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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
slow-paced
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My journey through the Gormenghast trilogy continues with the eponymous entry in the series; Gormenghast. I don’t read many series’ but writing a sequel is never an easy task. Too often authors are hung up on recreating the magic of the original, in doing so failing to offer anything new or exciting.
I’m happy to say that Gormenghast is a success of a sequel, one that in many ways I like more than the initial entry; Titus Groan. What I loved about Titus Groan was the atmosphere. While the limited plot of that novel was one of its weaker parts, I found that the descriptions and prose overall made up for any malaise. Here in Gormenghast we still have all these great descriptions but they are now supplemented with a more robust story.
While we have many return characters in this novel, we also have many new ones who bring with them their own plotlines. There are many major and minor plotlines you follow throughout this book, leading to its longer page count.
The main narrative here follows Titus Groan. Years have passed since the events of the first book and now we get to explore the boyhood and youth of Titus. Much of this is pretty typical of a coming of age story but the way in which Mervyn Peake writes it makes up for any banality.
Titus wishes to forgo his destiny. He does not want to become the ruler of Gormenghast but rather explore the vast world outside the castle, living a life without expectation. Due to this, we get to see a lot more of the world beyond the castle walls in this book which really helps expand the world.
Beyond seeing the world outside of Gormenghast, we also get to see more of life within the castle. Since Titus is of school age we get to see what the school of Gormenghast is like, spending a lot of time learning about the different professors.
One of the more interesting plotlines in this book is Irma Prunesquallor’s search for a husband. The sister of the doctor sends out invitations to all of the professors at the school to attend a dinner party. I was not expecting a plotline akin to watching an episode of The Bachelorette to commence while reading this fantasy novel from 1950.
This book also continues the dark and dramatic themes of the first, increasing their prevalence. To avoid spoiling one of the main plots, a lot more death comes about in this book. There are many gruesome and dramatic deaths described here, enhancing the atmosphere of Gormenghast.
There are also some new, more surreal and magical elements. They aren’t prominent but help color this world, adding mystery and intrigue to what is going on. These are some of the highlights of this book as it hints at what this world is capable of. Still, most of the time Gormenghast feels like a relatively grounded world not too far from the experiences of am actual medieval castle of England or France.
I didn’t mention in my review of Titus Groan but I sensed many similarities to later fantasy works such as Harry Potter or Redwall, these similarities feel even more apparent here in Gormenghast, with more of an emphasis on the school and dramatics of castle life you can definitely see how these series took inspiration from Gormenghast.
While a slow and at times arduous experience, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time reading this series. I’m excited to see how it concludes.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Just couldn't get into the story at all. The thing it most reminded me of, in a vague way, was [b:The Silmarillion|7332|The Silmarillion|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1565193934l/7332._SX50_.jpg|4733799]. Both felt overly wordy; but unlike The Silmarillion, I have no other experiences with Gormenghast to make me want to keep trying with it.
Depending on your level of tolerance for Peake's style, you either think it's a stone cold masterpiece or give up about 60 pages in, as I have learnt to my chagrin over many years of attempting to force people to read this book. It is a stone cold masterpiece.