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Claire North dedicated thread

#1 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 16 November 2020 - 06:40 PM

I think she has enough work out there to deserve this.

No?
Tough


Have started the Pursuit of William Abbey.

About 100 pages in, just met Albert and: (spoilers for Harry August and sudden hope)
Spoiler

This post has been edited by Macros: 16 August 2021 - 05:31 PM

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#2 User is offline   Salt-Man Z 

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Posted 16 November 2020 - 09:31 PM

View PostMacros, on 16 November 2020 - 06:40 PM, said:

About 100 pages in, just met Albert and: (spoilers for Harry August and sudden hope)

Yeah, that discussion kicked off when I mentioned that part in Abbey. :) I didn't recognize one of the references, which I assume is the Gameshouse stuff (which I haven't read.)
"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch
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#3 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 06:49 AM

Same.

I have gamehouse at home to read soon.


Read on late last night, nearly finished William Abbey
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#4 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 08:08 AM

Re: Gameshouse I have seen there is a single novel and 3 novellas with that name are they the same thing or have I got confused again?
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#5 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 01:42 PM

It's 3 novellas but are bundled as one for paperback afaik.

That's what I think I have back at the house anyway.

Just finished William Abbey.


I'm not sure If I'm satisfied with the ending or not
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#6 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 03:43 PM

Still to read Gameshouse but I have all 3 on Kindle. Also have to read William Abbey and The End of Days.

Think that's all of them.

Have either of you read her stuff as Kate Griffin? How do they compare?
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#7 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 03:57 PM

I love the Matthew Swift series and I really really really want her to return to that series someday.
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#8 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 09:08 PM

Not complete then? Just wondering whether to start the series or not.
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#9 User is offline   polishgenius 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 09:43 PM

It's not that kind of series, Dresden-style - each book stands essentially alone. That does mean it doesn't have the epic long-term buildup of Dresden pr Peter Grant, but it does have that advantage of not needing more to be 'complete'. And North/Griffin (actually Catherine Webb, under which name she published childrens books as a child) is a much better prose writer than those guys and instills far more of a sense of place (in some respects the Matthew Swift and Magicals Anonymous - the spinoff- books have as much in common with Mieville's Bas-Lag books as the typical urban fantasy).
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#10 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 10:06 PM

Tiste being British is going to connect way more to Griffin's London than I did and I really connected to it.
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#11 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 17 November 2020 - 10:48 PM

View Postamphibian, on 17 November 2020 - 10:06 PM, said:

Tiste being British is going to connect way more to Griffin's London than I did and I really connected to it.

As a Northerner this offends me haha. I like the sound of them I'll keep an eye out.
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#12 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 18 November 2020 - 07:29 AM

English is English Tiste. YOU'RE ALL THE SAME
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#13 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 18 November 2020 - 05:09 PM

Even as a Northerner, you're going to know more than me, a person who's visited the city for less than a week total.
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#14 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 04 January 2021 - 05:06 PM

I started reading the Gameshouse novellas today and I'm hooked. This is a rich and wonderful world she is painting. Once I've read these it will just be William Abbey and The End of Days to read of her North books. Then I hope to get the Matthew Swift series.
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#15 User is offline   Salt-Man Z 

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Posted 04 January 2021 - 06:02 PM

I blitzed through the last Gameshouse story laaate last night. Absolutely fantastic, though I do wish the last two stories weren't so similar in concept
Spoiler
The second story might be my favorite of the three.

I've only got End Of Days left, so I might just have to read that next.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 04 January 2021 - 06:06 PM

"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch
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#16 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 04 January 2021 - 06:07 PM

I'm only partway through the first story but I really like the storytelling style.
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#17 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 05 January 2021 - 11:46 AM

I'll be starting Games house Omni tonight as my evening read. Looking forward to it, not sure what all I have left of Norths work
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#18 User is offline   polishgenius 

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Posted 05 January 2021 - 01:40 PM

The End of the Day is so weird. I enjoyed it, but loads of people didn't, because it's barely a story- it's a series of connected vignettes connected by some theme and stylistic tics, and doesn't move very fast at all. I say this because I strongly suspect people will enjoy it more knowing that going in.
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#19 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 08 March 2021 - 10:41 PM

I had a few credits on Audible so I got The Pursuit of William Abbey and End of the Day. I think the narrator on Abbey is the same guy who narrated Harry August, and he was ace so I'm happy about that.

This means I now have everything she has written under the Claire North moniker in one form or another.

Should probably get the Matthew Swift series at some point.
A Haunting Poem
I Scream
You Scream
We all Scream
For I Scream.
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#20 User is offline   Tiste Simeon 

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Posted 14 August 2021 - 12:22 AM

I have now listened to END OF THE DAY. It was an excellent concept, as her books inevitably are, and I loved the character of Charlie.

But... Something didn't quite work in the execution of this one. Like, it didn't really have a plot. It was just a bunch of things that happen to Charlie in different parts of the world.

Like, it can be a lot of fun and also conveys a very important message about humanity and life and what death means to people, yet I couldn't help but feel like it struggled with coherence.

It just didn't gel as well as all her other ones do. Probably my least favourite of hers.

Still head and shoulders above most other books mind hah.

I'm moving onto THE PURSUIT OF WILLIAM ABBEY and I think then I will have consumed all her books under the Clare North moniker.
A Haunting Poem
I Scream
You Scream
We all Scream
For I Scream.
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