Reviews

Araña and Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow by Alex Segura

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connorjdaley's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Grabbed this on audible during a 2-for-1 sale, and Victoria Villarreal brought an authentic feel to the characters, and overall the narration was a lot of fun.

First and foremost, I am a Peter Parker Spider-Man fan. The OG animated series from when I as a kid, as well as the Tobey McGuire movies. Unless you’re counting the PS4 game and Sony-verse, I know next to nothing about Miles Morales, and my knowledge of Spider-Man 2099 (other than random things) mostly starts with Oscar Isaac. So I gave this a shot simply because it was Marvel and Spidey adjacent, I actually didn’t even know who Araña was at all.

Anya, who takes on the spider-identity of Araña, has a familiar, tough upbringing through her abilities. She must juggle school, a secret identity while living with her father, and the loss of a mentor, all right before a short tussle with an artifact called El Obelisco sends her crashing into the future. Don’t let my condensed version fool you though, because I actually felt like all that set up went on a little longer than I expected, at least for me, who did not read the blurb before jumping in!

In this far-flung future, Anya finds out that there was a Spider-Man in the year 2099, and having only arrived a few years later than that, she figures he must still be active. A lot can change in only a few years though, and the Miguel O’Hara she finds is as far from the tights-wearing hero he was can be. He’s not only jaded, but thinks the world is better off without his costumed help.

Personally, I can always get behind the reluctant mentor trope, and I really liked that it was a retired Spider-Man too, so that she was getting the help from the actual source. But what lacked for me, was the world he came from. Miguel is a rich, business runner with a virtual assistant that arguably does more than her fair share of the work. He even comes from the future where NYC has been renamed Nueva York, and yet I found that the author really didn’t describe it or any differences. As someone unfamiliar, this would have been a huge opportunity to sell me.

Then throw in another dimension’s Ghost Spider out of left field in the third act and you’re really cooking with fire. It seemed like a lot of work to simply not include Peter, who is “off planet”, so I’m curious if he just wasn’t on the table. Regardless, the heroes hero, and this was another interesting and fun spider-people adventure. It had all the necessary touch points, a newbie, great responsibility, middle-story self doubts, emotional pulls, and self sacrifices. All things that make superheroes what they are. Personally a 4/5*.

rody_lamoree's review

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2.5

Please someone give Alex Segura some writing lessons. The characters and story were fun (although the later being cliche), I think the juvenile writing style is what really pulls this book back.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review

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2.0

2/5
I am always in the mood to read books based off of star wars or marvel and with the new movie I though I would give this one a go. Sadly, like other books I have read, this one wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I felt like it was bland, and predicable. I hate when that is the case.

alenning24's review

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.25

This book is definitely not something I liked. It was just kind of a poorly developed book. It had a good plot in parts but it just always fell through. the author definitely had some great ideas for the characters but it was never fully thought through. Characters like Ghost-spider and the original Miguel lager had so much potential yet it always fell through and the author failed to give them more than the bare minimum.

There was some parts of this book I enjoyed, at some points it did a very good job at creating a scene. It was quite descriptive on movement and place setting and connecting the characters to it. This book though suffered because how fast it moved through scenes. It didn't give readers time or room to feel any sort of emotion over what was going on which really affected my rating of the book.

daenknight's review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

This was a very enjoyable read! I was interested the moment I saw the cover, and I was able to check out this book at my library around a month after it came out. I loved the banter and teamwork between Anya and Miguel, and watching them help each other out was the highlight of the whole book. Traveler was not the best villain, but overall, I loved seeing Anya grow as a Spider Hero and Miguel get pushed out of his angst and moved into action. A book I would love to reread again!

kaitmarie0426's review

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4.0

Omg I realized I never dropped my review for this book. I absolutely loved this story. Spiderman is my favorite hero of all time and I love reading about characters in the spider verse. When I saw this book was about a Latina FMC spider girl, I knew I had to pick it up asap. I hadn’t read any of Araña’s comics but now I might have to because she is such a badass. This story could easily be made into a movie and I would EAT IT UP! This read very much like a movie so I really enjoyed it. It’s not a five star because it’s just moderately cringy and a little juvenile at times but that’s to be expected since it’s a middle grade/ya book. 4.5