Book Review: Giant Days – Volume 13 by John Allison

Image Description: the book-cover of Giant Days – Volume 13 by John Allison

Title: Giant Days, Vol. 13
Creators: John Allison (Writer), Max Sarin (Cover Art and Penciller), Whitney Cogar (Colorist)
Social Media: Goodreads
Publisher: BOOM! Box
Format and Price: Kindle format at $15.47
Stars: 5 stars out of 5

About The Creators:
The relevant links are available above.

About The Book:
As Esther re-evaluates the biggest decisions in her life, she enters an essay contest that could change everything for her!

LONDON CALLING!

Everything going fine for Esther – she’s only dealing with a past break up, facing her own mortality and the pressure of an essay contest that could change her life. Don’t worry, she’s got everything figured out…except for the getting everything figured out part. Otherwise, she’s not racing towards imminent disaster.

But for McGraw, the tough realities of life hit hard as he learns about the loss of someone close to him and has to find a way to process this shocking news.

The Eisner Award-winning team of John Allison (By Night) and Max Sarin return to Sheffield for heartbreak, muscle aches, the very special pain of going corporate…and why the love of good friends is the secret to getting through it all.

Collects Giant Days #49-52.

YARR! Thar Be Spoilers Ahead! Ye Have Been Warned!

General Observations:
~Character Focus – Esther: The majority of this volume focuses on Esther and her post-university opportunities. Since Esther is doing an Arts Orientated degree, everyone is a little worried about what Esther will do once she’s completed her degree, including her.

It turns out that Esther is at her best when she’s focusing on other people’s problems instead of her own. Esther takes her friend to a Literary Networking session, which results in Shelly being inspired to pursue her own personal creative projects, and it gives Esther a potential job opportunity.

Then, later on in the volume, Esther uses the $2000 she won from a writing competition to rent out a large cabin in the Lakes District. The whole gang are invited along and a good time is had by the vast majority of the group. While it was good to see Ed and Nina are still together, it was even better to see Nina and Esther getting along as well.

~The Power of Friendship: One of my favourite aspects of this series is the positive portrayals of Friendship. It’s the little moments I appreciate the most, such as Nina and Esther bonding moments, but I also enjoyed watching Esther finding ways to encourage Shelly to pursue her creative dreams, and while they’re doing that, Susan and Daisy are having a spa day together.

~Character Focus – McGraw: In this volume McGraw’s Dad passes away suddenly. I feel that this volume tackles the subject on the loss of a parent pretty good. Grief is not the same for everyone and it’s never rational. McGraw’s sentiment that when he was a kid, he thought “if he was a good boy” he could somehow prevent his father from dying, it’s the irrational-yet-understandable mindset of a child, and hits right in the feels.

All in all, this volume does a pretty good job at showcasing that Esther may be more capable than she thinks, it also shows that patience and encouraging push forward (even if it doesn’t make sense at the time) can have a bigger impact than you may realise. Happy to recommend and I’m looking forward to the next and finale volume.

Available for Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository | Kobo Books