Miles Morales is a thoroughly engaging and unique take on Super Man. It mixes supernatural adventure with real life teenage experience. Author Jason Reynolds manages to entertain young readers while making social commentary on race, incarceration, and discrimination.

Review - Miles Morales
Miles Morales by Jason Reynolds

* Read via NetGalley for Review

4 out of 5 gnomes

It was nice to read more about Miles Morales as Spider-Man. I know a little bit about him from the comics but it was great to get a whole book about him. There’s just the tiniest hint of an origin story but it works really well, you’re pretty much just thrown into his world.

This Spider-Man really reads like a teenager not an adult trying to act like a teenager so you’re not jarred out of the story but drawn into it. Also shows that Spider-Man problems can be just as crazy as regular high school problems.

This is more a Miles story than a Spider-Man story until almost the very end. I wish there had been more Spider-Manning because he is a really awesome Spider-Man. Saying that though you do read/hear about some of what he's done as Spider-Man and all the drama and trauma that he’s already been through. I’m hoping there are future books about Miles by this author.

The villain is definitely new to me aka one I hadn’t heard of before. This villain is also a sinister surprisingly old evil too. Plus it just seems believable from a real world and comic book point of view that a villain who believes this could form and cause chaos very easily.

His family life is well done. There is plenty of drama but also a lot of love between him and his parents. I have to mention his friend Ganke too, he is really entertaining and brings out a fun side of Miles.

I wish there had been more of a resolution with the ending. It was good but there are some loose threads that I’m very curious about.

I loved this exploration into a lesser-known version of Spider-Man. Reynolds never disappoints. I appreciated his discussion on race and poverty.

Enjoyable superhero tale that packs heart, humor and message into a highly consumable book that grabs the reader in. High in demand as well as impact, I foresee this book as a classic for years to come.

Basically the high school narrative goes very well, but the superhero storyline isn't well introduced. It feels like the second half of a book or a sequel instead of a standalone, and there isn't enough information provided to catch up readers who aren't already familiar with the Miles Morales origin story. I think putting the storyline with Miles's uncle in flashback did a disservice to its importance, and on the other side of the book the thread with Miles's cousin is left hanging. Just in general, the book felt too short. But again, the everyday life half of the book was great; it was the supernatural side of things that needed more fleshing out.

It's Jason Reynolds!

I'm such a fan I would probably pay to read his grocery list.

Thank you Netgalley, for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.


I figured it would be a snap, but at first it didn't work for me. I struggled and kept starting and stopping, starting and stopping.

Jason Reynolds excels at creating genuine, true to life characters. As you read his words, they come to life seamlessly. You believe they exist beyond the pages of the book. It's this ability that finally allowed me to focus on the story and revel in his writing.

So what the heck was the initial problem? I've been wondering if it had to do with reading on my device. It isn't the first book I've had trouble with there. That light is hard on my aging eyes. And truthfully, I'm easily distracted, so device reading can be deadly. Perhaps I just had too many books on the go. Of course it might be that I had a hard time in the first place because I'm not really a superhero fan.

It was when I finally committed myself and sat down and finished the book that I was blown away. I went back to reread the beginning. After shuffling off my biases and letting myself embrace these characters and the story, I really fell head over tail in love.

At one point I went to Wikipedia to research Spider-Man. (I told you I was easily distracted.) It helped. The last time I paid any attention to superhero comics, was when my sons were reading them. They are now 33 and 36, so that was quite some time ago. I discovered that Miles Morales came onto the scene in 2011. He is an Afro Hispanic teenager with the same abilities as the original Spider-Man. Background knowledge is important.

In this novel, based on that character, Miles, an A student, attends an elite school, Brooklyn Visions Academy, on scholarship. Miles has loving parents who have his back at the same time as they take him to task for any misbehaviour. I appreciate the way Reynolds captures their neighbourhood in an array of beautiful, damaged characters who never really had a chance to fulfill their potential. He shows us that the story of a black skinned Spider-Man can't be told without understanding the context of being black in America.

At school Miles rooms with his Korean American best friend, Ganke. Their relationship is brilliantly, lovingly authentic. Ganke often gets them into some kind of mischief where Miles is forced to use his super powers. Afterwards, his conscience fills him with anxiety and regret. I appreciated Miles' ambivalence and the dilemma he faces over using his special powers. He's conflicted between saving the world and saving himself. He tells Ganke, "to have the time to be a Super Hero, you got to have the rest of your life laid out. You can't be out there saving the world when your neighbourhood ain't even straight. I just got to be real about it."

Miles is lucky to have mostly stellar teachers at school. The one exception is his history teacher, Mr Chamberlain. Mile's spidey-sense is triggered regularly in this class. The racist Mr. Chamberlain is truly creepy. In Ganke's words, "he keeps talking about how the Civil War was like this beautiful, romantic thing.… He was going on about how, depending on how you look at it, slavery was kind of good for the country." There are a lot of important lessons on power relationships, how to engage in activism, resist oppression, and act collectively that emerge from the time spent in that class.

Part of what wowed me in this book was the integration of Sijo poetry. The examples in the book are spectacular, like the one Alicia, Mile's romantic interest, shares in their English class, on the theme of love:

A romantic mountain top view of the world is love for most
Being that close to clouds strips them of form, turns them to fog
Perhaps the real beauty is on the way up, where like it is.

Here's one Miles wrote while thinking about his family.

What I Hate
I hate my father's face when he tells me my block is my burden
Like my job is to carry a family I didn't create
Like my life is for fixing something I didn't even break

Miles loved his Uncle Aaron and visited him regularly against his parents' wishes. It was because of Aaron's criminal endeavours that Miles was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his powers. Miles' dreams are haunted with the same recurring nightmare: a battle to the death with him. He's terrified that his uncle's taunt, "You're just like me," is true.

At the school's Halloween dance, Miles discovers an insidious conspiracy designed to destroy the lives of black students. He realizes that he is only one of many individuals who have been victimized across time and space. It's up to him, on his own, to stop them.

This is a book I wish I could read out loud to a group of students. I envision many thoughtful conversations about how we use power, about what it means to be a person of colour, about how we can be manipulated by others based on our preconceived assumptions. Writing our own Sijo poems would have to be part of the experience. I expect students will clamour for teachers to read just one more page.

I know of at least a dozen students I would hand this book over to.

The release date for this book is August 1st. You are going to want to preorder a copy and read the book yourself to see how good it is.

Miles Morales has a lot on his mind: the weird nightmares he's been having lately, his awful social studies teacher, the recent death of his uncle. Oh yeah -- and he's the new Spider-Man. Miles' dad and uncle used to dabble in illegal activities and their mile-long rap sheets make Miles wonder whether he's meant to be a hero after all. But when he uncovers an evil plot that threatens his school, community, and family, he has to decide whether to risk his scholarship, relationships, and even his life to make things right.

Jason Reynolds knocks this one out of the park - a superhero of color in a book that touches on the disproportionate disciplining of black and brown young men, public schools' curriculum of white supremacy, gentrification, and the school to prison pipeline.

I loved this and I"ll absolutely recommend it to my students.

A fresh new voice to a new superhero! Fans of the genre as well as fans if Mr. Reynolds will love this title!

Jason Reynolds's Miles Morales: A Spider-Man Novel is the kind of Miles Morales content that I've been craving since the second Brian Michael Bendis had Miles straight up not get that him being "the Black Spider-Man" was significant representation for kids.

Reynolds' novel portrays a version of Miles that fans of the character (and some of his lingering detractors) need to be reading. It is, easily, a portrayal of Miles that is more honest and authentic than any we've seen so far. Reynolds' imbues the novel (and Miles's life) with details about his day to day life at home and in school, giving us a look at Miles's life that we so far really haven't seen in the comics themselves.

What's fantastic about Miles Morales, is that this is a novel where we really get to know not just Miles, but the people around him. When Spider-Man Homecoming came out, everyone was beyond pleased with the fact that we had more time with Peter and his friends and in his neighborhood than ever before.

We got to know the kid under the mask.

That's what Jason Reynolds does for Miles.<!--more-->

Miles Morales takes readers home with Miles. We see his family dynamic (one that explicitly includes Miles's best friend Ganke as a part), how he interacts with the neighbors that have known him since he was a little kid.

The fact is, that Miles's neighborhood isn't just a setting in the novel. It comes alive to the point where calling it a character on its own wouldn't be too far-fetched. Reynolds gives us vivid details about what Miles's Brooklyn neighborhood looks like. We meet Miles's neighbors, many of whom have known Miles's dad and late uncle since they were his age), and we meet his classmates. We see him fumble his way through a crush on Alicia Carson (who is such a pure, brave soul).

One new character that we see in Miles Morales is the titular character's cousin Austin Davis, a teenager Miles's age that writes him from jail at the start of the novel. I think that he's a character that I'd like to see more of if we get further novels from Reynolds in this world because in many ways… he's a lot like what Miles could've been if things were just a little different and I want him to get that chance.

Much of this novel revolves around Miles's relationship with his family. He dreams of the night that his uncle Aaron died, blaming himself despite the fact that his uncle took advantage of his love in order to blackmail him.

Coming to terms with the fact that things weren't as clear-cut as they seemed and that Aaron was more than the person Miles knew, is something very difficult that Miles has to deal with and I really wish that the novel had dealt with that and Miles's relationship with Austin in further detail.

The main villain in Miles Morales isn't really (or only) his teacher Mr. Chamberlain.

It's not even the dozens of Mr. Chamberlains that have tormented Black students across the country for years.

It's white supremacy.

It's anti-black racism.

It's the school-to-prison pipeline.

We see that at the beginning of the novel when Miles gets suspended for leaving Mr. Chamberlain's class after his request to go use the bathroom was denied.

We see that in how the principal of Miles's school initially assumed that Miles was responsible for stealing an entire store's worth of canned sausage and threw his family's past in Miles's face. He decided that Miles was untrustworthy because of his father and uncle's past and straight up accused Miles not just of stealing and lying, but of letting down his family by not disrupting what he clearly views as a legacy of crime. Like he actually says this (text spaced out for clarity):
<blockquote>"As you wrote in your own words, you could have chosen to rise to excellence," the dean said, shaking his head.

Miles's father clenched his jaw.

"Such potential to break the chain," he continued. Miles's father now gripped his chair and tapped his foot more intensely. "But, unfortunately it doesn't look like that will be happening." (104)</blockquote>
We see it in the way that a principal could say something like that to a student in front of his parents because he clearly doesn't see himself as being in the wrong. As far as we know, he never apologizes. He never gives Miles his job at the school store back so that he doesn't have to work/his parents don't have to pay for his housing out of pocket. He never gives Miles another chance because clearly, he views the dubious privilege of having Miles, a young Black boy, attend the prestigious school as all the chance he's going to get.

There's a point in the novel, the night of the Halloween party, where Miles's father's friends are sitting around playing cards, when it comes out that they all had a Mr. Chamberlain in their lives. Not the same man exactly, but a white male teacher or principal that did their level best to get them kicked out of school for the most minor of infractions.

They all had similar stories about how their Mr. Chamberlains were the reason why they wound up leaving school and in many cases, getting arrested for committing crimes. Even Miles's uncle had a Mr. Chamberlain that was, in many ways, partially responsible for the path that he wound up on. It's a set up that shows the way that a bad teacher/educational figure can negatively impact vulnerable students' lives without removing responsibility for the characters' choices.

The effects of the school-to-prison are insidious and very visible throughout the course of the novel and they mirror the real-life inequality that plagues Black and Latino students and leads to a world where over 60 percent of people currently incarcerated are Black or Latino, given heavier sentences and punishments for crimes that white criminals often walk away from with a slap on the wrist.

According to the 2013 article "State of Equality and Justice in America: The Presumption of Guilt:
<blockquote>"While African American and Latino teens are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol than whites, they are 3-4 times more likely to be arrested, convicted or sent to jail or prison for non-violent drug offenses."</blockquote>
Black students are three times more likely to be arrested at school than their peers. (Something which pushes said students into the criminal justice system and leaves marks on their records.)

In June of this year, three Black teenagers were handcuffed and detained for selling bottled water in D.C. "for the safety of the officers and of the individuals".

In Miles Morales, Miles is suspended for leaving the classroom to use the bathroom. His crush and classmate Alicia is suspended for protesting Mr. Chamberlain's explicit anti-black racism and his attempts to dehumanize Black people.

Alicia is punished for peacefully protesting against a teacher who singled-out what may have been the only Black students in the class as he went on to say things like:
<blockquote>"Slavery was the building block of our great country. We shouldn't just blindly write off the argument for the Confederacy wanting to keep it." (60)

"We underestimate the bond between slave and master. So many slaves were comfortable with being enslaved. Happy even." (115)</blockquote>
He romanticized the antebellum South, praised the prison system for keeping slavery alive, and actively worked to dehumanize two Black students under his charge. His goal, and the goal of the other Mr. Chamberlains that have made flooding the school-to-prison pipeline their game, is to enslave Black people in the 21^st century.

Their mission is literally to make sure that young Black students are so disheartened from being disenfranchised that they feel as though they have no choice but to drop out of school and (automatically, according to the Chamberlains) turn to crime. There's a scene during the aforementioned Halloween party where Miles has an opportunity to spy on the Chamberlains and they're all standing around crowing about how well they're doing in their attempts to return to what was, for them, "a better time".

It's one of several moments in the novel that made me shake with anger because there are people who believe this today – people that believe that Black people were born of filth and that they are destined to remain that way forever. There are so many people who look at people like me and like Miles and see a sub-human being. People in power. People who are respected. It's upsetting to think about.

And Jason Reynolds doesn't gloss over that.

At the end of the day, Miles doesn't just stop having to deal with the effects of systemic anti-black racism because an old white racist with weird mind control powers has died. He doesn't defeat the bad guy and have his racist teacher turn into a genial crusader for equal rights.

Sure Miles saves the day, defeating a racist evil that has existed for at least a hundred years, but he still lives in a world where Black boys can be and are killed just for who they are. There's no automatic out for him.

Even at the end of the novel, Mr. Chamberlain doesn't magically stop being racist.

He doesn't actually start treating Miles like a person with agency.

And that's because the things that the other, older Mr. Chamberlain believed about Black people were always in this one. The desire to humiliate Black students was always something that he had within it. The villain in this book just nurtured that what was already present in him.

And that's the thing: the real villain in Miles Morales: A Spider-Man Novel isn't a costumed bad guy that can be locked away or rehabilitated. It's a systemic sort of violence that infects and affects the day to day lives of Black people. It's a hydra with a million heads.

At the end of the day, to Mr. Chamberlain and men like him in and out of the education system, Miles will remain a Black Puerto-Rican kid with no hope of success and no future. Superheroes can't defeat bigotry like that.

Not even one as amazing and spectacular as Miles is.

But the novel ends with a protest from Miles, Alicia, and the rest of the students in their class.

It ends with them reclaiming their personhood and their agency and fighting back against a world that can accept superheroes easier than it can people of color.

Miles Morales: A Spider-Man Novel ends with Miles and his classmates telling Mr. Chamberlain that they are people: not puppets, punching bags, or pets.

It ends on a powerful note.

As I go back through the novel, it seems more than fitting that Jason Reynolds opens Miles Morales: A Spider-Man Novel with a stanza from Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask". The poem, which refers to the cheerful "mask" that the descendants of enslaved Africans often put on in order to make dealing with an anti-black society, works with who Miles is as a character and brings the different masks that he has to don right to the forefront of our minds.

His novel fleshes Miles out, giving him an authentic voice that I feel hasn't been present in the comics very much. Miles could be my nephew. He could be my cousin. Under Jason Reynolds' pen, Miles becomes a fully fleshed out character whose struggles and successes echo those of people that I know and that I've experienced.

I can't wait to see what else Jason Reynolds brings to the table in future works with Disney Hyperion and Marvel. If the powers that be learn anything from this brilliant novel, I hope it's that he needs to be their go-to writer for Miles from here on in.

Miles Morales is a great book that touches on issues of racism and how it still very much effects people today. It is definitely more than a superhero book and I really loved that. Miles is Spiderman but he is also just a teen boy trying to make it in a school and in a world that seems to be against him at every turn no matter how hard he seems to try. I am so happy that he is already Spiderman in this story and we get hints of his origin story but that isn't what the story is about. If anything, it is about Miles accepting his powers and starting to learn the balance he needs to strike to be a hero and to live his own life. I loved almost all of the main characters, Miles' friend Ganke is a great character who knows all of Miles' secrets and is there to support him 100%. I am always a fan of strong friendships and this was great to see and to know that even with all of the things Miles has to keep hidden and secret, he knows that he has one person he can tell anything and everything to because that is so important to have. Miles' mother is also such a wonderful and supportive character and I loved seeing her interact with Miles and his father. One of my favorite scenes was just Miles' parents dancing in their apartment and enjoying a Saturday afternoon together. It is so sweet and felt so real that I just wanted to smile at the image of them.
Now the bad guy element of the story was horrifying because it is such a realistic problem that people of color face and I loved how upset it made me feel. I don't want to say too much to spoil the story but I like how this was addressed in the book and how it slowly built up with tiny moments of discomfort and a general feeling of uneasiness, getting more intense as the story went on. And it is good that we get hints throughout the story but we see them and work through them at the same time as Miles so we are right there with him as he learns everything.
One issue I had with this book, and it was minor, is that the ending of the story seemed to happen very quickly. It wrapped up very fast and then it was just over. And part of this may just have to do with the comic book hero element where I was just expecting to find out his next adventure. I definitely think this is worth a read and it had fun superhero moments, but the greater story was so much more than that.

MILES MORALES (A SPIDER-MAN NOVEL) by Jason Reynolds follows Miles Morales through his complicated young life having just lost his Uncle Aaron, his parents who are barely scraping by financially, and his Spider-Man superpowers that he still trying to incorporate into his everyday life as boarding school student.
Miles is like most 16 year olds: unsure of his feelings, over analyzing every life choice, yet acting instinctually when decisions have to be made, and trying to just put his head down and hide from the world as much as he can. His new abilities give him new responsibilities though, and he feels compelled to make Brooklyn a better place by using his new gifts when necessary. Reynolds does a good job of encapsulating the Spider-Man persona that has been so engaging and fun over the years, and at the same time, the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man bring a new wrinkle to the character that makes it fresh and fascinating to read. Reynolds used a classic framework: A villain/threat slowly emerges, there are secrets revealed, there are mysterious unresolved loose ends, and an exciting climax. I wish that the book could have arrived at sooner and/or had more of action sequence leading up to the finale. Other than that, MILES MORALES (A SPIDER-MAN NOVEL) is an enjoyable novel that young adults and diehard Spider-Man fans will enjoy and most other readers as well.

Simultaneously smart, fun, and incredibly topical; Miles Morales is exactly the type of book that will work as a perfect title to share with teens. It has become increasingly difficult to find books for young men of color that are not just about sports, and it's a tremendous relief to read something that they will identify with that shows their potential for greatness. I highly recommend this title.

Lots of diversity and a strong sense of place. It made me think of the authentic characters and strong sense of place found in the Luke Cage Netflix series. I can see this appealing to a wider audience than just the superhero comics crowd.

I loved this as an introduction to Miles. The Marvel novels are a great way to get people introduced to the characters even if they don't read the comics. It was a great coming of age story.

Thanks to the recent Spiderman movie my love for this era of Marvel greatness was reignited and hope has returned that something good from these characters will happen.
Being a Marvel fan I knew of Morales and have read some of his storylines, albeit not as much as Peter Parker, so I jumped at the chance to check out this new book.
I thought Reynolds did a good job with a difficult storyline especially given the current socio-economic atmosphere in the States. Considering the age group this book is written for I liked how the normal ‘teenage’ line was played out; it reminded me a lot of how they handled the Peter Parker character in the recent movie by aging him down compared to the other movies.
His descriptive prose evokes some great imagery so you could easily see yourself walking through Brooklyn and feeling what Miles did as he struggled to deal with being a Hispanic/African American kid in the States which has a long history of racism problems.
Along with bringing Morales to the forefront at a time when Spiderman craze is sweeping the human conscious again, I liked that Reynolds fleshed out even the minor/background characters so you feel like you get a good idea on how everyone is important to the story.
Even though we know Miles became the new Spiderman after Parker died in the storyline a few years ago the fact they chose to name this with his name in Bold and above the name Spiderman should give you some idea that the focus will be more on him as a person rather than his ‘superhero’ side.
The only problem I had was that it seemed to simplify his origins and leave out important details so if you’re a fan who is very familiar with his storyline you might feel a bit disappointed but to those who are novices to the character won’t have this issue. It was obviously written to appeal to a large audience and not just long time fans.
Reynolds definitely wrote this for a younger audience so you should have no problem allowing your young reader to check this out.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man is the latest instalment of Marvel’s Young Adult range of novels, offering a prose-driven narrative of the world’s greatest superheroes. Written by Jason Reynolds, author of the critically acclaimed “When I was the Greatest”, this novel takes a more grounded view of super-heroics, looking at Miles’ school and home life as an Afro-Latino teenager growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

Reynolds, an author known for his strong characterisations, drenches his narrative in authenticity and provides an uncompromising view of inner-city life. The passages describing Miles neighbourhood are wonderfully evocative and the words swirl off the page, conjuring up living breathing worlds in the mind’s eye. Despite never visiting Brooklyn, I felt like I could taste the gas fumes in the air, hear the subway rumble overhead and see the brownstones that line the road. Reynolds populates this world with a multitude of minor supporting characters, each of which feel vibrant and real, even though they are only glimpsed in small doses.

Having leapt from the Ultimate Universe into the main Marvel Universe during the events of Secret Wars, Miles Morales is a character with some hefty continuity baggage. In the comics, it’s unclear exactly what Miles remembers from his previous universe and this novel doesn’t begin to address this topic. Chronologically, it seems that this series takes place in the main Marvel Universe as Miles’ dad is aware of his dual identity, and his mother is alive and well. However, there is no mention of any other superheroes, and nothing in the story contradicts this. Most of the continuity referenced stems from Miles’ initial story-arc in the comics, dealing with his origin and the aftermath of his uncle’s death. I can understand the decision to simplify the continuity to appeal to a wider YA demographic, but as a fan of the comics, I was disappointed that there wasn’t stronger links to the source material.

As mentioned earlier, most of the story revolves around Miles’ civilian life – his time at boarding school and his weekends at home with his parents. Superheroics are seldom featured, and there’s no garishly-dressed super-villains to break up the monotony of pubescence – Reynolds focuses firmly on realism here, telling the story of Miles Morales first, and Spider-Man second. With the prose format, he is able to get deeper in Miles’ psyche than the comics can, exploring his guilt surrounding the death of his uncle and the added tension that his dual identity causes. I also loved the focus on whether he had “bad genes” in his DNA, and whether he was destined to grow up to be like his uncle and father. This is a theme that is also being explored in the current comic series, following the Civil War II storyline in which Miles saw a possible future where he murdered Captain America.

Reynolds has a strong grasp on the relationships between his characters, particularly Miles and Ganke – a double-act that I’ve enjoyed in the comics and was so popular that it was appropriated for Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. In some ways, Miles Morales: Spider-Man feels like what Spider-Man Homecoming would have been if Miles had been cast as the lead role. Both stories use school life as the backdrop for its adventure, but subjects like racism and urban poverty are woven into Miles’ tale to provide an authentic voice for the character that resonates well. There’s also a love story at the heart of both stories, as Miles attempts to overcome his shyness and relay his feelings to the cute poet activist who sits in his class.

As an unconventional Spider-Man story, it won’t be surprising to discover that there is an unconventional villain behind-the-scenes, lending a supernatural tone to events. It’s left vague as to the identity of the villain, but I have my suspicions as to who it was, given some of the descriptions and the method in which they tormented Miles.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man is an extremely well-written novel, and an ideal YA title for fans of Spider-Man: Homecoming and superheroes, in general. There’s some very compelling adult themes explored in the story, and depending on the reader, it can either resonate well or introduce them to a whole different side of life. Jason Reynolds does a terrific job at dragging Miles and his neighbourhood out of the comic panel and onto the novel page, fleshing out both his characterisation and his surroundings with ease. While it lacked some punch in the action sequences, I was utterly enthralled by the depth of description on display during the quieter scenes. Given the unenviable job of engaging new readers and rewarding long-time fans, Reynolds does his best to achieve the right balance and for the most part, he succeeds admirably. As an introduction into Miles Morales’ world, this novel left me wanting more, and I would love to see a sequel focus on his relationship with his mentor, Peter Parker, or working alongside other teen heroes in The Champions.

Most superhero books/movies/comics, etc. (in my, admittedly limited, experience) tend to put the superhero first, human second. Jason Reynolds' Miles Morales does the opposite, as its name suggests: Miles is a teenage kid first, superhero second and it's incredibly refreshing. From the very first scene I loved the family relationship in this book - it's a little complicated at times, but there's such obvious love and respect between Miles and his mom and dad. And obviously Ganke. I wanted a little bit more from his relationship with his uncle and the repercussions of it, but really, that's my only complaint and it's a small one. I haven't read anything else by Jason Reynolds, but this definitely made me want to pick his backlist up - there's an excellent mix of authentic voice and really beautiful bits of prose, especially when Miles has to write some poetry for class. Funny and heartbreaking, this is an excellent start to the DC YA crossover novels and one you won't want to miss.

First off – check out the cover. The image screams intensity. Miles is having some serious doubts about being a superhero. His powers are acting up and he is wondering about who he really is deep down. With everything else going on in his life, Miles is one stressed-out kid. Alicia is a pleasant distraction who happens to love poetry. Poetry features prominently in this book which makes sense with Reynolds as the author. The poetry adds another layer to the story and in some cases it adds humor – especially with Miles’s best friend Ganke.

Humor shows up many times throughout the book. I appreciated some of the descriptive phrases like, “As opposed to the stench of toxic toes in the hallway, the bathroom smelled more like wet dog and corn chips.” Eew! Also, sounds about right.

Much of the story takes place in and around school with poetry and history getting most attention. Miles is into math, but with Alicia in the picture, poetry becomes more important. There’s an open mic opportunity and as you might guess, Miles works on some poetry for Alicia. He is tongue tied around her most of the time, but is at least able to write something down. There is quite a contrast between his superhero abilities and his ability to speak to a girl.

The story and characters are compelling and there is a lot going on besides the typical scenario of superhero attempting to foil the plot of an evil mastermind. Of course that is there, but there’s also a romance, friendship, awesome parents in the picture, and discussions about race specifically in the context of education.

History class is where things get complicated. It’s in history that Miles’s spidey-sense gets wacky and it’s also in history class where some bizarre discussions happen. His teacher, Mr. Chamberlain, encourages discussion around the positives of slavery and the confederacy. The points Mr. Chamberlain makes are morally reprehensible and pretty much leave students in a dilemma. Is the teacher just playing with them or does he really believe this mess he’s spouting? Regardless, what is the proper response that won’t get a student sent to the office or even expelled? Miles is basically told to stay where he belongs and comply even in the face of racism and discrimination by his teacher.

Of course, school is not the only thing going on in the story and though it’s a while before it becomes clear, there is a public enemy for Spider Man to deal with and the confrontation has plenty of action.

Recommendation: Get it now especially if you are into superheroes or poetry. There’s a ton to love in this book. Miles is a character I want to see more of and I hope that’s the plan.

Forget Peter Parker.

Miles Morales is the Spider-Man that everyone should be paying attention to.

In this refreshingly not another origins story (here’s looking at you movie franchise), Miles is an average Brooklyn teen navigating the pressures of keeping his school scholarship, staying out of trouble with his hilarious best friend Ganke, talking to his brilliant crush Alicia, and keeping his web-slinging secret. But, being a teenage superhero is not as easy as it sounds– especially when Miles’ spidey-sense is not as reliable as it used to be and it ends up getting him suspended from school.

I’ve always said that the Marvel-verse should give more love to Miles Morales, so I’m so glad that this book exists. I hope there are at least ten more. This book did everything that I wanted and more, yet still left me wishing that the last page wasn’t the last. As we all know, “with great power comes great responsibility,” and Jason Reynolds really handled that responsibility well.

Not only was Miles Morales a great addition to the Spider-Man story and an entertaining hero vs. villain adventure, it points to some very important topics– racism, poverty, social injustice. We see Miles, a Black-Latino, deal with a teacher who thinks its okay to teach about the “benefits” of slavery. We see the failures of the prison system, especially for juveniles. We see Miles struggle to prove that he won’t fall into a life of crime, like many of the people in his neighborhood. This book sinks so deep– and it’s wonderful.

The benefit of having a character from comic books transition on to the pages of a novel is that you can get more characterization and background with a few paragraphs than from a few panels. (Side note: Not that comic books can’t do that, because they can. I just sometimes find that superhero comics favor the side of action rather than development.) Miles is such a well developed character. He’s dynamic and vulnerable, intelligent and determined. He’s flawed; we see his impulses and failures, but we know that he’s good and that he tries to do good.

Also, Miles Morales and Reynolds really do side characters justice– Ganke’s not just the funny best friend and Alicia’s not just the pretty crush. They have their own emotions and motivations. They struggle and they triumph and not just for the motivation of Miles. Have I mentioned that it’s wonderful?

It’s true that the action and super-villainry play second fiddle and take a while to progress in the novel, but it’s worth it. There’s so much to explore with a diverse superhero like Miles and this novel was a fun way to kick it off.

Plus, Spider-Man is just cool.

4.5/5 Stars.