Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast is the vast crumbling castle to which the 77th Earl, Titus Groan, is lord and heir. Gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old ritual.

The Gormenghast Trilogy

Michael Springer

(Update: After reading this book last year, I chose to give it 4 stars, my argument being that I was detracting one star for the slow pacing. Then at the beginning of 2010, I determined that Gormenghast was #2 on my "10 Goodest Reads From 2009" list. (China Mieville's The Scar came in #1.) So, umm, I'm retroactively giving this'n five stars, because I was clearly on crack when I didn't give it 5 before. Below is the review of the book, which hasn't been changed.) 


At Gormenghast castle--a castle so sprawling and gargantuan that huge sections have fallen into disrepair and been forgotten entirely; a castle where the Queen wanders the halls silently with hundreds of white cats following her; a castle where everyone (almost everyone) follows rituals so old that none know their meaning any longer; a castle where teachers sleep through class periods while students invent dangerous games and hide the bodies of any children that die during them--Titus Groan is growing up. He's to be the king of Gormenghast, but he quickly grows to detest the meaningless rituals that infect his every day. 

As Titus rebels against his station, Steerpike continues his political ascent. And, unlike most villains, Steerpike changes in very unpleasant ways as he continues to sacrifice his scruples for greater power. By the end of this book, the bizarre upstart from the first novel has become quite a frightening figure. 

The Gormenghast trilogy is something very unique in fantasy. It has all the originality one could want from a fantasy world. And it is truly character-driven. Although the characters feel at first like funhouse mirror distortions of real people (in large part due to their farcical names and often distorted physical features), they begin to feel much more real as the book progresses. 

Also, the story is amazing. Although it would be impossible to predict what was going to happen early on, everything fits together and seems inevitable when looking back after it's all over. It's epic; it's sad; it's hilarious; it's entirely original, and the writing is often amazing. It's an understatement to say Mervyn Peake has a way with words. 

One of the faults I see isn't really that much of a fault, and more just a comment: one particular side-plot absorbs much of the first half of the book. In the end, this side-plot doesn't seem necessary. But, that part of the story provides a humorous diversion from the gloomy main storyline, where bodies are piling up and characters are not so very happy. My one complaint is the pace of the book. This book is, like Titus Groan, quite slow. And, again, I noticed the slowness at the time I should most NOT be noticing it: when suspense was building for the climax. The climax took forever. 

This book is very close to five stars. But, since it suffers from the same fault as the first novel, I'm witholding one star. And I'm curious to see what happens in the final volume of the trilogy, especially with all of the changes that happened in Gormenghast. I'll definitely be finishing this series soon.

Rose Stanley

** spoiler alert **
           Excellent descriptive passages, joyously creepy and macabre, some fantastic characters. Third book lets the trilogy down, msotly due to lack of Steerpike!

The Gormenghast Trilogy

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