The Gameshouse cover art

The Gameshouse

The Serpent, The Thief and The Master

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The Gameshouse

By: Claire North
Narrated by: Peter Kenny
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About this listen

From the author of the word-of-mouth phenomenon The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August comes a mesmerising tale of a mystical gambling house whose deadly games of chance and skill control the fate of empires. Everyone has heard of the Gameshouse. But few know all its secrets.

It is the place where fortunes can be made and lost though chess, backgammon - every game under the sun.

But those whom fortune favours may be invited to compete in the higher league...where the games played are of politics and nations, of economics and kings. It is a contest where Capture the Castle involves real castles and where hide and seek takes place on the scale of a continent.

Among those worthy of competing in the higher league, three unusually talented contestants play for the highest stakes of all....

From Claire North, author of word-of-mouth best-seller The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and one of the most original new voices in modern fiction, comes the mesmerising tale of the Gameshouse, where games of chance and skill control the fate of empires.

Originally published as three digital-only instalments: The Serpent, The Thief and The Master.

©2015 Claire North (P)2015 Hachette Audio Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Fiction Game Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

"Utterly readable, utterly believable and compelling...one of the fiction highlights of the decade." (Judy Finnigan on The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

"Beautiful and gripping." (Guardian on The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

"North's talent shines out." (Sunday Times)
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Claire North has a knack for uncanny plotlines but the execution is superb. The story had me gripped throughout and even though there are a lot of things happening, it does leave you wanting for more, in a good way.
The idea of the Gameshouse is brilliant, and without giving any spoilers, it did have me thinking if I myself would enter it if I ever saw a door with a lion's head.
Peter Kenny does a wonderful job at the narration too making the whole experience a delightful one.

An amazing story that is wonderfully read!

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A well structured narrative from ages past to more modern times. A rich thread running through it. Who is the Games master, what lies behind those doors and what are you willing to sacrifice to see. The story pulls you along, coupled with the excellent narration, you'll finish it wanting more!

Excellent

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The Gameshouse is a wierd place, but between the three stories, a strange group runs the world. The three stories are novellas in their own right, but with a few common threads running through them.
Having just finished the trilogy, I want to go back, as I now realise that The Serpent was the framing for The Master.
A definite worthwhile read, possibly not as gripping as 15 lives, but still stunning.

Stunning trilogy

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If you like Claire North, you'll love this book. If you've never read Claire North, read this, you'll love it.

Excellent book

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Entertaining but not fully engaging. struggled to buy into the belief system that left the characters in thrall, that somehow might justify to them such carnage in the narrative. Limp in contrast to her great book The Disappearance of Hope, but without having checked I'd imagine it's an earlier
work.

Not north's best

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