The Thing About Giants
by Christopher Galvin (Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Jacq’s parents are giant hunters, but she has always thought the practice was barbaric. Despite growing up in a city literally made from giant bones, Jacq is dismayed when she is chosen to be trained as a giant hunter and follow in her parents footsteps. On her first mission outside the city, Jacq is lost in the wilderness where she meets Corman.
Corman is a young giant travelling with his father to find some medicinal herbs when they are attacked by giant hunters, throwing them all into a dangerous adventure and an awkward friendship that could change both their cultures forever.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

I loved this fun adventure! Every chapter is full of action and intrigue and wild ventures into the unknown. There is also quite a bit of mystery as Jacq and Corman discover the dastardly secrets behind the giant hunting craze.

I really loved that the world-building has all this history of ancient giant kings and how giants and humans first started to distrust each other. At the beginning of each chapter, there is a fictional quote from a giant or human about the hundreds of years of conflict between them. It makes it even more meaningful when Jacq and Corman flout all those centuries of strife and grief, and decide to trust each other.

But I had mixed feelings about the world-building including modern technology. I was expecting a kind of medieval fairy tale world, but the humans have helicopters, drones, and cell phones. The giants have no technology. It was a surprise at first, but once I got used to the parameters of this world, I thought it was really interesting and unique, to have half-fantasy world and half-modern world. It definitely gives the humans an edge in their giant hunting, and makes the giants almost helpless!

I really loved Jacq and Corman’s characters! They are both very complex and emotional and full of anger and grief, so seeing them heal and be vulnerable with each other was really meaningful in their character development. It was especially beautiful to see Jacq coming to terms with her family’s personal history with giant hunting, and discovering that she doesn’t have to reject her family heritage to change the human world.

The writing is excellent, and I love that it pulls you into the story and gets you seeing everything right through the character’s eyes. However, I did not like that the POV switched so often between Jacq And Corman. There are separate chapters for each of their POVs and they have distinct voices, so the POVs were very well done, but I just think it jumped between them too often. Sometimes in the middle of a scene, it would end the chapter with one piece of dialogue from Jacq, and then break for a chapter to switch to Corman’s POV and then have Corman’s answering dialogue for the same conversation. It was just too often and too abrupt sometimes! Other than that, I loved the writing though!

This book is so much fun and I loved the imaginative story!