Reviews

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

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catkeo11's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

leavingsealevel's review

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3.0

If there hadn't been stealth zombie-like creatures, I'd be giving this another star. But zombies...when you are not expecting zombies...

First of all, Anika Noni Rose is an ah-mazing audio narrator and I need her to read me more books.

As for the book, great fun and even better than Half-Resurection Blues, but that might be because I tend to enjoy books with bad ass lady protagonists over dudes.

lorien13's review

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5.0

My life partner told me this was her favorite book of all time, and I understand why. It is about so much, not just an artist who can channel spirits. It's about being proud of your heritage, your history, your hair, your body, and yourself. Accepting and not hiding the weirdness. This is a beautiful book, and I'm so glad there's a sequel, and I have it along with two more novels written by this brilliant author. There are quotes that had be pause in the beauty of the line, followed up with teenagers talking like teenagers, using their slang that confounded a white, middle-aged lady like me. I loved this book, and it's definitely a favorite of mine. I'm so glad of the impact I personally know it had on my life partner, and I hope many other women and girls of color can read this and be as badass as Sierra, and stand up to the Tia Rosas in their lives and proclaim "I am proud of my heritage and proud of my hair and skin and body!" Beautiful, beautiful book!

kayu99's review

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4.0

Solid premise and great, distinct characters. Sierra is a compelling protagonist who is easy to relate to. I liked the discussions of family and heritage throughout the book. The main action was a little anti-climactic and I thought the ending wrapped up pretty well, so I'm interested to see where the sequel goes.

emilygaynier's review

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5.0

I decided to read this book because some reviewer basically said it was like City of Bones done correctly. And they were right. I loved the Cassandra Clare books growing up, but they aren't my taste anymore. This book is so much better.

The story starts really fast, almost like the author wrote it at 2x speed. But it's not confusing and I found it refreshing because a lot of stories have a slow beginning.

The magic in this world is awesome and I think Sierra is super cool and kick butt!! Also I think the only white person was the bad guy and there is a pretty cool librarian.

I also really like how important Sierra's family is to the story and how her mom doesn't get pushed out of the book to give Sierra the ability to go on her adventures.

leslielikesthings's review against another edition

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4.0

I HIGHLY recommend the audio version of this book, the narration is fantastic.

dlberglund's review

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4.0

This was an excellent book. It is rich in culture and language and imagery, and most of the characters are richly drawn as well. The magical realism is done well, and there are so many positive moments of dialogue and characterization. There are also a few moments where I just wanted to yell "just talk to each other already!", which is not uncommon in my reading of YA fiction. There were a couple of plot moments that I had issue with, but a few days after finishing, I can barely remember what they were anymore.