Being honest, I much preferred the NO series to the GM books. I'm half way through Book 20 and I'm really looking to 'reloading' and going again from Book 21 onwards.
The NO books go back to what LW does best- sea voyages, exploring cities and countries, inns and shops, breaking into fortresses etc. The only genuinely great GM book IMHO was 18, which involved travelling Magnamund, revisiting old regions and interacting with various characters, friendly and unfriendly. I wasn't really a fan of the dimension hopping of the later books, where basically everyone (other than Alyss) is a foe. Plus, other than books 16 and 18, Gold Crowns are pretty much useless. I did build up a nice total in safekeeping though!
A few notes from memory on the NO series before I go again:
Books 21-22 I really enjoyed. It was a different part of Vassagonia/Dessi to what had been explored before, and it was interesting to visit Southern Magnamund as a Northlander as opposed to Grey Star.
Plenty of interesting set pieces- sea battles plus more original stuff such as the arena and the race track. Loads of city exploration and chances to spend money. It was essentially one epic journey divided into two parts.
Book 23: like Darke Crusade it was very linear but enjoyable. I liked having the novelty of a permanent companion throughout the book, similar to Book 8. There were some decent encounters in this one, although it felt culturally more like Northern than Southern Magnamund.
Book 24: this felt like an 'old school' LW jaunt. A few nods to Books 6 and 18, the Stornlands are probably my favourite parts to visit.
Book 25: felt like a rehash of Book 14, but Kaag was a far more interesting place to explore. Dungeon crawls were one of the few things Fighting Fantasy did better than LW, but Captives of Kaag was Joe's best entry at this type. Compared to 14, this is a bit 'meh': it felt like one of the more generic FF entries.
Book 26: can't recall much about it.
The 'Chai Trilogy' as I call 27-29:
27: very vague memories of this one. I remember the Bhanarian guards with the power packs/staves which were a nod to the tech in Wolf's Bane. Is this the one where you're ambushed and lose the Claw?
28: the weakest of the NO series. Felt a bit like a fantasy version of Freeway Warrior as you're escorting a convoy through danger. Seemed a bit rushed- although this was the book with 50 less entries- and the end fight was anticlimactic.
29: Back on form with this one, some interesting towns to visit, good interactions and I liked the idea of going back the way you came after reaching your initial destination. Some really tough big boss battles though, especially towards the end.
All on all, I'm really looking forward to taking on the NO series again as it's more akin to classic LW than the 'cosmic horror' of the later GM books.
Is Grey Star A Southerner?, Its never actually specified, after all The Shianti found him in a shipwreck and its never said that it was a ship from Southern Magamund, so its possible that he's a northerner but believes he's a southerner