Summary
Miles is an exceedingly bright kid on scholarship to a pricey prep school. He longs to overcome his family history of crime and hustling. And this school is his way to accomplish that.
But his spider-sense is jacking up his opportunity. It keeps going off in history, and Miles can only make up so many bathroom excuses before he gets in trouble and is suspended. So Miles is DONE with Spider-Man. He’s just going to be Miles for now and try to stay out of trouble.
Just being “Miles,” though, isn’t as easy as it sounds. He has horrifying nightmares. He feels tremendous guilt about his uncle Aaron. There’s a cousin in juvenile he never knew existed. Folks in his neighborhood seem to be disappearing. There’s a girl he likes, but he keeps blowing his chances to let her know. And his history teacher seems to think the South was right on the issue of slavery in the Civil War and takes every opportunity to point that out to Miles, who is half black and half Puerto Rican. Just being Miles is a lot more intense than he thought it would be.
Review
I am not familiar with the Miles Morales iteration of Spider-Man from the comics. So I approached this book with no preconceived notions or comic book story lines in mind. I knew the name Miles Morales and nothing else. And I enjoyed this story!
Miles is an awesome character. He’s bright and determined. He’s haunted by his past. He has superpowers but they are more of a burden than a blessing. When should he draw the line between taking care of his responsibilities and his own life and trying to save the neighborhood around him?
Diversity and race issues are primary in the story which makes this a timely read. The villain and “mystery” of the story was really interesting. While it is resolved on one level in the book, there are many questions still open, too. Hopefully those will be addressed in a future book. Give this to your young superhero fans in 5th grade or older. I think they will love it!