Thursday, September 3, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Shadowshaper Legacy by Daniel José Older



Shadowshaper Legacy is the third and final book in Daniel José Older's YA Shadowshaper Cypher trilogy, which began with Shadowshaper (Reviewed Here) and continued in Shadowhouse Fall (Reviewed Here) with a pair of novellas in the middle of it all.  It's been a really strong YA series, using a modern family setting of New York City - largely Brooklyn - to deal with issues facing people of color in the real world - like cultural appropriation/gentrification (book 1) and police brutality (book 2).  Each of the first two books had some pacing issues and were probably too short, but the characters were great and the themes were dealt with really well.  Book 2 ended with a major cliffhanger for a number of the characters, so I was really curious to see how the trilogy would be resolved.

And well....Shadowshaper Legacy is an okay ending to the trilogy, with the series' narrative expanding to show perspectives from several of the major side characters, and it all coming to a conclusion that is mostly satisfying.  On the other hand, the plot deals far more heavily with the magic side than the mundane side, which is what had previously allowed it to deal with the serious themes so well, and its exploration of its themes kind of suffers.  And the pacing issues again haunt this book, which is just way too short for all that happens.  But again, the characters remain great and the story for the most part works, it just doesn't meet the prior high standards.

Note: Spoilers for books 1-2 below

-------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
The House of Shadow and Light is on top.  Sierra's feels as confident in her role as the new Lucera as she has ever been, to the point where she can effortly destroy another House filled with white supremacists, to her friends' surprise.  The only worry on her mind is for the three of her loved ones - brother Juan, boyfriend Anthony, and good friend Izzy - who are stuck in Rikers, under the control and supposed "protection" of the House of Iron.

But Sierra's newfound dominance has aroused the attention of the most powerful beings in the Deck of Worlds - the five Hierophants who act as the arbiters of the deck's rules.  And when their power seems ready to tip the balance of power back, and Sierra finds herself confronted by unthinkable betrayal, she and the others find themselves thrown for a loss.

It will take a combination of the efforts of all of the Shadowshapers, going back generations, in order for them to not only survive it all in the end, but to forge a new path forwards so they can write their own stories as they see fit....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The prior Shadowshaper novels were told pretty much entirely from Sierra's point of view, with Older leaving it for the two novellas to explore other perspectives.  Shadowshaper Legacy switches that up, with the story not only containing flashback scenes to the days of Shadowshaping's founding, but also switching between chapters written from not just Sierra's POV, but those of Tee and Juan as well.  The book also follows up very specifically upon the events in the novellas (where both Tee and Juan had major events occur), as it attempts to wrap it all up.

It also, from the flashbacks to the present day, really emphasizes the magical part of this world.  The prior two books dealt more specifically with some of the mundane parts of Sierra and her friends' world, from the gentrification of the neighborhood (Book 1) to police brutality/police in schools/teachers not understanding PoC experiences (book 2).  The mundane parts would always tie in to the magical aspects, but they would still be separate to some extent, as real parts of Sierra and her friends/family's lives that didn't go away just because they have some magical powers.  Here, there's very little about the mundane - the strongest such aspect is showing how the after effects of prison don't go away so easily (showing really horrible the prison system is, especially to those it touches at a young age for little reason) - with the conflict being entirely magical from the start, and the characters dealing more or less entirely with the magical.

And honestly, that's a bit of a disappointment, as it prevents the book from having the impact the other two had in dealing with very real issues.  The magical plot still has ties to the real world in its themes - a major plot element here basically deals with the intersection of police brutality/the carceral system with white supremacy, which provides the major conflict in this novel.  But without the more mundane aspect, it's all more in the abstract and a lot less interesting of an exploration.  This isn't helped by the novel feeling incredibly short to the point where the pacing is even more of a mess, so the plot developments that do occur often do not have time to land at all and one character's final fate is completely unmentioned as if the author forgot about her.*

Spoiler in ROT13: N ovt cybg gjvfg va gur svefg npg vf gung gb trg bhg bs wnvy, Nagubal wbvaf gur Ubhfr bs Veba, juvpu anghenyyl pnhfrf rirelbar, cnegvphyneyl Fvreen naq Whna, n ybg bs qvfgerff.  Vg pbhyq rira unir fbzr gurzngvp erfbanapr, nf na vaabprag crefba cerffrq hcba gb wbva n onq tebhc (gur cevfba ehaaref gurzfryirf urer, abg n tnat).  Ohg cenpgvpnyyl vzzrqvngryl hcba guvf unccravat, Fvreen pbasebagf Nagubal naq ur erirnyf ur'f fgvyy ba gurve fvqr naq vf cynaavat ba npgvat nf n fcl.  Fb gur jubyr cybg gjvfg tbrf abjurer....naq Nagubal'f ebyr nf n fcl jvaqf hc tbvat abjurer rvgure, nf gur Ubhfr bs Veba qbrfa'g ynfg ybat rabhtu sbe uvz gb npghnyyl qb nalguvat va gung ebyr

But here's the thing, despite the above, this is still a solid book, thanks to the characters being so damn loveable.  Both new POVs, Tee and Juan, are fantastic, with Tee and Izzy's relationship being explored full on in depth and being so great, as is Benny/Juan's (and Sierra/Anthony's goes to the next level).  The rest of the minor characters remain fantastic and have great relations/dialogue - Sierra's mother and a spoiler character in the final act have a really great interaction that made me smile quite a bit - and really at this point, from both the first two books and this one, I wanted to see them all get a happy ending....and they do.

So yeah, Shadowshaper Legacy - nowhere near the level of the prior two novels, probably not a good novel on its own, but satisfying as a conclusion to it all so that the characters I cared about can get their happy ending.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)