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A review by theresidentbookworm
The Spy Who Raised Me by Ted Anderson
3.0
Sometimes I read books or graphic novels where I'm more in love with the concept or the potential of the thing I'm reading than I am with the actual thing I'm reading. The entire time I was reading The Spy Who Raised Me, I kept thinking, 'I wish there was more here.' And I don't mean that in a negative way. The Spy Who Raised Me is a perfectly good middle grade (or maybe on the younger end of YA) graphic novel, but its concept was far more interesting to me than anything that was actually on the page.
In The Spy Who Raised Me, Josie Black is your average teen girl who discovers that she actually has secret spy abilities and has been trained by her mother and a secret agency to be a spy without her knowledge. This is serious Black Widow Natasha Romanoff back story stuff, and the story suffers (in my mind) by not giving it enough weight. Josie seems mad and hurt by what her mother has done, sure, but the plot shifts too quickly into action, solve-the-mystery territory to actually deal with any kind of trauma. And because this is a middle grade graphic novel, maybe it would never just go there anywhere. And to me, that feels like a missed opportunity. Basically, I just wish The Spy Who Raised Me was actually a three book YA or adult series and not a graphic novel that barely clocks at 175 pages because I want more of it all.
I did enjoy Gianna Meola's artwork, though I absolutely despised the lettering. Maybe that will change before publication, which I hope because the lettering is ugly and does not really fit the tone of the story.
So should you read The Spy Who Raised Me? Yes, absolutely! I think younger readers will like it a lot. I am definitely not the target audience for this, and I fully admit that. I think I really want a Black Widow or Black Widow-esque spy origin story series, and someone should work on writing that for me. Also, though, I'd take a sequel to The Spy Who Raised Me because I feel like there's more story left here.
In The Spy Who Raised Me, Josie Black is your average teen girl who discovers that she actually has secret spy abilities and has been trained by her mother and a secret agency to be a spy without her knowledge. This is serious Black Widow Natasha Romanoff back story stuff, and the story suffers (in my mind) by not giving it enough weight. Josie seems mad and hurt by what her mother has done, sure, but the plot shifts too quickly into action, solve-the-mystery territory to actually deal with any kind of trauma. And because this is a middle grade graphic novel, maybe it would never just go there anywhere. And to me, that feels like a missed opportunity. Basically, I just wish The Spy Who Raised Me was actually a three book YA or adult series and not a graphic novel that barely clocks at 175 pages because I want more of it all.
I did enjoy Gianna Meola's artwork, though I absolutely despised the lettering. Maybe that will change before publication, which I hope because the lettering is ugly and does not really fit the tone of the story.
So should you read The Spy Who Raised Me? Yes, absolutely! I think younger readers will like it a lot. I am definitely not the target audience for this, and I fully admit that. I think I really want a Black Widow or Black Widow-esque spy origin story series, and someone should work on writing that for me. Also, though, I'd take a sequel to The Spy Who Raised Me because I feel like there's more story left here.