Miles Morales Suspended

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s Miles Morales Suspended About?

In the shadow of his victory against The Warden (see Miles Morales for details), Miles finds himself the brunt of his History teacher’s antagonism. Miles is sure it’s a prejudice against him, his skin color, his background, or…any number of other things. There’s a small chance it’s just his teacher being a jerk. It’s probably a combination of the two.

Regardless, Miles stands up for himself—and a few classmates have his back. And they end up serving an in-school suspension for it. The bulk of the novel focuses on that day—the doldrums of serving it, the homework assignments Miles has to try to focus on during the day, and all the ways his mind wanders through the day (his crush sitting in the desk behind him doesn’t help him focus at all).

Little by little, however, Miles becomes aware of a threat to him and others present that day. And eventually, suspension or not, Miles’ alter-ego has to step in and save the day.

The Narration

We have Guy Lockard back from the first book and this time he’s joined by Nile Bullock. I think the former handles the narration and the latter handles the parts of the book from Miles’ POV. Feel free to correct me.

Both of these performers brought this to life—the narration is very in-your-face (as is fitting, also reminiscent of Stan Lee’s voiceovers in various projects), and the characterization of Miles and the rest ring true.

I don’t really have anything to say about the narration other than I would listen to these two (together or apart) narrate an audiobook anytime

So, what did I think about Miles Morales Suspended?

There is very little plot to this (and not just because it’s just shy of 4 hours in length). What’s more, there’s very little Spider-Man action. Both of these are actually good things—at least this time. What we do get is a lot of Miles Morales action, we see the young man behind the mask just trying to survive high school, make connections, and grow up. These are the aspects of the characters that have helped people connect with Peter Parker and Miles since the 60s.

Now, don’t get me wrong—if this had all been Miles serving detention, it’d have been hard to put up with (not necessarily impossible). So I’m glad that Reynolds gave us a fun bit of Spider-Man action at the beginning and a pretty epic fight scene to wrap things up.

But that’s not the heart of the book—nor is it the heart of the character. Reynolds understands what drives Spider-Man (whoever is behind the mask), particularly Miles. Although, I’d like to see him tackle Peter just for fun, too.

Including so much poetry took me aback initially (or, at least when I figured out that’s what he was doing). But it fits Miles, it fits the girl he’s trying to impress, it fits this world, the themes of this particular book…and Reynolds knows what he’s doing in verse (unlike so many fantasy writers that litter their novels with questionable poetry). The same should be said for Lockard and Bullock—they know their way around reading verse so that it hits.

Is this the book I wanted and/or expected about Spider-Man or based on the previous novel by Reynolds? Nope. Do I care? Nope. Because it was fun, inventive, thought-provoking, and true to the character (yeah, a little heavy-handed, too—but that also sort of fits the classic Marvel modus operandi)

man I LOVED [b:Miles Morales: Spider-Man 32793053 Miles Morales Spider-Man Jason Reynolds https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1495746889l/32793053.SY75.jpg 53387226] but this didn't hit as hard for me–it felt a lot like retreading the same material without adding a lot. Which on one hand, I know, that's kind of the whole superhero thing. But I guess I expected more after how great the first one was–I really really loved the way it blended superhero shenanigans with institutional racism and I thought the Big Bad was so clever. This book felt like repetitive enough that it didn't hold up to the first one, but also SO immediately a sequel to the first one that I don't think it would necessarily stand on its own. And also the pacing–it basically all takes place in one day (of In School Suspension, which he got from events of the previous book) and it just.....yeah it felt rushed and odd. I did still really like Miles' poems–Jason Reynolds is OBV a great writer I just don't think this is his best.