Scan barcode
A review by friendlydisaster101
The Spy Who Raised Me by Ted Anderson
2.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Graphic Universe ™ for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
'The Spy Who Raised Me' had an intriguing storyline and premise, but was ultimately quite disappointing.
Josie Black is a special operative who works for the Company, under her mother, which she's only figured out now, after discovering some concerning gaps in her memories. As it turns out, she's been mind-controlled and brain-washed into being a special, elite operative, all while believing herself to be just another ordinary teenager. Faced by her mother's decisions and what the truth means, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and realize what it is that she really wants to be.
I found the central story of this graphic novel incredibly interesting. While we may have heard of it before, in other books and movies, the idea of a special operative - a kid, at that - not knowing of their own abilities really appealed to me, and I was immediately drawn to this book.
Unfortunately, this book didn't deliver in the way I hoped it would. Much of the story was very convenient, and I felt that there were many storylines left dangling at the end of the, admittedly, short book. The book felt rushed at times, and didn't delve into some aspects which I found needed to be expanded upon more, with scenes that felt borderline ridiculous. The characters weren't truly elaborated on either, though perhaps the action tries to make up for that.
All of that being said, one of the biggest problems that I had was with the art itself. I felt that the illustrations could have had more detail, and done a better job at basic storytelling overall, with speech bubbles being quite big and more informative of the story than what was happening in the panels themselves. The illustrations weren't exactly what I had been hoping for, to say the least, and were disappointingly bland and unsightly.
Overall, while it sounds great at first, this graphic novel didn't really live up to what I was hoping it would be. While I would recommend it to anyone who would like to check it out for themselves, especially if the premise sounds interesting, I would also tell them not to hold out for much. Here's to hoping for a sequel that goes more in-depth about how this one ended, I suppose.
'The Spy Who Raised Me' had an intriguing storyline and premise, but was ultimately quite disappointing.
Josie Black is a special operative who works for the Company, under her mother, which she's only figured out now, after discovering some concerning gaps in her memories. As it turns out, she's been mind-controlled and brain-washed into being a special, elite operative, all while believing herself to be just another ordinary teenager. Faced by her mother's decisions and what the truth means, she decides to take matters into her own hands, and realize what it is that she really wants to be.
I found the central story of this graphic novel incredibly interesting. While we may have heard of it before, in other books and movies, the idea of a special operative - a kid, at that - not knowing of their own abilities really appealed to me, and I was immediately drawn to this book.
Unfortunately, this book didn't deliver in the way I hoped it would. Much of the story was very convenient, and I felt that there were many storylines left dangling at the end of the, admittedly, short book. The book felt rushed at times, and didn't delve into some aspects which I found needed to be expanded upon more, with scenes that felt borderline ridiculous. The characters weren't truly elaborated on either, though perhaps the action tries to make up for that.
All of that being said, one of the biggest problems that I had was with the art itself. I felt that the illustrations could have had more detail, and done a better job at basic storytelling overall, with speech bubbles being quite big and more informative of the story than what was happening in the panels themselves. The illustrations weren't exactly what I had been hoping for, to say the least, and were disappointingly bland and unsightly.
Overall, while it sounds great at first, this graphic novel didn't really live up to what I was hoping it would be. While I would recommend it to anyone who would like to check it out for themselves, especially if the premise sounds interesting, I would also tell them not to hold out for much. Here's to hoping for a sequel that goes more in-depth about how this one ended, I suppose.