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elemsr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
the setting and overall vibe: amazing
the writing: beautiful
the characters: interesting (steerpike and the doctor especially)
the first two books: great
the last book: ruined the whole thing (it was unnecessary and all over the place)
would recommend for the first two books only (just push through the last one)
the writing: beautiful
the characters: interesting (steerpike and the doctor especially)
the first two books: great
the last book: ruined the whole thing (it was unnecessary and all over the place)
would recommend for the first two books only (just push through the last one)
kingfan30's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
klparmley's review
4.0
I finally finished it by listening to it at work on my MP3 player. It is very dense. I like the characters; I like the creation of place; I like that it doesn't follow obvious story lines and that characters don't live or die based on how sympathetic they are.
The first 2 books are definitely better than the last third of the trilogy, but the last, Titus Alone, gives some place to the country of Gormenghast castle that is absent in Titus Groan and Gormenghast.
I have only recommended this to one friend I think will enjoy the language and meandering plat development as much as I did. This is NOT light reading.
The first 2 books are definitely better than the last third of the trilogy, but the last, Titus Alone, gives some place to the country of Gormenghast castle that is absent in Titus Groan and Gormenghast.
I have only recommended this to one friend I think will enjoy the language and meandering plat development as much as I did. This is NOT light reading.
9klar8's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ridgewaygirl's review
5.0
The Gormenghast trilogy is the brilliant invention of Mervyn Peake, who created a unique, imaginative, bizarre and compelling world in the form of an enormous decaying castle called Gormenghast. It's titular head is the Earl of Gormenghast, but the place is really ruled by the arcane and stringent rituals that define and dictate daily life for everyone from the Earl to the lowliest kitchen boy.
The story begins with the birth of Titus Groan, heir to the seventy-sixth Earl of Gormenghast, Lord Sepulchrave. The Earl hides in his massive library, but can't help being drawn to his only son. His wife retreated years ago into her own mind, and into her love of animals, specifically the birds that visit her room through an ivy-covered window and her hoard of white cats. And Fuchsia, the odd and temperamental daughter of the house who finds that she loves Titus, in spite of herself.
As Lord Sepulchrave descends into madness, a lowly kitchen boy seizes his chance to better himself. Steerpike may have come from nothing, but he's more than a match for the moribund members of the royal family.
Peake named two of the books, Titus Groan and Titus Alone, after the seventy-seventh Earl of Gormenghast, but the real linchpin of the story is the castle itself, even as it moulders, decays, burns and floods. It's a strange, almost indescribable place, which Peake somehow manages to make real, writing in an over-blown style that suits the place, characters and events beautifully.
I'm surprised these books aren't better known than they are. Peake's Gormenghast is an imaginative tour de force that puts places like Narnia to shame. And his characters veer wildly toward caricature, but he never loses control of them. The best of the lot are the sullen and impulsive Fuchsia, the affected and silly Doctor Prunesquallor, who is nonetheless the glue holding a fraying family together, Steerpike, the kitchen boy who will do what he has to do to get what he wants and the imposing Muzzlehatch, with his nose like a rudder and his amazing menangerie.
The story begins with the birth of Titus Groan, heir to the seventy-sixth Earl of Gormenghast, Lord Sepulchrave. The Earl hides in his massive library, but can't help being drawn to his only son. His wife retreated years ago into her own mind, and into her love of animals, specifically the birds that visit her room through an ivy-covered window and her hoard of white cats. And Fuchsia, the odd and temperamental daughter of the house who finds that she loves Titus, in spite of herself.
As Lord Sepulchrave descends into madness, a lowly kitchen boy seizes his chance to better himself. Steerpike may have come from nothing, but he's more than a match for the moribund members of the royal family.
Peake named two of the books, Titus Groan and Titus Alone, after the seventy-seventh Earl of Gormenghast, but the real linchpin of the story is the castle itself, even as it moulders, decays, burns and floods. It's a strange, almost indescribable place, which Peake somehow manages to make real, writing in an over-blown style that suits the place, characters and events beautifully.
I'm surprised these books aren't better known than they are. Peake's Gormenghast is an imaginative tour de force that puts places like Narnia to shame. And his characters veer wildly toward caricature, but he never loses control of them. The best of the lot are the sullen and impulsive Fuchsia, the affected and silly Doctor Prunesquallor, who is nonetheless the glue holding a fraying family together, Steerpike, the kitchen boy who will do what he has to do to get what he wants and the imposing Muzzlehatch, with his nose like a rudder and his amazing menangerie.
dantastic's review
I attempted to read this tome about a decade ago and fell short. The Great Gormenghast Group Read gave me a chance at redemption.
Titus Groan:
Gormenghast:
Titus Alone:
Titus Groan:
Gormenghast:
Titus Alone:
kataninja's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
peter_fischer's review
4.0
The Gormenghast trilogy really defies categorisation and is in a genre all of its own. The first two novels are fairly coherent with characters and stories that seem faintly allegorical or symbolic of something, but I was often uncertain of what. The setting is wonderfully pseudo-medieval in a way that was probably completely novel at the time of writing (1940s-1950s) but has since been copied in many fantasy books and films. The last novel of the trilogy is ‘Titus Alone’, where things start to get seriously fantastical. Here Titus Groan (main character) has left Gormenghast and the narration becomes portentous and somehow presaging, often in mysterious and (to me) obscure ways. The trilogy to me reads like an atmospheric and gothic set of tales, often detached from meaning in the traditional sense.