[Macros]

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

he aims he has met and ouboron and a forgetter.
I know SMZ (I think) and I postulated about a doubling of abilities in the general reading thread, but here seems evidence at least of a shared universe



ETA - they're all mentioned!

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

[Salt-Man Z]

Macros, 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.)

[Macros]

Same.

I have gamehouse at home to read soon.


Read on late last night, nearly finished William Abbey

[Tiste Simeon]

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?

[Macros]

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

[Tiste Simeon]

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?

[amphibian]

I love the Matthew Swift series and I really really really want her to return to that series someday.

[Tiste Simeon]

Not complete then? Just wondering whether to start the series or not.

[polishgenius]

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).

[amphibian]

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

[Tiste Simeon]

amphibian, 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.

[Macros]

English is English Tiste. YOU'RE ALL THE SAME

[amphibian]

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.

[Tiste Simeon]

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.

[Salt-Man Z]

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

(with players hunting each other.)

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

[Tiste Simeon]

I'm only partway through the first story but I really like the storytelling style.

[Macros]

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

[polishgenius]

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.

[Tiste Simeon]

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.

[Tiste Simeon]

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.