Mervyn Peake

A doomed lord, an emergent hero, and a dazzling array of bizarre creatures inhabit the magical world of the Gormenghast novels which, along with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, reign as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time. At the center of it all is the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom, unless the conniving Steerpike, who is determined to rise above his menial position and control the House of Groan, has his way.

The Gormenghast Novels

Coming soon as a major, lavishly produced TV series, the Gormenghast novels--"Titus Groan, Gormenghast, " and "Titus Alone"--along with Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings, " reign among the undisputed fantasy classics of all time.

Michael Springer

WARNING: The posts below are purely fictional. They never happened, and were not posted by real people. Any similarities to anyone, including myself, are purely your imagination. Even the posts posted by real people were not posted by real people. 

Any similarities between this thread and reality are entirely coincidental. But, that scary picture of the blond guy crying? Oh, that's real. That's so sad, and so real.

Yulande Lindsay

This was a hell of a read. The first two books, Titus Groan and Gormenghast are full of indelible images and some of the most grotesque characters I have ever come across in literature. The simple evil ambitions of the youth Steerpike seems commonplace among the vividly drawn characters of these novels. The Twins and the grandeur of their delusions, their massive retardation...the purple, Irma Prunsquallor the most delusionally pathetic character, Swelter the Cook, gross and murderous, Flay, fanatically loyal, The Countess and her room of birds and white cats, the Thing...and it goes on. Even the titular character, Titus in his treacherous rebellion against the stifling Tradition that rules Gormenghast is the most ordinary of mortals and frankly the least interesting. A fascinating work.

And those scenes...I will never forget that scene between Flay and Swelter as each sought to defeat the other in a duel destined to end in death; the coronation of Titus at two, and his symbolic rejection at that tender age of his destiny; the flooding of Gormenghast and the use of boats to traverse the hallways; the Room of Roots; Barquentines horrific death and the subsequent scarring of his killer; the entirely hilarious courtship of Irma Prunesquallor...amazing.

The third novel...Titus Alone does not have same the impact and admittedly, I raced through it and really, have nothing to say. 

On to the mini-series to see how well this massive work has translated to film.

The Gormenghast Novels

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