#djolder

Shadowshaper Book Review

Contains spoilers

I’ve been following @djolder for awhile on Twitter and have largely known him as a writer who says things that strike me as sharp or interesting and most, influential to me, encouraging to other writers. It’s like always being something and wanting to be that something without ever knowing it was there until someone pointed it out to you. That something, here, being a writer. I’ve realized I was writing blog posts on my Goku website before blogging was more known and understood by me and writing fanfiction for over a decade, even if I didn’t publish it.

Anyway, let me tell you about another something. I am in a specific mood to read something. I have a hunch this mysterious something is likely a fictional work, more specifically a graphic novel or manga, but I’m not in such a strong mood for that something as to spend money on it. I came close and almost bought a graphic novel called Monstress, but I want this something to also be complete, like a full Death Note manga ready to read. Monstress does not appear to be complete. In searching for that something, I borrowed the young adult novel, Shadowshaper by @djolder (Daniel José Older) from the local library. Shadowshaper isn’t that particular something I’ve been searching for, but the good news is, I was overall pleased when reading the book was all said and done.

The story is about Sierra, a teenage Afro-Latina and her family, friends, art, culture, and the supernatural. She learns of a gift she has in working with spirits in her art while learning of why this gift was unknown to her for so long. She must deal with serious repercussions her grandfather left behind and challenge those who dare to harm her family.

A few transitions in the story felt shaky, such as the sudden concern for checking on her brother Juan and the sudden concern that someone was betraying her. I can relate to writing a story this way because at times the story is telling me where to go, or I am more concerned with threading certain key moments I know I want in a story than whatever transition I use to reach that point. Nonetheless, I as a reader felt a confused jolted from one point to the next in a couple of these instances.

The story also has something called “corpuscles,” which remind me of zombies, and I hate zombies, not because they are scary but because they are disgusting and otherwise bore me. I wasn’t really too pleased with the appearance of a corpuscle to be where the action started to really pick up, but I kept going.

The teenagers in the story, like undoubtedly many people, including actual teenagers, use some ableist language, disparaging the notions of “stupid” and “crazy.” I have touched on how fiction reflects this aspect of our society in a past written piece here. Probably there and here too, I conflate mental illness and intellectual disability since it something I am still learning as I go. I have found the following page, http://www.idrs.org.au/s32/_guide/p040_4_2_IDandMI.php, to explain a difference.  A word like “stupid” refers to the limit on cognitive ability and understanding described. However, it is not this developmental disability that actually causes things we casually call “stupid” as an insult to others but often willful ignorance, an aversion to context, a refusal to examine and understand history with its implications on the present, and generally a severe lack of critical thinking. A word like “crazy” is in reference to having a mental illness. The illnesses I see most often referenced by those who have them are depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Less often, I will see schizophrenia or psychosis, among others.  The casual, insulting use signifies the named is being woefully unreasonable or believing things that are unbelievable or being all-around ridiculous, nonsensical, or just plain weird.

The novel does broach the subject of one of these offenses when a friend starts to say that what Sierra is telling them is completely crazy, stopping short of finishing the word. At this point, Sierra introspectively thinks on the dismissive use of “crazy” as people use it for things they do not understand, her own family included. I am left with the impression, not only from this novel but on a whole from many sources, that even when many people do recognize “crazy” is insulting to those with a mental illness, they still find “stupid” or similar insults to be acceptable with no regard to those who have a developmental disability.

One of the things I’ve liked about reading Older’s tweets is recognition that diversity is really a reflection of our reality and providing things people can identify with in characters he writes has merit. I see him often tweet when readers affirm their appreciation for that work. With that in mind, I am compelled to include that my mom is Latina, so I related to a few things about Sierra’s family, such as the intermittent use of the Spanish language (recognizing more than I thought I would at that).

My personal favorite thing in the story is the lack of shocking betrayal by two particular characters. Often, stories have betrayal, and Shadowshaper is no exception. Sierra feels betrayed by her grandfather for keeping a significant part of her heritage from her, her mother for trying to ignore it, her aunt for being a bigot, her friends for hinting she might be “crazy.” But I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was that neither Robbie nor Nydia turned out to be some kind of enemy all along. Nydia came really close one chapter, but it didn’t happen. The kind of betrayal I’m talking about is one past the halfway point, perhaps at a climax, where a hero realizes someone they trusted all along is aligned with the villain. The traitor might even end up allying with the hero again later on, such as Kain from Final Fantasy IV (twice!!!).

I was interested enough in the plot to wonder what would happen next and the interactions Sierra had with her friends, family, and her own introspection on many topics. Overall, I think Shadowshaper is a good novel. I appreciate the setting, the characters, the plot, and how most of it all ties together. Also, there was a dragon. Dragons rule.