Miles Morales Shock Waves Written by Justin Reynolds. Reviewed by Ivan, Age 10

This graphic novel is about when Miles Morales (aka spider-man) sets up a fundraiser party to raise money for victims of an earthquake in Puerto Rico, but then a student at his school’s dad goes missing. He has to then constantly switch between Miles and spider-man throughout the book to help find him. The plot jumps around a bit because of this which I liked because it gives the impression that Miles sort of lives two lives at once and it’s quite exciting.

This is my first experience with new spider-man because I am only familiar with the old spider-man but it does have a really handy explanation at the start of the book. Miles is different from Peter Parker (old spider-man) because he has some extra superpowers including invisibility and something he calls venom blast. The biggest difference is that he’s a teenager and Peter Parker is now a grown up.

My favourite character is Miles’s friend Ganke because he is very funny. I like his friendship with Kyle even though they often argue too. It teaches you the importance of how you can still be friends with someone even if you disagree.

I also liked how some bits are in Miles’s head and are basically narration, and the rest is all speech. Sometimes it’s a little harder to understand what is happening but the illustrations are really clear and help you work out where the story is going.

The illustrations’ style is not very detailed but can really explain what is going on. It is very colourful but using dark colours a bit like anime style. It’s quite appealing to look at and I liked the style. It makes it hard to put the book down because you always want to see what’s going to happen next. I read it in one go!

The graphic novel style feels like it is more exciting without narration because you can see what is happening better. I think it is good for people who find some books too long because it is quite short and there are more pictures than words so if you find reading hard you might like this and it’s a good way to get into longer books.

This book is like a lot of super hero books if you were to compare them although it is the first book I read that has several baddies in it and I think villains are better than heroes! If you like graphic novels and/or superheroes you will like this. This book is aimed at ages around 7-13.