NORTH

This review isn’t exactly spoiler-free, but it’s spoiler-light. If you haven’t read NORTH but you’re interested, stop, and go read it. You can find chapter one here:

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46924427/

Otherwise, if you think you might need to know a little more about it to call yourself interested, please read on.

NORTH is, without a doubt, a true masterpiece. Calling it “the greatest gay hypno smut of all time” feels diminishing of its accomplishments; packing it into a specific niche implies that it needs those qualifiers to be showered in praise.

It is true, though. NORTH is the greatest gay hypno smut of all time.

There’s a lot to praise. There’s a lot to say, in general, about a story that begins as one-shot hypno porn and ends as a thriller novel. From a personal standpoint, North made me seriously rethink my own thoughts on writing, and the distinction I held between porn and “real” stories.

For a while, I talked about NORTH by saying that it “stopped being porn.” The episodic release of the story and the structure of the middle chapters contributed to that point of view. Now that the full story is out, though, and can be read from start to finish without breaks, I think it reads very differently.

The hypno porn aspect of the story is present throughout. The story doesn’t “outgrow” its origins to become something more worthy or legitimate. It merely discovers another side of itself, and then blends the old with the new to find a new way forward.

I think that if I didn’t know what I do about the way the story was written, and about the author’s original intent, I wouldn’t be able to gleam it from a reading of the material except, perhaps, through chapter lengths. Structurally, the later chapters never feel tacked on, or like they’re trying to inject substance into previous sections of story that were written with much less intent. All of NORTH - down to 04’s kinks - feels like it was written with a plan in mind.

It isn’t literally perfect. Chapter 5 is a rush of information and drama so intense it feels jarring in the story’s pacing. It’s thematically appropriate, but still feels somewhat rushed compared to the chapters on either end of it. It gives too much away too quickly, to the point where the reader can find themselves lost on what questions they’re still asking.

Additionally, the drama in this chapter feels forced, and even out of character. The characters are suddenly thrust into a very different situation, and react with a surprising level of anger and resentment. Structurally, none of these things are bad, and with the context of the ending, it all works to make the story better. The problem exists only in execution. The chapter is saturated in anger and rage, in a way that seems sudden to appear and similarly sudden to disappear. I get the sense that if the whole story were to receive an editing pass, almost the entirety of the edit would be for this chapter alone. Or, maybe not.

Maybe the high strung emotions and harsh words are supposed to be upsetting, and toning them back would deny the characters a proper arc. The apparent incompatibility between what is and what was (and which is which) is an essential point of no return, and the idea of navigating two lives that are so seemingly at odds with one another is the most significant theme of the story as a whole. It’s possible that a milder chapter 5 would also create a milder chapter 6, much to the story’s detriment.

It’s hard to be critical of something so good.

On a more personal note, NORTH has drastically changed the way I think about writing. As someone who writes for the same audience, I am amazed at what the story accomplishes on a structural level - few other stories so are so elegantly themed, exploring the ideas of free will and identity on a textual and subtextual level, and no stories - that I’m aware of, at least - do so in our niche little scene.   The ending in particular evoked strong feelings from me, where a character is relieved to not be the one driving, to be thought for and cared for, free to just sit back. I found myself reminiscing on family road trips, looking out the window in the back seat without any fear of the future. The theming of being a different, happier person under different circumstances, too, has a broader connection across the furry scene.

I remember feeling genuinely upset a few chapters into the story. It was a humbling feeling, being proud of your ability, only to have it demonstrated that you aren’t doing half of what you could be. It demonstrates a level of intention and forethought that stands in great contrast to its peers. It is, literally, a novel, for free and filled with hot furry men getting brainwashed. How can I compete with that?

By writing better, I guess.

NORTH is emotional, suspenseful, imaginative, exciting, and hot as all hell. It has irrevocably raised the bar for writing in the scene, and should be read by everyone.