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Shadowshaper Cypher #1.5
Ghost Girl in the Corner
Trying to shake off the strange malaise that separates her from even her girlfriend Izzy, Tee decides to take over the Bed-Stuy Searchlight for the summer. But then she finds an alluring violet dress in the newspaper office, and a cute ghost girl no one else can see. Izzy can tell Tee's drifting away from her--she misses Izzy's shows and skips shadowshaper practice--and she won't stand for it. Yet when a girl goes missing in Bed-Stuy, Izzy needs Tee to get the word out and help investigate. Can they break through their distance and reconnect before someone else dies?
Audiobook
First published November 29, 2016
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About the author
Daniel José Older
179 books1,965 followersDaniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher (Scholastic), the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series (Penguin), and the upcoming Middle Grade sci-fi adventure Flood City (Scholastic). He won the International Latino Book Award and has been nominated for the Kirkus Prize, the Mythopoeic Award, the Locus Award, the Andre Norton Award, and yes, the World Fantasy Award. Shadowshaper was named one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read. You can find his thoughts on writing, read dispatches from his decade-long career as an NYC paramedic and hear his music at http://danieljoseolder.net/, on youtube and @djolder on twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
November 30, 2016
DON'T MIND ME. I'M JUST GOING TO THROW MYSELF AROUND FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS, UNABLE TO FUNCTION PROPERLY AFTER READING THING.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Fantastic pacing, best characters, bad baddies, 'shaping, Easter eggs for all uscreepily obsessive dedicated DJO fans, perfect length, teaser-rific. I just. Gah. Yes.
Soooo...can you keep cranking out multiple stories a year, Older, please and thank you?
Novellas are the best, y'all.
This was totally worth staying up past my bedtime.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Fantastic pacing, best characters, bad baddies, 'shaping, Easter eggs for all us
Soooo...can you keep cranking out multiple stories a year, Older, please and thank you?
Novellas are the best, y'all.
This was totally worth staying up past my bedtime.
April 30, 2022
Star Rating: —> 5 Stars
HOLY WOW! Why was this series not more hyped!!?? This novella was PHENOMENAL! So far have loved Shadowshaper, this one, & now im moving on to book 1.6, the second novella between books 1 & 2 Dead Light March !
RTC
HOLY WOW! Why was this series not more hyped!!?? This novella was PHENOMENAL! So far have loved Shadowshaper, this one, & now im moving on to book 1.6, the second novella between books 1 & 2 Dead Light March !
RTC
January 20, 2020
3.5 stars
This novella set between books one and two features Izzy and Tee, who are in something of a rough patch in their relationship. It's been a month since the events of book one, and Tee's trying to get Manny's paper back in circulation, and Izzy is excited about a big break in her music. At the same time, Tee starts seeing a ghost in the basement of the church, and in the community a girl has gone missing.
Older takes this opportunity to comment on the vast disparity in how the cops and media respond when it's missing girls of color versus missing white girls - it is a sad fact that missing white girls get far more attention in the media. The cop response isn't across the board, though I don't doubt this response could happen depending where you live. He also touches on gentrification and why that's bad for urban neighborhoods. He also highlights vigilantism, and seems to be trying to justify it . These are complex issues, so they don't really get as much attention as they could have gotten, but it helps to show what these characters have to deal with in their day to day lives.
This might seem like a lot to cram into a novella that's on the shorter side, but Older keeps it from feeling crammed and even manages to sprinkle in some scenes with Sierra and the current goings on of the other shadowshapers as a tease for the upcoming book.
I wanted to give this 4 stars, but there was some confusion in how some of the scenes were written that felt like something was off, and there were some continuity errors with the climax.
This novella set between books one and two features Izzy and Tee, who are in something of a rough patch in their relationship. It's been a month since the events of book one, and Tee's trying to get Manny's paper back in circulation, and Izzy is excited about a big break in her music. At the same time, Tee starts seeing a ghost in the basement of the church, and in the community a girl has gone missing.
Older takes this opportunity to comment on the vast disparity in how the cops and media respond when it's missing girls of color versus missing white girls - it is a sad fact that missing white girls get far more attention in the media. The cop response isn't across the board, though I don't doubt this response could happen depending where you live. He also touches on gentrification and why that's bad for urban neighborhoods. He also highlights vigilantism, and seems to be trying to justify it . These are complex issues, so they don't really get as much attention as they could have gotten, but it helps to show what these characters have to deal with in their day to day lives.
This might seem like a lot to cram into a novella that's on the shorter side, but Older keeps it from feeling crammed and even manages to sprinkle in some scenes with Sierra and the current goings on of the other shadowshapers as a tease for the upcoming book.
I wanted to give this 4 stars, but there was some confusion in how some of the scenes were written that felt like something was off, and there were some continuity errors with the climax.
February 1, 2017
This was a SUPER satisfying return to the Shadowshaper world! I loved that this novella let us spend more time with Tee and Izzy and get to know them both a bit more. I really appreciated that Tee and Izzy's relationship was complicated and multidimensional and still hopeful. There is a mystery of a missing local girl to solve, a ghost girl to find out more about, and we get to check in at least a little bit with Sierra and the others from Shadowshaper. I loved the critique written in of the clueless white lady that's "helping" administer the grant that Tee is using to restart Manny's paper - too spot on!
If you are a fan of Shadowshaper, definitely don't miss this novella. I think I enjoyed it even more than Shadowshaper!
If you are a fan of Shadowshaper, definitely don't miss this novella. I think I enjoyed it even more than Shadowshaper!
March 3, 2018
This was fantastic - I’m loving this series so much. I like how easily you get dropped
Into this neighbourhood and amongst these friends and their lives. And the shadowshaping magic is fun. And though normally writing about music and songs doesn’t much work for me and there’s a lot of it in here, it’s done really well. I like the way the story mixes the fantasy with real issues, like the police not bothering to search for missing black girls and gentrification.
Into this neighbourhood and amongst these friends and their lives. And the shadowshaping magic is fun. And though normally writing about music and songs doesn’t much work for me and there’s a lot of it in here, it’s done really well. I like the way the story mixes the fantasy with real issues, like the police not bothering to search for missing black girls and gentrification.
February 9, 2020
I loved getting to spend more time with Tee and Izzy as they went through a rough patch in their relationship soon after becoming Shadowshapers. But even if that's all this novella was, it would be wonderful. Daniel José Older also deals with a missing girl whose disappearance brings up bad memories for Uncle Neville, police indifference to the girl's disappearance, and a quick look at one of the Shadowshapers' opposing groups. The characters are nicely fleshed out, and we see more to Uncle Neville than we have so far.
November 29, 2016
This was such a delightful treat for those of us having a serious craving for the world of Shadowshaper. Shadowhouse Fall can't come soon enough.
December 14, 2017
Full review to come on Books and Ladders!
December 1, 2016
So not a lot of great stuff has been happening since the election, but a brief moment of relief arrived yesterday in the form of a brand-new shiny Shadowshaper novella from Daniel José Older, which only cost $0.99 on Kindle. I promptly cancelled my evening plans to bug out about stuff on Twitter and bought Ghost Girl in the Corner. I then had a lovely evening with Tee and Iz and three glasses of boxed wine and it was the best I’ve felt in three weeks.
Anyway, as for the novella itself: Most of the most-beloved characters from Shadowshaper are here, but the main action surrounds Tee and Izzy, with a big helping of Uncle Neville. The mischief all starts when Tee sees the ghost of a teenage girl in the basement where she’s taken over Manny’s local newspaper after he died in the last book. Tee has acquired some sort of community journalism grant and has a small crew of intrepid teenage reporters, including a white girl from Staten Island whose grandma is the creepy old lady with the creepy dolls from one of the short stories in Salsa Nocturna. There is also a dude who writes about sports, but when he’s first introduced he says “I write about esports” and I thought he meant eSports like competitive video gaming and then got all confused when he was covering local baseball games and not, like, CS:GO tournaments, but no, it’s just that Older writes out people’s accents and I am a huge fucking nerd.
Anyway, the local baseball games are important because, while Tee is trying to figure out who the ghost in the corner is and simultaneously screwing up her relationship with Izzy, one of the local teams’ star players mysteriously disappears. The cops are, predictably, zero help. The ghost girl in the corner, on the other hand, is, as are the giant printing press and Uncle Neville. How do all these things fit together? You can find out for $0.99.
While the plot is very heavy, the characters are delightful. The dialogue is witty and vivid, which will be surprising to no one who has read anything else by Older or heard him speak at a convention or reading. The social commentary is sharp and incisive—mean, yes, but insightful and hilarious with an eye for detail, like Jane Austen except about modern urban Latinx communities instead of 18th century English countryside gentry nonsense. (If you’re thinking “So not like Jane Austen at all, then,” let me know and I will gladly subject you to three hours of rambling about social satire and economics.) It's also full of fun little references to things, from Older's other work (I mentioned the creepy dolls lady above) to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There is also a brief but very timely and satisfying instance of straight-up Nazi fighting.
Overall, it is a wonderful and much-needed morsel of awesomeness to tide people over until Shadowhouse Fall comes out.
Anyway, as for the novella itself: Most of the most-beloved characters from Shadowshaper are here, but the main action surrounds Tee and Izzy, with a big helping of Uncle Neville. The mischief all starts when Tee sees the ghost of a teenage girl in the basement where she’s taken over Manny’s local newspaper after he died in the last book. Tee has acquired some sort of community journalism grant and has a small crew of intrepid teenage reporters, including a white girl from Staten Island whose grandma is the creepy old lady with the creepy dolls from one of the short stories in Salsa Nocturna. There is also a dude who writes about sports, but when he’s first introduced he says “I write about esports” and I thought he meant eSports like competitive video gaming and then got all confused when he was covering local baseball games and not, like, CS:GO tournaments, but no, it’s just that Older writes out people’s accents and I am a huge fucking nerd.
Anyway, the local baseball games are important because, while Tee is trying to figure out who the ghost in the corner is and simultaneously screwing up her relationship with Izzy, one of the local teams’ star players mysteriously disappears. The cops are, predictably, zero help. The ghost girl in the corner, on the other hand, is, as are the giant printing press and Uncle Neville. How do all these things fit together? You can find out for $0.99.
While the plot is very heavy, the characters are delightful. The dialogue is witty and vivid, which will be surprising to no one who has read anything else by Older or heard him speak at a convention or reading. The social commentary is sharp and incisive—mean, yes, but insightful and hilarious with an eye for detail, like Jane Austen except about modern urban Latinx communities instead of 18th century English countryside gentry nonsense. (If you’re thinking “So not like Jane Austen at all, then,” let me know and I will gladly subject you to three hours of rambling about social satire and economics.) It's also full of fun little references to things, from Older's other work (I mentioned the creepy dolls lady above) to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There is also a brief but very timely and satisfying instance of straight-up Nazi fighting.
Overall, it is a wonderful and much-needed morsel of awesomeness to tide people over until Shadowhouse Fall comes out.
December 4, 2016
This is an easy review to write: Daniel José Older is a genius and will forever continue to be one. His books are full of real people with real lives and real problems (as well as some supernatural ones) and real voices, and they're black and brown and straight and not straight and butch and femme and everything in between, and it's fucking glorious.
Also: REZA.
Also: REZA.
January 15, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this. It has been quite a while since i read Shadowshaper and this made me realize I clearly need to reread it before starting Shadowhouse Fall. But I really loved both girls, and their relationship in the novella. And there was definitely enough intrigue and action to keep me reading. Highly recommend this series.
December 6, 2016
Bought this on Sunday to read at jury duty yesterday. I love when an author writes a side story about characters from a novel. This is a spinoff of Shadowshaper, and there are a couple of parts that lean on the novel, but not heavily. It's full of Older's musical use of language, and I appreciate both the non end-of-the-world story and the fact that it's a YA novella with two queer protagonists in a positive relationship - neither tragic nor a coming out story. Good stuff.
January 7, 2017
Perfect. Makes you want more from the characters in this novella. Shows that this world that Older's built is fully formed and so wonderful. It will give you feels so have your tissues or snacks or emotional care partner (what's the proper term?) ready.
December 24, 2016
Well this was fun! I do wish it was longer.... there are storylines I would have enjoyed more of. A fun addition to the Shadowshaper universe. I always enjoy reading Daniel José Older.
December 26, 2017
I read this all in one sitting. It's that good (and short). It had been a while since I had read Shadowshaper so probably should have refreshed myself on the characters and past events a bit, but it all still made sense with just my hazy memory for context.
This story centers two secondary characters from Shadowshaper: Izzy and Tee. The two girls struggle with with their romantic relationship and newfound ghost powers. Tee takes over the printing press that found itself missing an owner after the first book. She heads up a journalism team funded by grant money, and blossoms in her leadership role. Except the printing press room is haunted by a ghost who needs her help.
Izzy, you may remember, is a rising rapper and we get to see some of her lyrics along with her writing process on the way to her biggest show yet. But when Tee doesn't show up to support her, Izzy fears that the love between them has grown cold. Fortunately, there's nothing like a murder mystery to bring a couple back together.
Can't wait to read the second Shadowshaper novella to gear up for reading Shadowhouse Fall.
This story centers two secondary characters from Shadowshaper: Izzy and Tee. The two girls struggle with with their romantic relationship and newfound ghost powers. Tee takes over the printing press that found itself missing an owner after the first book. She heads up a journalism team funded by grant money, and blossoms in her leadership role. Except the printing press room is haunted by a ghost who needs her help.
Izzy, you may remember, is a rising rapper and we get to see some of her lyrics along with her writing process on the way to her biggest show yet. But when Tee doesn't show up to support her, Izzy fears that the love between them has grown cold. Fortunately, there's nothing like a murder mystery to bring a couple back together.
Can't wait to read the second Shadowshaper novella to gear up for reading Shadowhouse Fall.
September 3, 2021
More like 3.5/5 stars
I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed this more had I read it sooner or remembered the first book and shadowshaping lore a little better. That said, I think this novella must be paving the way for more to come in the series because, by itself, it felt a little incomplete in some ways. It does really make me want to read Shadowhouse Fall though!
I have to admit, I probably would have enjoyed this more had I read it sooner or remembered the first book and shadowshaping lore a little better. That said, I think this novella must be paving the way for more to come in the series because, by itself, it felt a little incomplete in some ways. It does really make me want to read Shadowhouse Fall though!
August 23, 2017
HEEEEEEEEE! OMG Reza cameo for the win! Like everything Older writes, I loved this to pieces.
September 13, 2017
Waiting until Shadowhouse Fall comes out.
April 4, 2019
A fun little novella about Tee and the summer before Shadowhouse Fall. Murder mystery shadowshaper detectives!
December 15, 2016
So this is the best short story of 2016 as well as the best short story I've read in years. It manages to avoid all the short story stuff I don't like. The story seems highly appropriate right now. It's about the power of community and the failure of society to even attempt to protect its vulnerable members. But it's also a story with a hopeful ending. It manages to avoid the 'humans are the real terror' thing that feels so cheap by focusing on a story so many of us understand. There's a dead black girl, and no one outside of her family and community care. We know the statistics on the abduction of black children vs white children. White girls get front page headlines on major newspapers and if you aren't fortunate enough to have a local paper, or have a decent sized social network you'll never know how many black girls go missing. News editors have been heard on record about talking about how missing black girls doesn't rank as news.
Another killer feature is that we have here, a story of young black lesbians doing good in the world and not ending in tragedy. It shows the vulnerabilities and emotional turmoils of young relationships without leveraging implied tragedy for an emotional spike. The book earns all of it's feelings through the hard work of giving every character a justifiable world view, and space to grow within 100 pages. It's really impressive writing.
My favorite thing in a book is when the author knows the audience they're writing for. And this is a story written for people who actually know how hard it is out here for black girls and don't need to revisit tragedy in gory detail. It's basically perfect.
Another killer feature is that we have here, a story of young black lesbians doing good in the world and not ending in tragedy. It shows the vulnerabilities and emotional turmoils of young relationships without leveraging implied tragedy for an emotional spike. The book earns all of it's feelings through the hard work of giving every character a justifiable world view, and space to grow within 100 pages. It's really impressive writing.
My favorite thing in a book is when the author knows the audience they're writing for. And this is a story written for people who actually know how hard it is out here for black girls and don't need to revisit tragedy in gory detail. It's basically perfect.
February 22, 2018
YASSSSS this novella packed a punch! Was so glad to get into Tee and Izzy's heads. And seeing the rest of peeps from Sierra's crew.
And man DJO can spin a tale cuz from the minute Tee spotted ghost girl I wanted/needed to know what her story was. And bit by bit it unfolds. All the while intertwined with seeing what's going on with Tee and Izzy's relationship.
Not only that we get the story of two missing girls. One for whom it's too late, but for the other there's still hope (maybe?, no spoilers) it's a sobering tale, one that sadly, happens all too often. So amidst all my chuckling at the character's antics this part got me right in the gut.
Coupled with A+ hilarious dialogue and intriguing characters (uncle Neville!!) and a lil cameo from one of my fave characters from the Bone Street Rumba series (again, no spoilers go read :P) I thoroughly enjoyed this novella.
And there's a sneak peak of book 2 in the Shadowshaper series, Shadowhouse Fall so i neeeeed it now!!
And man DJO can spin a tale cuz from the minute Tee spotted ghost girl I wanted/needed to know what her story was. And bit by bit it unfolds. All the while intertwined with seeing what's going on with Tee and Izzy's relationship.
Not only that we get the story of two missing girls. One for whom it's too late, but for the other there's still hope (maybe?, no spoilers) it's a sobering tale, one that sadly, happens all too often. So amidst all my chuckling at the character's antics this part got me right in the gut.
Coupled with A+ hilarious dialogue and intriguing characters (uncle Neville!!) and a lil cameo from one of my fave characters from the Bone Street Rumba series (again, no spoilers go read :P) I thoroughly enjoyed this novella.
And there's a sneak peak of book 2 in the Shadowshaper series, Shadowhouse Fall so i neeeeed it now!!
February 8, 2017
I really enjoyed this novella from Daniel José Older. It picks up after the events of Shadowshaper and focuses on Tee and Izzy - two of the cutest queer girls of color you'll meet in a book - as they unravel the mystery of the ghost girl in the Searchlight office. The dialogue and plotting are excellent. I appreciated how Older took a real life dynamic, media obsessions over disappearances of white girls but neither media nor police lift a finger for missing girls of color, and spun out a suspenseful and thrilling novella. Well worth $0.99.
January 22, 2017
If you're not reading Daniel's writing, you're missing out in so many ways. I am always overjoyed to dive (back) into the worlds he creates. I can't recommend his writing enough and this novella is no exception (but read Shadowshaper first).
December 9, 2016
Such an awesome book I stayed up all night reading it!
January 14, 2017
Jesus fucking christ that was creepy amd scary.
January 1, 2017
An interesting diversion into this world with a lot of interesting things to say. I hadn't checked out the Shadowshapers series yet but definitely want to after this volume.
June 29, 2017
Ugh, this novella is so good.
Ghost Girl in the Corner is about two missing girls. One who was found dead years ago and whose ghost now haunts the basement of a local church; the other who went missing only days ago and who may still be alive. It's up to Tee and Izzy, along with some help from Uncle Neville, to discover who is kidnapping these girls.
It's emotionally-raw story, exploring how the cases of black and brown girls who go missing often get dismissed by society. In his interview with himself*, the author said, "[This novella is] about the way we're haunted sometimes not just by presences or spirits, but we're haunted by injustices. We're haunted by oppression." And yeah, I don't think I can say it better than that.
I was so excited to a loving queer couple amongst Sierra's friends in Shadowshaper and I hoped we would get to see more of these two as the series progresses. Then - bam! This novella drops and guess who are the protagonists? Tee and Izzy! I loved spending more time with these characters and I can't wait for the next installment of the series.
Can I also say, at the risk of repeating myself, how cool it is that all of Daniel José Older stories connect? There's some subtle references to his short story collection, Salsa Nocturna, as well as a cameo of a character from the Bone Street Rumba series.
I highly recommend - though you probably want to read Shadowshaper first. It's written for readers already familiar with the characters.
*Yeah, that happened. It's good, watch it.
Ghost Girl in the Corner is about two missing girls. One who was found dead years ago and whose ghost now haunts the basement of a local church; the other who went missing only days ago and who may still be alive. It's up to Tee and Izzy, along with some help from Uncle Neville, to discover who is kidnapping these girls.
It's emotionally-raw story, exploring how the cases of black and brown girls who go missing often get dismissed by society. In his interview with himself*, the author said, "[This novella is] about the way we're haunted sometimes not just by presences or spirits, but we're haunted by injustices. We're haunted by oppression." And yeah, I don't think I can say it better than that.
I was so excited to a loving queer couple amongst Sierra's friends in Shadowshaper and I hoped we would get to see more of these two as the series progresses. Then - bam! This novella drops and guess who are the protagonists? Tee and Izzy! I loved spending more time with these characters and I can't wait for the next installment of the series.
Can I also say, at the risk of repeating myself, how cool it is that all of Daniel José Older stories connect? There's some subtle references to his short story collection, Salsa Nocturna, as well as a cameo of a character from the Bone Street Rumba series.
I highly recommend - though you probably want to read Shadowshaper first. It's written for readers already familiar with the characters.
*Yeah, that happened. It's good, watch it.
March 30, 2023
Series Info/Source: This is a novella in the Shadowshaper Cypher series, which I did not know when I picked it up to read from my library. It does not stand alone well and I would only pick this up if you've read at least the first book in the Shadowshaper Cypher series. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.
Thoughts: I am giving this 4 stars because I didn't finish it because I didn't realize it was part of a series. I got about 50% of the way through this and then set it aside. I was incredibly confused about what was going on throughout the story.
The story seems to be following some characters that are part of a Shadowshaper Society or something and some of them are in a band (or they are rappers?) as well. The main character is having relationship troubles with her girlfriend and there is a strange ghost girl in the shop that she runs. That's about what I got from this book in the first half.
The writing isn't bad or anything. There's a lot of slang and the narration on the audiobook was a bit hard to understand with background noise. It wasn't really for me and I was so lost about who was who and what was going on that I decided not to continue it.
If you are a fan of this series you'll probably enjoy this, but if you are just looking for a novella to read and haven't read other books in the series you'll be completely lost and confused.
My Summary (4/5): Overall the first half of this book was well written but hard to follow if you haven't read other books in the series. I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it or to go back and pick up other books in this series. I was just looking for a fun, quick, paranormal novella audiobook to listen to and this didn't really work for me because of how confused I was about the characters and the world.
Thoughts: I am giving this 4 stars because I didn't finish it because I didn't realize it was part of a series. I got about 50% of the way through this and then set it aside. I was incredibly confused about what was going on throughout the story.
The story seems to be following some characters that are part of a Shadowshaper Society or something and some of them are in a band (or they are rappers?) as well. The main character is having relationship troubles with her girlfriend and there is a strange ghost girl in the shop that she runs. That's about what I got from this book in the first half.
The writing isn't bad or anything. There's a lot of slang and the narration on the audiobook was a bit hard to understand with background noise. It wasn't really for me and I was so lost about who was who and what was going on that I decided not to continue it.
If you are a fan of this series you'll probably enjoy this, but if you are just looking for a novella to read and haven't read other books in the series you'll be completely lost and confused.
My Summary (4/5): Overall the first half of this book was well written but hard to follow if you haven't read other books in the series. I didn't enjoy it enough to finish it or to go back and pick up other books in this series. I was just looking for a fun, quick, paranormal novella audiobook to listen to and this didn't really work for me because of how confused I was about the characters and the world.
January 31, 2017
Another excellent effort from DJO. Like Shadowshaper before it, this novella is richly multilayered. It would be easy for a story with so many layers of conflict represented to become shallow, or muddied. Older juggles them with aplomb.
Tee has been feeling disconnected and uncertain of her place in the world since the end of Shadowshaper. It hasn't gone unnoticed, and the first obvious story is about the damage it's causing to her relationships, particularly with her girlfriend Izzy.
The blatant supernatural hook is the eponymous ghost girl who appears to Tee. What does she want? Who is she? Why does Tee feel in her bones the girl should be a secret, even from the other shadowshapers?
And where is Lani Cortez, star pitcher and local hero of the diamond?
On top of all this, Older acknowledges and comments on the myriad of other tensions in his characters lives without being heavy handed or preachy. Conflicts between races, origins, sexes and others make their impacts felt.
And to top of it off, we're left with a little hook for further Bed-Stuy Shadowshaper problems to come.
A thoroughly satisfying read.
Tee has been feeling disconnected and uncertain of her place in the world since the end of Shadowshaper. It hasn't gone unnoticed, and the first obvious story is about the damage it's causing to her relationships, particularly with her girlfriend Izzy.
The blatant supernatural hook is the eponymous ghost girl who appears to Tee. What does she want? Who is she? Why does Tee feel in her bones the girl should be a secret, even from the other shadowshapers?
And where is Lani Cortez, star pitcher and local hero of the diamond?
On top of all this, Older acknowledges and comments on the myriad of other tensions in his characters lives without being heavy handed or preachy. Conflicts between races, origins, sexes and others make their impacts felt.
And to top of it off, we're left with a little hook for further Bed-Stuy Shadowshaper problems to come.
A thoroughly satisfying read.
December 31, 2017
I had no idea about the direction this novella would take, but I shouldn’t be surprised, because at its core this series has always been about addressing real-life injustices through magic-filled worlds, in this case missing black and brown girls and how no one except for their families, friends, and communities really cares about their disappearance. I’m really glad this was in dual POV, so you could see both Tee’s and Izzy’s thoughts, and I love that their story came full circle from a situation where they both felt like they were no longer communicating and each keeping secrets from each other, to a resolution where they both need to keep this secret from all their friends, but at least can share it with each other. Once again, this instalment in the Shadowshaper Cypher was just written so well. Older’s writing is perfectly suited to the character and/or situation in question and knows exactly what to do to fully enhance the moment. It’s laugh-out-loud funny when Tee or Izzy have lost their chill or are having a moment, and slows down and becomes really beautiful and poignant in the quieter and more contemplative scenes. This remains one of the smartest and best thought-out series I’ve ever read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews