I'm a HUGE fan of the Giant Days graphic novel, so when I saw that there had been a traditional book published for the series, I knew I had to read it. While I really enjoyed this book, and give it five stars for myself personally, I think I would struggle to recommend it more generally. Giant Days is funny, quirky, and extremely British and the art is a huge part of it's appeal. Reading about these characters without the accompanying art was...a unique experience at first, but I did get used to it and could practically picture the panels I would have expected after a few chapters.

The first chapter was the roughest to get through by far. It seems Non Pratt really struggled to strike a balance between introducing these characters to completely new readers and not boring fans of the graphic novels to tears, the results being a fairly rushed opening peppered with inelegant info dumps. I will say once everything is established it moves much more smoothly and naturally. It's just the first chapter that requires some extra effort.

I really feel for Non Pratt because Giant Days produces some hilarious visuals and that's really hard to translate to the written word. It's one thing to SEE Esther dramatically clawing at the sky in frustration, or Susan melting someone's internal organs with a death glare, but quite another to describe those events in such a way that they still come across as funny and not ridiculous (in a bad way). Don't get me wrong, I laughed a lot while reading this book! But occasionally things just didn't gel and it pulled me out of the story a bit.

I did really love the story and the characters (of course!). In typical fashion, one girl gets the main "plot," Daisy in this case, while Esther and Susan each have a smaller subplot to resolve. Everything comes together nicely at the end, (after going just slightly to the left of where you'd expect things to end up) with plenty of room for the next adventure. Giant Days is a traditional contemporary and the problems faced by the main characters are very relatable and handled realistically--hurt feelings from a (seemingly) ruined friendship, trying to impress someone who you desperately want to be friends with, trying to find where you best fit in after leaving home for the first time, doubts about new friendships and whether you're making the right choices. It's sweet and relatable and very genuine and I just love it!

Overall I'd recommend it most strongly to anyone who's a fan of the graphic novel, as well as anyone who loves stories that value female friendships. If you're on the fence about it I say give it a try and don't be discouraged by the first chapter.

I love Giant Days. It's my favourite comic series, and, after seeing this on Netgalley, I knew I had to read it ASAP. I was fortunate enough to get access to this, and I'll definitely be buying a physical copy after how much I loved this book.

As far as I can tell, this takes place just after the events of the original minicomics but before the events of the second volume (my favourite, nudge nudge wink wink), although the timeline does feel very whack, honestly. Everyone goes through different problems: Esther is dying to make a good impression on a popular goth girl on her course (English with modules in Creative Writing, represeeeennnt); Daisy is feeling dejected and lonely and sets out to make friends by joining every single society she can, including a mysterious cult-like Yoga group; and Susan is dealing with course stuff and McGraw stuff, the latter being my favourite 'stuff' in this entire series.

I guess I'll review each character's story individually. I'm not able to post quotes because I received an early review copy, but lemme tell you, Esther? Absolutely hilarious. She has some great moments talking about her course and boys, and it was actually painful how much I saw myself in her character. Her just having no idea what people were going on about in seminars was hilarious, making things up as she goes along like I always seem to be doing. However, seeing her changing parts of herself to appeal to friends... also hit close to home, which was difficult to read. Out of all of them, I think what she went through was treated with the most care, which I will comment on in Daisy's part.

Oh, Daisy. She goes through all the classic first year woes that I also experienced last year. Homesickness? Check. Being scared you're the only person with no friends while the people you thought were friends never seem to have time for you? Check. Feeling like bursting into tears when you talk with family over the phone? CHECK. Joining a cult? Chhhhhhh........ not so much. I think the personal issues Daisy experience are handled perfectly, but I feel like the seriousness of what was happening at the yoga group were glossed over at the end, and made out to be... not as serious as they most definitely were. You could get arrested for all of those things, and even though it would stray from the general happiness of the series, it still has moments where things are taken seriously, and I feel like Daisy's story lacked that.

But anyway who cares about them two when I have Susan and McGraw to gush about? This book sees them go from enemies (mostly on Susan's part, but I feel like it's justified, even though I swoon constantly at McGraw) to reluctant (again, Susan) friends, and I loved it. Susan's deadpan humour and dry wit is perfectly captured, and McGraw being pretty much oblivious but very much the greatest man to ever live is evident constantly. I would re-read this just for them two. I'm tempted to re-read the series now, just for them two. They will always be my favourite part of Giant Days and I feel no regrets saying that.

As much as I love this, I've had to lower it a star for the whole Daisy thing, but also because this probably wouldn't have been as good if I didn't already love the comics. It throws you straight into things and is quite... info-dumpy at the start, unfortunately, but I am willing to overlook that because of the brilliant characterisation of the main girls and their friends (poor, poor Ed Gemmel). I also found that Susan was kind of pushed to the back and made to sort out all the drama without having much going on herself, other than little moments with McGraw.

I loved this book: it's very funny, relatable, and features lovable (though sometimes exasperating) characters. Each of the main three characters- Daisy, Susan, and Esther- are well drawn and engagingly different. I probably related most to Daisy out of the three protagonists, as she struggles to break out of her shell and find her place at university, and feel a sense of belonging.

This is a book about friendships, both old and new, and especially female friendships which don't revolve around boys. That being said, I might have a teensy crush on Susan's former friend/current enemy McGraw. I also appreciated the diversity of sexualities, such as Daisy being interested in girls.

One slight criticism I have is that the book takes place at a UK university, but sometimes the vibe seemed more fitting to an American college.

In the beginning I liked this book, it felt so good being back into this world, but the format really started to bother me. The way it would jump from each of the girls it was a little jarring. I don't know if it was because of it being an eArc or what but I hope it's not like that in the finish copy. I do think you would have to read the graphic novel to understand a few things that was going on in this book. Since I liked the graphic novels a lot I thought I was going to like this too, but just found it okay.

An interesting take on the graphic novel, it made me want to read the original but I also enjoyed this new version of the story.

I have fantastic news: the wonderful graphic novel series Giant Days now officially has its own novel! Yes, you read that right. The novel shares the same titles as the series itself, but I honestly hope they’ll come out with more than just the one.
Giant Days is perfect for both the fans of the series and people who would otherwise try the series if not for the fact that it was a graphic novel. There’s a lot of overlap between this and the series, but I considered that a fun refresher more than anything. Plus there are more details for the scenes that were repeated, so I’m not complaining. However I know that’s something that not everyone is into, so keep that in mind.

Spoiler Warning

When I first saw that Giant Days was being turned into a novel I knew I had to get my hands on it a.s.a.p. I only recently finished binge reading the series for the first time, so a lot of the events are still relatively fresh in my head. It made for a comfortable transition for me, and sort of helped with the withdrawal I was feeling from not having any new Giant Days (the graphic novels, that is) waiting for me.
This was a really fun and mostly light read. There were times, like in the graphic novels themselves where their adventures got too real and dark (like when Esther gets drugged at a party or that time Daisy got lonely and tricked into joining a cult), but it balances out really nicely with the quirky and lovable personalities of our leading cast. I honestly just can’t enough of these ladies, so I’m so happy that they’re transcending their original media.
If you’re looking at this and humming and hawing, let me assure you that Pratt perfectly translates all of our favorite characters into this new medium. Seriously, I could picture almost every scene as if I was looking at the graphic novel instead. Their tone of voices carried over perfectly from images to text and I couldn’t have been happier with the end results.
It was certainly fun to have some of their adventures fleshed out in more detail. While I adore the fast pace for the Giant Days series, sometimes it’s fun to slow down and get a few more details on the situation. I’ll be curious to see what happens in future novels (if they happen). Will they continue to go over all the plots in the graphic novel series, or will they branch off and start doing their own thing? I honestly think I’d be okay with either, though both would be ideal…
Pratt did a great job of balancing the time spent with all three main characters, just like the series it’s based off of. Never once did I feel like a character was getting neglected or overshadowed by the other two. I do feel like we saw less of McGraw and Ed, but then again we’re back to the earlier stuff where they weren’t quite their own characters yet, so that makes sense.
I’m still a bit surprised by how well Giant Days transitioned into novel form. I know I said this already, but I really do hope that they continue with this line of thinking. I also wouldn’t mind some novellas that are short stories not yet shown in the graphic novel series. That would be fun. In the meantime I’m just grateful that this helped me bide my time until the next issue drops.

I loved this, I loved the friendship between the girls and the fun portrayal of life at uni. I don't know much about the comic but I liked the novel.

This is a must read for fans of the graphic novels. It is fun and full of humour and angst just like the GNs.

I can’t say much, considering I be only read one volume of the graphic novel, but it had so much more charm than this. Possibly because of the emotive illustrations and the ease of the graphic novel, but it was much more endearing.
Sad to say.

'Giant Days' was a bunch of marvellous fun, about the three best-est friends you could possibly read about. Non Pratt manages to take the exact essence of each character from the graphic novels and perfectly translate them into pure prose form. Each girl is equally focused on, so regardless of whether Susan, Daisy or Esther is your favourite, you'll definitely enjoy this book!

This also perfectly balanced appealing to fans of the graphic novels, while also introducing the characters to new readers, who have so many more university adventures to discover after this toe-dip in the world of Giant Days. The setting and shenanigans are so hilarious and relatable, you'll want to read it cover to cover.

Non has done it again. She's created an identifiable set of characters inside a brilliant setting that many will be all to familiar with. I wasn't aware of the comic, and I'm not always in a rush to seek out stories in comic format so this was perfect for me.

I love Giant Days so much! This comic that follows three friends through their college adventures is just pure fun. The comic is easy to identify with and the girls are such great characters. I would follow this trio anywhere!

This book was mildly amusing, but it pales in comparison to the wildly entertaining comic book series. I am left wondering: who is the target audience here?

Fans of the comics don’t need to read this – it covers a lot of the same ground as the first volumes, and the new material really isn’t groundbreaking. The author even appears to painstakingly describe elements of the comic books in sections, much like a nature documentarian would for a herd of lions. Here we see Esther, wearing knee high black leather boots, a skull t-shirt, and a mischievous expression… (not an actual quote). The repetition of details that I already knew left me feeling bored and disengaged.

Likewise, I can’t see any reason for non-fans to pick this up. If you haven’t read the comic book series, WHY NOT? They’re incredible and guaranteed to cure sadness. Esther, Daisy, Susan, Ed, and McGraw have gotten me through some very stressful times. If you’ve read them and didn’t care for them, WHY NOT? You need to examine your personal taste because it’s obviously flawed. However, EVEN YOU can still skip this novel version.

So who should read this? Maybe there’s a case to be made for this as a great alternative version for blind or visually-impaired folks who want to enjoy Giant Days. Libraries may want to purchase a copy of this for that reason, but overall this book is highly skippable.

Starting out at university, three girls make friends, Daisy, Susan and Esther they may be very different people but they look out for each other.



Susan and Rather become rightly concerned when Daisy hangs around a lot with cult like group at the university called The Yogic Brethren after signing up to their group during the welcome activity fair for new students and they appear to spread throughout the whole campus. But students go missing and Daisy acts strange attending these meetings which include wearing creepy masks to get into meetings.



They do also do normal university students things like going to student union's and getting drunk as well as flirting with guys, even seeing guys they know from before uni at uni. Discovering their tastes in things changing and who true friends are.



I didn't really get into the book but it was well written and I finished it eventually. The concept was intriguing and links to drugs and money being mistreated makes sense as it fits into the university setting as people try new things and experiences but shows how it can go to the extremes in this book! The characters were all their own people and I liked the differences they had from one being a bit gullible to other gutsy and invested in their lifestyle like true students they were believable.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!