Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

Title: Shadowshaper
Author: Daniel José Older 
Genre: Urban Fantasy, YA
Series: Shadowshaper # 1

Paperback, 297 Pages by Scholastic Inc.

Source: Personal library.

Buy|Amazon|B&N|

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.

I’m a big fan of Older’s Bone Street Rumba Series, an Adult Urban Fantasy which takes place in New York and deals with spirits/ghosts just like Shadowshaper. I think Older is a talented writer and he certainly has an amazing online present as well; so I figured I was bound to love his Young Adult series since his personality and style is evident in his writing: bold, real, honest and with the right amount of humor.

Shadowshaper deals with ancestry and magic. Our main heroine comes from a family of Shadowshapers who are able to embed all forms of art with spirits and control them. For example, Sierra can paint or draw an image with a piece of chalk and transfer spirits she attracts into the art and compel them to do her bidding if she wishes. Spirits tend to have more power in that type of art form.The concept of Shadowshaper is very unique and I haven’t read any book like it. But there’s just something about the book that didn’t fully grab my attention. The plot was simplistic, which is fine but I never felt invested in the the story or the characters. Sierra and her friends seemed cool and kids i'd find in my own neighborhood but at the same time they felt very two-dimensional. The plot, world building and character development all could've been fleshed out better. The book is fairly short and full of action scenes (which I love) but I still felt very ‘meh’ about everything…I think it might be because the stakes weren’t high enough and Wick, was a pretty awful and nonthreatening villain.

Overall Shadowshaper is a decent and quick read but I was expecting more. I neither loved it or disliked it. I’d still recommend this book though, for those looking for a new spin on ghosts/spirits.