by Mervyn Peake
I have a rocky relationship with the Gormenghast books. I've often found the writing style too ornate - deliciously descriptive, true, but also sometimes so adorned that I can't tell what the hell is going on. I found the second book more readable than the first. I find the third more readable than ...
I love this trilogy, and I'll debate with anyone who says that this book is a letdown. True, it is quite different from Titus Groan and Gormenghast, but Peake was, I think, attempting to portray a different atmosphere - a different world, even - than the world of Gormenghast. The titular castle was ...
My first impression of Titus Groan, the first part of the Gormenghast Trilogy, was that it was a deeply weird book. I was warned that Titus Alone, the third and last part, "gets even... weirder," and I'd say that's the case, and it feels very different than the other two. The first two books establi...
Wasn't going to bother with this as I felt the death of Steerpike was probably the Jumping The Shark moment, however inclement weather has stopped play so I might as well dive into the fray. I see Libbeth has given it a 5* and we coincide on a lot of ratings. Wanda? are you still 'in' with it?:O)
Titus Groan and Gormenghast are two of my ten favourite books (reviewed on my Favourites shelf), but despite some wonderful language, I cannot love this one, intriguing as it is. China Miéville argued (in a lecture at the British Library 11th June 2011) that this volume recasts the previous two and ...
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