Dead Light March

BLURB: Set between the New York Times bestseller Shadowshaper and its upcoming sequel Shadowhouse Fall, and following the first novella Ghost Girl in the Corner, this story of music, passion, and mystery will draw you deeper into the magical Brooklyn of Daniel José Older’s Shadowshaper Cypher.

Mina Satorius, classmate of Sierra and her crew, is being drawn deeper into the light of the Sorrows’ world. Sierra’s brother Juan isn’t quite sure what to do with his band’s latest song–it has an actual melody!–but maybe it’ll impress his brand-new, out of the blue, super-secret crush. And Sierra herself is grappling with the new powers that have made her head of the shadowshapers . . . and what that means for her life and those around her.

The stories of all three collide at the West Indian Day parade as new threats and old foes thread their way towards the shadowshapers, in this electric novella set on the eve of Shadowhouse Fall

REVIEW

I almost missed the announcement of this novella (twitter has been playing with my notifications awhile now >.>) BUT ANYHOW when i saw that we were getting another Shadowshaper novella this was me:

me doing the bogle dance = excitement obviously 😀

So when i found out we were getting another excellent Shadowshaper novella I was alll YESSSS which got me even more excited for Shadowhouse Fall now!

While reading, my little West Indian heart was thrilled to see mention of the WI day parade and typically West Indian thiiiiings. i’m trini so seeing mention of Carnival costumes and soca and roti had me all excited. It’s always a thrill to see bits and pieces of my culture in books. The mention of the costume also had me cackling too because Juan, my dude, how you gonna refer to the costume like that?

They really more talking about the mad flowery, bright-colored, extra-ass costumes type deal.

This is another thing that DJO does so well, the peppering of humour through dialogue which acts as a great juxtaposition against the intense action happening.

As always DJO’s words are just beautiful and vividly paints every damn scene. The characters are just well fleshed out, personalities shining and jumping off the page. My love for Izzy grows with each book. When Izzy’s rapping I feel it. It’s so alive and the words almost jump off the page as she spits her lyrics. Truly! Awesomeness all round. DJO is a master in the Urban Fantasy genre. no damn lie!!

What i also liked is that we see a Sierra here who is unsure, worried, off balance. She’s been thrust into this big role and still isn’t sure how to navigate that exactly, how to embrace who she’s meant to be. As I mentioned above this has me counting down to Shadowhouse Fall because somethings are about to go down people!

That tension was too real! So grab Shadowshaper if you haven’t yet. devour it. Then read the novellas so you’re all prepped for book 2 in September.

I’ll just be over here waiting. Join me?