Book: Shadowshaper (Shadowshaper book #1) by Daniel Jose Older
Edition: Paperback
Description:
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.
Rating: 4 1/2 stars
Review:
Despite the slow start, Shadowshaper was an interesting read. Art and magic were the central theme of this story followed closely by family and heritage. It takes place during the summer in Brooklyn as it follows teenager Sierra Santiago an artist who learns that her family has a unique connection to magic and art.
As she was trying to learn and understand about the supernatural group the Shadowshapers, she had a lot to deal with, not only did she find out her grandfather Lazaro hid this secret from her but she found out her older brother Juan knew all about it.
But that was nothing compared to having to quickly figure out how to stop Dr. Jonathan Wick, an anthropologist and old acquaintance of her grandfather, who was now targeting and killing off Shadowshapers. She also needed to find a mysterious entity called Lucera before Wick does but trying to get answers from her grandfather was difficult because he suffers from a stroke that impacts his speech. However, Sierra was not alone in this fast paced mission, her brother, her friends and her new friend/potential love interest Robbie were there to help.
At first, I was disappointed because I thought Sierra wasn't going to be the hero of the story with her initially being reliant upon Robbie and having to get help from him in learning about her shadowshaping powers. Well, I guess everyone needs help at some point but after that she truly started to transform into a strong hero and leader accompanied by lots of anxiety inducing moments along the way. There was a little bit of romance between Sierra and fellow artist (and shadowshaper) Robbie but nothing that overshadowed the story nor felt like insta-love.
There was a lot of magic and supernatural elements in the story including a little bit of creepiness such as dead bodies were being inhabited by shadows used in trying to stop Sierra and her friends.
I enjoyed reading this, I like the characters they came across as normal everyday teens that somehow found themselves and their world suddenly filled with magic. With this being a fun read, I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
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