Graphic Novel Review – Waking the Monsters (HiLo, Book 4) by Judd Winick (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Science Fiction
Length: 208 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 16, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1524714932
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the HiLo series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars

“DJ and Gina are TOTALLY ordinary kids. But Hilo isn’t! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! Has our favorite space boy finally met his match? Not if D.J. and Gina can help it! Mega Robot Monsters are suddenly waking up all over and they’re TOO BIG and TOO STRONG for Hilo to fight on his own! Luckily, he doesn’t have to! He has GINA and some brand new SUPER POWERS on his side! Being heroes can be super fun-but it can also be SUPER dangerous! And the closer Hilo and Gina get to saving their world from the monsters–the closer Hilo gets to the dark secret of his past. Does he really want to know? Do WE?!”

This is the 4th volume in the HiLO series and was another excellent installment in that series. This is a book that I think kids and adults alike will enjoy.

HiLo’s sister has joined the team and she is super smart (and super distracted). She is helping them to track giant robot monsters that are emerging from the Earth. HiLo can’t fight all of this on his own, so HiLo’s sister builds a supersuit for Gina. Now Gina and HiLo are our kicking some monster butt, but when things get too tough HiLo awakens into new and uncontrollable power.

I loved that Gina finally confronted her mother about cheerleading and that her mother was supportive about it. It was a good look at how parents can get a bit blind to what their kids actually want sometimes. I also continue to enjoy the friendship between our characters and the uniqueness of the characters.

The illustration continues to be bright and colorful, easy to follow, and just generally well done. The whole story has been fantastic fun and I am really loving it. There are a number of parts in here that are laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Overall an amazing continuation of this middle grade science fiction graphic novel series. I would highly recommend for all ages but especially for fans of graphic novel series like Cleopatra in Space, Mighty Jack, and Amulet.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge