Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older is an urban fantasy novel exploring mysterious painted figures that can be suffused with dead spirits to bring them into life. The protagonist in this novel is a teenage girl called Sierra Santiago. Sierra is a heroine and serves the purpose of gentrification in this book. While painting a mural at a certain unfinished building, Sierra notices a mystique painted artwork on an abandoned house. Sierra’s grandfather, Lazaro, suffered a stroke recently and his friend Manny asks his granddaughter to paint a particular mural in an unfinished building.
The entire story represents the shift of conventional artwork to digital artwork in the old cities like Brooklyn. Ideas whose time has come are unstoppable. Change is also inevitable and any resistance against it proves futile eventually. Sierra and Robbie represent a young generation that has adopted a new technology of art and design. On the other hand, Jonathan Wick is an embodiment of the old generation that resists gentrification in old towns. The resistance implies the killing of young talents.
The establishment of modern structures in old towns is met with antagonism from the status quo. Sometimes people advocating for changes experience systemic oppression and harassment. Sierra experiences persecution trying to bring change in a town controlled by older white men. The author calls out the dominance of white supremacy through Sierra and alludes that change is inevitable no matter the resistance.
