This was an interesting idea for a graphic novel but I'm not sure it all made sense. You definitely need a suspension of disbelief for this to work at all.
I definitely get what Anderson was going for with this story and I really like the idea. The biggest issue was the first part of this novel seemed really blocky and just sort of off. It got better as the novel went on but I definitely had to force myself through the first quarter of this.
The art style was nice but the color pallet did make a few things seem sort of muggy. I would have liked to see more color or maybe more definition in the reds. I liked the style and character design it was really just the color for me.
Overall this was a solid graphic novel it just seems to need a few quirks to be fixed. I would definitely read the next one as I am curious to see where this story goes.

This was definitely a fun and action-packed story with a great main character. the plot twists were good and the story was enjoyable and I ended up reading it in one sitting. but the art, on the other hand, was terrible and so was the color palette, it just was a deal-breaker for me, and its what made me rate this 3 stars.

I don't even know where to begin. The story is literally about the girl's mom being a secret agent for a Coca Colaesque company. The reason that Coca Cola is evil is because they're putting chemicals in their soda to control people(???) and the mother has turned her child into an unwilling spy. I realize that the Coca Cola company thing was an allegory about rich people and capitalism (most likely for children), but I wasn't having it. The second thing I'd like to talk about is the art style. It is so inconsistent and wonky, this style would have been better if it were a short animated film. Lastly, the dialogue fell flat every time. There was no emotion in this book. I really hate ripping things apart like this, but this book just made me so angry.

This is a cute quick read and I loved it! The color scheme was perfect and fit great with the themes of the book. I do think that this is more of a middle grade book than a YA, as it wasn't very hard-hitting and there were some overly cliche elements. But I appreciated the plot and the friendship between J.B. and Zoe and hope to see this become a series.

Interesting concept, that of a school girl being hypnotized into not knowing that she was a super spy by her mother, who is also a spy, traveling the world, breaking into homes and businesses, for something we are never quite clear on.

It isn't until the mom slips up, and forgets to give her the commands that turn her into her spy self, and talks to her about a job, that JB (Josie Black) realizes that she is missing chunks of her life, and wonders why.

So the story is of her trying to track down what has been happening with her mind and body, all this time.

The story is fast paced, and has light humor.

The major sticking point for me was the artwork, however. When you have a graphic novel, you need to have good graphics. I'm not sure if this is because it is an arc, but the artwork seems sloppy here, a bit unfinished. At times it drew me out of the story line, as I looked at a character's face, and thought about how off it seemed. Having bad artwork makes it look amateurish, which is not a good look. Hopefully the artwork will be tightened up for the final version, and there will be more books in this series, as is hinted at the end of the book.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This was a really cute concept for a graphic novel, though the execution was flawed in a number of ways.

I loved the idea behind this story. The hypnotism aspect of Josie’s “training” is a little cringey, but acceptable. And the fact that her mother is responsible for her situation could have worked well.

Unfortunately, the severity of her mother’s actions seem set in conflict with the tone. It’s essentially child abuse, but the tone is typical comic book flippancy. It would have been easy to fix this, merely by making the mom more of villainous caricature so that the flip tone matched the fantastical villainy.

There’s some cute humor and clever plot points, and that’s what makes this worth a read. It’s a quick one too, which makes the flawed plot points lower stakes in terms of what one is committing to as a reader.

The art is unfortunately the biggest negative about this graphic novel. The color palette isn’t good, but wasn’t a dealbreaker. The hideously-drawn characters were though. It seems that in the artist’s attempts to make the characters “real” or “relatable,” she made them hideous.

It’s these kind of stories that make me love graphic novels/ comics.

Our story starts with Josie, J.B, a seemingly regular teenager who is struggling through her teenaged life, all until she uncovers that she’s a sleeper agent and her Mum is a part of a huge plot to promote a sofa companies sales and influence political decisions, commit espionage, bank heists and bring down the CIA.

The story was hilarious and both J.B and J.B’s best friend, Zoe, are so relatable. Their reactions and comments are how any sane person would respond to the events and steps throughout the book. I love authors who keep their characters realistic.

The use of a mainly red colour scheme was a super interesting concept. The tones variation really made certain scenes seem so intense and action packed, while others light- hearted. I think Gianna Meola (illustrator) did a fantastic job in this comic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ted Anderson for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC of The Spy Who Raised Me in the exchange for my honest review.

We all know that Corporate Espionage is a thing, trying to steal industry secrets and what not. But in "The Spy Who Raised Me" this is taken to James Bond level.
This felt like stepping into my childhood once again, sitting way to close to the TV, as I watch transfixed by the show on it's screen.
I want to share it with every person I know, because it felt so nostalgic to enjoy something so completely.

Action packed graphic novel about a teenager who discovers her mother turned her into a sleeper agent for a nefarious [SPOILER]. I'll be interested to see if this becomes a series or a surprising one-shot.

I found this an enjoyable read. Fairly subdued colour tones and basic artwork but a few fun in jokes and decent plot. I found the end came round a little too swiftly and I didn't really want to buy into it so it wasn't what it could have been but I guess it leaves scope for a follow up! I would read it if there was...!

This was a very quick, very fun read! The Spy Who Raised Me is action-packed and fast-paced. I read it in one short sitting and really enjoyed it. There were some plot twists in the midst of the funny codewords and sincere messages about being yourself. I'm glad I picked this up and would definitely read more from this author!

Josie Black, J.B., is a normal teenager with a normal mom and dad, or so she thinks. Her mom actually works as a spy for The Company, a soda company with alternative motives. She has allowed The Company to program J.B. to be the ultimate spy without her knowledge or consent. When she finds out what her mother has done, J.B. runs away and tries to take down The Company.

I wasnt fully fully impressed. I enjoyed reading it. And it was different. But its wasnt as exciting as I thought it would