Monk's review

Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy, 1)
by Mervyn Peake

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39063.Titus_Groan?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Titus Groan (Gormenghast Trilogy, 1)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1169251311m/39063.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39063.Titus_Groan?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Titus Groan</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22018.Mervyn_Peake">Mervyn Peake</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9514635?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars OK, it's done, this book took me several months to finally see through to resolution. But, it's done now and the book has taken it's place upon my shelf.
 
 I am not certain when I will read its two following books - it seems a terrible waste not to as the first book is a very, very elaborate setup for the next book (and presumably the third) although I"m told you can probably stop at book two. The world of Gormenghast Castle is intriguing and vivid, but I do blanch at the though of a book in which it takes two hours to work through seventy pages.
 
 I give this book high marks for use of the English language - but there are points in which the flowery description can stand in the way of the narrative. The way that Peake presents the story is indicative of the era he wrote during (in which Tolkien was a contemporary), which has both its rewards and its frustrations. He joins the ranks of Tolkien and Mieville in the fact that every couple of sentences, you're left guessing at the context of some long forgotten seven-syllable word and searching out a dictionary to work out its meaning. I learned the word Octogenarian.
 
 The story itself is really no more than a primer, a means of introducing the members of the great Gormenghast estate. The grotesques which make up the seemingly endless and winding halls of Gormenghast are great and varied, and their motivations are just as varied. There is no setmain character of substance in this book, though by the end of it you know who will be the focus of the remainder of the story. Titus Groan, the seventy-seventh Earl of Gormenghast (for whom the book is named despite his lack of doing very much since he's a baby), is set up to be the focus of the remaining work, though all that comes during this point I imagine will be vital to the continuing story.
 
 I advise this book to those who have a love of English the way it used to be. People don't write like this anymore - this is both good and bad for reasons stated above. It's very gothic and brooding as well for those of a similar bent, and has more than enough meat on its bones to be worth an investigation - should you be able to cut through the vocabulary.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/286714?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Monk's review
rating:

bookshelves: fantasy, world_builders
status: Read in March, 2008

OK, it's done, this book took me several months to finally see through to resolution. But, it's done now and the book has taken it's place upon my shelf.

I am not certain when I will read its two following books - it seems a terrible waste not to as the first book is a very, very elaborate setup for the next book (and presumably the third) although I"m told you can probably stop at book two. The world of Gormenghast Castle is intriguing and vivid, but I do blanch at the though of a book in which it takes two hours to work through seventy pages.

I give this book high marks for use of the English language - but there are points in which the flowery description can stand in the way of the narrative. The way that Peake presents the story is indicative of the era he wrote during (in which Tolkien was a contemporary), which has both its rewards and its frustrations. He joins the ranks of Tolkien and Mieville in the fact that every couple of sentences, you're left gue...more OK, it's done, this book took me several months to finally see through to resolution. But, it's done now and the book has taken it's place upon my shelf.

I am not certain when I will read its two following books - it seems a terrible waste not to as the first book is a very, very elaborate setup for the next book (and presumably the third) although I"m told you can probably stop at book two. The world of Gormenghast Castle is intriguing and vivid, but I do blanch at the though of a book in which it takes two hours to work through seventy pages.

I give this book high marks for use of the English language - but there are points in which the flowery description can stand in the way of the narrative. The way that Peake presents the story is indicative of the era he wrote during (in which Tolkien was a contemporary), which has both its rewards and its frustrations. He joins the ranks of Tolkien and Mieville in the fact that every couple of sentences, you're left guessing at the context of some long forgotten seven-syllable word and searching out a dictionary to work out its meaning. I learned the word Octogenarian.

The story itself is really no more than a primer, a means of introducing the members of the great Gormenghast estate. The grotesques which make up the seemingly endless and winding halls of Gormenghast are great and varied, and their motivations are just as varied. There is no setmain character of substance in this book, though by the end of it you know who will be the focus of the remainder of the story. Titus Groan, the seventy-seventh Earl of Gormenghast (for whom the book is named despite his lack of doing very much since he's a baby), is set up to be the focus of the remaining work, though all that comes during this point I imagine will be vital to the continuing story.

I advise this book to those who have a love of English the way it used to be. People don't write like this anymore - this is both good and bad for reasons stated above. It's very gothic and brooding as well for those of a similar bent, and has more than enough meat on its bones to be worth an investigation - should you be able to cut through the vocabulary....less

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