I have a backlog that will be coming over the next few days.

SHADOWSHAPER by Daniel José Older

Blurb: Cassandra Clare meets Caribbean legend in SHADOWSHAPER, an action-packed urban fantasy from a bold new talent.

Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra's near-comatose abuelo begins to say "No importa" over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep.... Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on.

Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order's secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper by killing all the others, one by one. With the help of her friends and the hot graffiti artist Robbie, Sierra must dodge Wick's supernatural creations, harness her own Shadowshaping abilities, and save her family's past, present, and future.

Here's my review:

I am not a fan of Cassandra Clare, so I bristled immediately at the comparison. But then, I remembered my favorite book, The Night Circus, was compared to Twilight because of a star-crossed romance. I'm not a fan of Twilight either and some comparisons are made because of a very small similarity, hoping to attract readers. So I ignored the comparison and dove in, and boy am I glad I did.

The story takes place in NYC, my own hometown, and even if it's not a part I know well, things are still familiar. I love feeling that oh yeah, I know what/where you mean sensation from books. Despite the strong magic and fantasy overtones, there is so much grounding realism in the story. It touches on racial tensions between cops and POC residents in minority neighborhoods, something with obvious relevance today. It touches on something in POC communities, a phenomenon known as "good hair vs bad hair." Good hair is supposedly the kind of hair that straightens easily had controlled, defined, curls, and it easier to style. Bad hair is supposedly thicker, coarser, perhaps with no defined curls, harder to manipulate, and difficult to wear straight. It's something mostly women of these ethnicities have had to struggle against, and it's something personal to me as well. I was glad to see it brought up.



Something else Older brought up was colorism within the POC community. A prejudiced character says at one point, "if he's darker than the bottom of your foot, he's no good for you." That hit me so hard I put down the book for a minute just to breathe. All across the world, people with darker skin suffer more, even within their own race. they're seen as less pretty, sometimes even less human. It's a painful thing that is still passed down from generation to generation and it's something not enough people talk about, so I'm glad it came up here.

So, said from all that it had a great story, with believable, well-developed fantastic characters. One of my favorite things was realizing that the villain was actually a white man interloping in cultures he doesn't understand. So on point.

Best of all, the book left me wanting more and so I cannot wait to read more from this amazing author.

Five incredibly full glasses of wine!

Buy SHADOWSHAPER from the retailer of your choice, all listed at Goodreads here.