BooksOfTheMoon

I’ve been enjoying the Giant Days series a lot but there were a few things in this volume that I didn’t like. This one takes us through the end of the coven’s first year at university, their summer and into the start of their second year.

The first thing that I felt was off in this was when the girls were at a music festival and someone spikes Susan’s drink. Here it’s mostly played for laughs (Susan gets really high and Esther looks after her), but it’s a serious topic and the way it was done jarred for me. There’s no real context behind it either, it’s a guy that Susan appears to have known, but he appears a page earlier and then disappears until the end of the chapter, where he makes a very brief reappearance without any understanding of who he was or why he did it. I don’t really see the point of it, and it seems to make light of a serious subject.

The other major thing I didn’t like, which is much more subjective is that I found Daisy’s girlfriend (oh yes, remember the German girl from the end of the last book? They get together) deeply unpleasant. This is much more a personal thing, because I just don’t like Ingrid’s personality. She’s completely lacking in impulse control and draws out the worst in others. And I really don’t think she’s good for Daisy (yes, I’m quite emotionally invested in our little coven by now).

But beyond those, there’s a lot to enjoy here, with various adventures to be had and adulting to be done, as they move into their own flat for second year, including the discovery of Ikea and dinner parties. There’s also an ongoing situation with their elderly next door neighbour, and we get to meet Susan’s dad, who is awesome.

There’s the third (and, I think, last) webcomic at the end of this volume, which sees Susan and Daisy making friends with Erin from the Indie Music Society. I’m not sure if I missed something, but I don’t remember her from the main comic, which is a shame, as she seems like a fun character who I would have liked to get to know more.

The guys get some love too. Both Ed and McGraw are present and correct, and both adorable, in their own different ways. McGraw is as handy with a screwdriver as ever, and Ed gets a bit of screen time in an adventure with Esther (maybe some tension there?!).

I’m still enjoying this series, but there don’t seem to be any more of these beautiful hardback editions. I might have to start slumming it in the ebook world.

This second volume of the Giant Days comic follows the adventures of Daisy, Esther and Susan in their second semester at the University of Sheffield. There are shenanigans in student politics, flat-hunting and film-making, along others. Along the way hearts are broken, the Night World is explored, and questionable decisions are made.

The key relationships between Susan, Esther and Daisy is unshakeable, and they’re all there for each other, whenever it matters. Outwith that “coven”, the friendship between Ed and McGraw is pretty strong, and usually a pleasure to read. There’s a lovely visual gag early on where McGraw builds a fake wall in front of his bedroom door to hide from “Big Lindsay” (who turns out to be not as scary as made out).

I’m looking forward to seeing what they get up to next. In the mean time, night be with you.