“The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August” by Claire North

I didn’t expect to like this book. The premise of it is that Harry August lives, dies, and is born again in exactly the same manner, life after life. He remembers all of the information that he learned in his past lives, including the people he met and the facts he learned. In fact, there’s a whole group of people like this, organized into the Cronus Club to take care of each other.

Now most stories that deal with this reincarnation type thing just go through all of the different paths this person’s life can take. At some point they assassinate Hitler. And all that jazz. This story is different.

A child one life comes to Harry as he is dying, saying that the world is ending (as it always does) but it has started ending sooner. And there’s only one possible explanation: another person who keeps reliving their life is affecting the course of history. So Harry starts to hunt them down.

The narrative structure in this book does take some getting used to. It’s not in chronological order, but presents anecdotes from Harry’s lives as they become relevant, and so it bops around from his third live to his seventh to his fourteenth quite a bit. I quite enjoyed it really, it’s all through Harry’s perspective so it all makes perfect sense, but if you want a chronological order you will be disappointed.

One aspect of this book that I absolutely loved though was how it portrayed intimate relationships. All of the closest relationships in this book are friendships. Sure they could turn into romances occasionally, but none of the characters have delusions that anyone is their true love. Those that reincarnate rarely seek out the same partner in the next life that they live.

Possibly the closest relationship in the book could better be described as a rivalry. These two characters are so in sync on a mental level, pushing each other intellectually to new heights. But in the end they end up on different sides of their consciences, and that sets them against each other. Numerous times in the narrative though they insist how much they like and care for each other despite this, which makes it so interesting to watch them destroy each other.

This story was definitely not what I was expecting, with a quirky narration and an unconventional story. North is clearly a wonderful storyteller, with great ideas to write about as well as how to portray them. I look forward to checking out her other works as well.