64 pages • 2 hours read
Daniel José OlderShadowshaper
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapter 41-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 41 Summary
Sierra summons spirits to put into the junkyard murals that she and Robbie created, and she puts Manny’s into her dragon. The images come to life, and Sierra asks them to scatter the throng haints and protect her family: “She shut her eyes and became instantly aware of the many spirits working for her, as their vision was hers” (284). Sierra uses the energy of the spirits to locate her friends in the building, but she finds she can’t locate Wick. Wick sends throng haints to attack her, which drains her of some of her life force, so the good spirits step in to rejuvenate Sierra. Wick tries to convince Sierra that her grandfather destroyed the shadowshapers, not him, but Sierra won’t listen to his lies: “[…] you tried to take it from me. Tried to tear my own heritage away” (287). Sierra feels the spirits surrounding her, and she uses their energy to help destroy Wick’s throng haint as he watches on in horror.
Chapter 42 Summary
Wick begs for Sierra’s mercy, claiming that he started out innocently, just wanting to spread knowledge about the shadowshapers. Sierra’s spirit vision allows her to know that her family is under attack, being chased by throng haints, as Robbie and the mural spirits show up to fight them. An enraged Sierra decides death is too good for Wick and allows the spirits to enter his body, “burrowing into the most intimate reaches of his soul” (292). The spirits take Wick’s powers, leaving his body aged and decimated as a result. Sierra checks in with her family and sees the throng haints have been destroyed, and that María has joined Robbie in painting new murals. Sierra joins her friends, still surrounded by protective spirits, as they leave the Tower.
Epilogue Summary
Robbie and Sierra dress up to go to Coney Island together, and Sierra notices that Robbie’s tattoos are coming back. Sierra hasn’t yet spoken to Grandpa Lázaro, not knowing what to say about the part he played in almost destroying the shadowshapers. Robbie and Sierra join all of Sierra’s family and friends who have come out to celebrate, including Big Jerome and Izzy, who apologize for leaving them. Sierra pays tribute to Mama Carmen and Manny, Bennie pays tribute to her brother Vincent, and Robbie pays tribute to Papa Acevado. As the others remember their lost loved ones, the spirits surround them, and Sierra marvels: “Their stories […] still lived with them, made up the fabric of who they were” (296). Sierra absorbs the love and power of the spirits and puts it into her loved ones, giving them the ability to shadowshape.
Chapter 41-Epilogue Analysis
Wick has been a looming evil throughout the novel, as Sierra reads his written journals and hears stories about him. It isn’t until the last few chapters that Wick makes a physical appearance in the novel, and though he puts up a fight, he proves to be a relatively easily beaten foe. Wick is made intentionally pathetic as a villain of the novel. His so-called power comes from stealing from the powers of others and abusing the trust that has been placed in him. Once Wick encounters a more powerful being than himself in Sierra, he instantly becomes contrite, begging and pleading for his life with “trembling lips and tearstained eyes” (291). Sierra knows better than to grant him even the power of death, since “It left him too much room for some nefarious rebirth in the afterlife” (291). Instead she strips Wick of his power, the worst punishment for an ambitious, greedy man like Wick.
Wick has been the embodiment of racism, cultural appropriation, and white privilege throughout the text, and this final encounter between him and Sierra is loaded with symbolism. Rather than kill Wick and rise to his level of infamy, Sierra chooses to strip him of his power and give that power back to her community, as seen in the final ceremony in the epilogue. Sierra doesn’t want to take the power for herself, as Wick did; she wants to use it to better her world for the people she loves. Though Sierra often feared that she would have to face Wick alone, Sierra learns through her adventures that she is surrounded by friends, family, and spirits of loved ones past who will strengthen her and enable her to take care of her community, just as they take care of her.
Wick is not alone in misusing his authority. Sierra has learned that Grandpa Lázaro also mishandled his powers, choosing to only distribute the powers to other men, keeping the truth a secret from Sierra, and banishing Mama Carmen when they disagreed. Though Sierra still loves her grandfather, she doesn’t let him off the hook for this neglect, confiding to Robbie, “I don’t know if I can face him” (295). This lack of closure will likely be addressed in future novels in the series, and it signifies that some hurts need time to be corrected. Wick did damage to the shadowshapers, but so did Lázaro, and he will need to own up for his part in the betrayal before forgiveness and healing can begin.
