Artwork: 4/5
Story: DNF.

The Spy who raised has a very interesting premise for me: My mother, a spy? However, despite having very beautiful illustrations and a beautiful reddish color, the plot is not for me. Or at least it has not managed to hook me as expected and that is why I have ended up abandoning the story. I don't know why, but I don't like the main character and the whole mystery behind her. Also, the "spy thing" came just on the first page and I was not expecting that too early.

1,5 / 5 

The story: ☆☆
The characters: ☆☆
The graphics: ☆

I thought this would be an awesome graphic novel when I read the plot and looked at that cover. But unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. I was really hoping to love this novel..
First, the graphics: they were very simple and not rememberable. Also it were only red drawings. I like the color red, but it is such a dominant color so I instantly felt a bit overwhelmed by it. Secondly, the characters. I had to think a minute about the name of the character, that's how forgettable she was. Josephine was a basic, flat character with zero to no background story.
The main issue I have with this book is the plot. Josephine Black discovers her mother enrolled her into a spy program and has literally controlled every aspect of her life since she was born. Like.. what mother does that?
Even the ending was cut short and did not trigger me to get excited for a sequel. The plot was too fast paced and lacked depth. 

Luckily it only had 176 pages so I could finish it soon. If it was longer, I would've cut it short. Too bad.

I don't read graphic novels very often, but every now and again I feel in the mood to give one a go. So I picked up this one because, yeah, it is about spies. But the story is just bizarre: basically the mother belongs to a corporation that uses spies to do espionage, and the mum volunteers her daughter (our main character) to be programmed/brainwashed into obeying commands. So Josie has no idea she is a spy, until now... So basically it is a story about abuse with some kicks thrown in.

The other half of a graphic novel is, well, the art. I might have just been spoiled because I recently read Lumberjanes and I thought that the art there was really fantastic, but The Spy Who Raised Me was very basic art-wise. This is very, very basic. Which could work for like an online webcomic or something, but not a full on graphic novel. No offence to the artist, because I actually quite liked the cover which is what initially drew me to this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Spy Who Raised Me is a book with a strong girl-power message. I loved the illustrations and the plot in general! One thing I didn’t like was how JB didn’t feel any remorse for her mother going to jail. If they were close for a long time, I think it would be hard to understand her mother is a criminal.  

Over all, if this becomes a series, I would definitely continue reading on.

The Spy Who Raised Me is a fun read about Josie Black (J.B.) finding out that her mom has raised her as a sleeper agent without her ever knowing. J.B. now needs to decide if she’s going to live the life her mom wants for her or if she’s going to live her own life.

This was a fast paced adventure. J.B. accidentally finds out her mom has trigger words that control her skills and memory when her mom fails to use them right away before a mission she’s being sent out on. From there J.B. picks apart the truths and lies of her life with the help of her best friend Zoe and has to decide who she wants to be and what she wants to do with the skills she’d been given without her consent.
Is J.B.’s loyalty to her blood and the company that gave her the skills she has, or is to something else?
***
J.B. was a fun character who adapts incredibly quick to what’s going on and goes with the flow. The best part of the story was Zoe and her dedication to her friend and willingness to follow her into danger to make sure she’d come out on the other side alright.
***
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest, I was not a fan of the book. The general idea was super interesting and I love spy stories but this- this i wasn't a huge fan of.

The story was way too simple and too predictable for my liking. All my predictions were correct and that didn't please me, it just straight up annoyed me.

It’s ok, but nothing special. The idea was good, but the clunky execution really brought it down.  This book is full of weird pacing and awkward dialogue. As for the positives, I do think younger readers will really enjoy the action, and be able to look past the book’s issues. (vague spoilers) Theres also a bit of a twist halfway through that genuinely made me laugh (end spoilers). I think this book will be enjoyed by young readers, but those of us who are older should skip it for something better. 2.5/5

i think people are a little too harsh on this graphic novel- it's not the best i've read, but certainly not as bad as the other reviews seem to make it out to be. the art style is fine and consistent with the narrative being told and certainly it's a bit reminiscent of black widow comics, though certainly not as cohesive. i think the biggest problem with it is that the story feels all-over-the-place and a lot of the events just doesn't get resolved ((view spoiler)). the moral is very obvious (children can make their own decisions about their future), but the narrative that drives it goes in too many places. it's been mentioned several times over in other reviews, but this is a story essentially about child abuse, even with the veneer of it being a spy story, and it never actually seems to meaningfully engage with that fact. even in her confrontation with her mom, who starts to pull out the 'i don't need the codewords because i'm your mother' thing, it's just overlooked in favor of trying to get back to the action. having a mother literally abuse and control her daughter and use her as an espionage tool is a tragic background, especially when the mother appears to be working for a fictionalized version of the coca cola colombian death squads (which is a BAFFLING detail. has no one else noticed or mentioned this? seeing that on-paper made me feel crazy.), but it's never engaged with in any manner other than 'oh wow look at what cool spy skills i actually have'.

again, not as bad as other reviews make it out to be, but i'm not sure that the book is well-written enough to tackle the child abuse in a way that'd make it acceptable to be in the middle-grade genre, nor is it mature enough to really fend for itself in the young adult genre. it's just kind of a middle-of-the-road graphic novel without anything too substantial.

I wanted a Read Now book for something quick and fun and this premise really caught my eye. However, a couple of pages in, I am not in love with the art style (which is honestly, the least of my problems) and the story seems to progress in a strange way whereby frames seem to be missing in order to connect the dots (it's perhaps part of the story telling but I couldn't get into it); the dialogue is stiff and unnatural. Despite this, it will definitely appeal to readers who enjoy this type of story and art style.

Note: It was a DNF and 2-star rating is based on the part I did read.

Personally, it was a great summary for a mediocre book. A very quick read with no solid story and horrible cartoon images. 
I am not great at drawing but I have seen many books with amazing design work. This book stated the obvious but gave very little background.

A great idea from what I gathered in the summary but fell flat with the execution.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review*

When reading graphic novels/manga, I can usually forgive a work if the story is compelling, but the art bad, or vise versa. This however, wasn't very strong in either case. I wanted to like this a lot more than I did - the blurb seemed interesting and I did like the cover art. The art inside, while I did like the red scheme, was lacking. The backgrounds were done well, but the characters seemed awkwardly drawn. The fight/action scenes, which should have been great for a spy story, were not drawn well. The overall plot wasn't terrible, but it felt like it needed to be longer with every plot line it introduced. This made it seem both too short, and also too long to get through. If this hadn't been a short graphic novel, I probably would have put it down. Neither the art or story seemed like a final draft. The trauma the main character experienced was never unpacked and was never really addressed. Some of the lines were funny, if a little cheesy. The story felt like it kept throwing more plot lines at you, without resolving anything in the end. Nothing really came together in the end, though the plot was technically wrapped up. I like spy stories, so I didn't really mind the trauma that was the main plot point - I just think it could have been done better. The story seemed to introduce every cliche in the book. 

Overall, not terrible, but not outstanding either. I wanted this to be so much more than what it was.

I received a free E-ARC of this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was a big fan of Alex Rider and I thought the concept of this story was great. It was a great opportunity to explore themes such as familial loyalty, betrayal or a unique take on a coming of age paired with realising your own potential and trusting your instincts. However none of these themes are evident in this novel. The story is rushed yet long. The main character never has any trouble of with immediately dismissing her mother as a villain and goes through very little emotional growth. I understand the limited color palette was an artistic choice but I felt the muted and repeated red tones didn't lend itself very well to the moments of high tension. Also the lettering in this novel was at times  
distractingly messy and would benefit for another pass.

Liked the color schemes and the over all story. The art and words co well together in telling the story. I enjoyed myself reading this it is very clever and fun, I hope there is more. 
What I didn't like was the art, the characters were plane and ugly and not my style which is why I gave it a four star rating.

this graphic novel was very.....interesting. Right off the bat, I was hooked, this was a unique story and I enjoyed the writing and the illustrations. But as the story went on I had some issues. This is a decent book on the surface level, but some things just don't add up? Maybe I'm looking too much into it, but the character's actions didn't align sometimes and it wasn't exactly very realistic. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one and had a lot of fun reading it.

It's supposedly a story about a teenage spy, whose mother trained and "programmed" her to be a spy, without her knowing, and what happens when she finally discover the reality of her life and who her mother is. I didn't like the art at all, it looked clumsy and unfinished, and I would've been okay with that if the story was intriguing or sensible or even fun, but I didn't like it at all. 

I thank Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the digital ARC

This was a fun, if very quick read. It was a very easy to follow graphic novel, so would be a good starting point if you are not familiar with the style of graphic novels. The plot was very simple, there were no real twists or surprises, but it was decent enough for a quick read. The art style was pretty good, it was simple but all the characters were easily identifiable and the monochromatic colour scheme was effective.
Overall a pretty good read, but very simple.

The book is a cute and quick read. It would be great for any teenager that is having issues with their parents. The art is simple and very easy to follow if someone isn’t as familiar with reading graphic novels.

What caught my attention from the plot was the classic tropes of mind control, unbeknown spy and teenagers with skills beyond normal. This was a nice short story, an easy read to occupy an hour on a lazy afternoon, but nothing more than that. The entire plot happens in the span of a few days and we don’t get a lot of depth on the characters, some of them are barely an outline, but I don’t believe the story itself would improve making it lengthier or fuller, as it’s quite basic but, yet, enough. It’s entertaining and even funny while it lasts, as long as we keep the suspension of disbelief button on. The art, without being minimalistic, is quite simple, but effective (and cute!) and I really liked the color palette.

What a fun and action packed graphic novel! I loved the monochromatic color scheme and the art was effective. As for the storyline, I am always here for daughters who break away from their toxic mothers and realize they are badass and awesome all by themselves and that they don't need a mother's love to thrive. 

This graphic novel is about JB, who is a spy, but she doesn't know it. Her mom, also a spy, has been using JB as a tool and an experiment by programming her with super special spy skills. When JB finds this out, she's furious and confused and goes on a spy adventure to find all the answers she seeks. 

Honestly, this was highly entertaining and a quick read. Definitely recommend when this comes out in April. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Josephine Black has a problem. She just recently found out that she has been programmed to be a secret agent for "The Company" by her Mom! What to do, what to do? Naturally, she enlists her friend Zoe to help her. But "The Company" is not what she thought it was, and things go sideways. So, now she needs to rescue Zoe and take down her Mom so she can get on with having her own life! The question is will she manage to defeat her trainer and overcome her conditioning? Read and find out in this action-packed drama!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this tale!