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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
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:
Complicated
I can't even describe how much I loved this book. Peake's use of language was amazing and enthralling and I felt like I was being physically pulled into Gormenghast. Brilliant book.
This is without a doubt one of the best fantasy books I've read in a long time. No epic quests, no magic, no elves or wizards or extended poems. Instead it's relatively slow-moving yet rivetting story of an almost Dickensian nature, taking place entirely within the walls of a castle where tradition and ritual rules everybody's life even when the meaning and reason behind the rules has been forgotten.
I kept asking myself why this book does not resonate well with me despite being well-written. He is a very descriptive writer, at times he goes above and beyond in describing every motion of every character which is a bit redundant, and reading through some of the other reviews have found that boring.
The main problem I found with the book was character motivation, which, especially in fantasy, can be the only thing driving the story forward. The characters have very mundane and base motivations, even if they take the said motivations to extremes they are still driven by greed, wrath, and regret. In more than one case they are not driven at all. The only engaging character in the book is Steerpike and that is exactly because of his resolve and the fact that he acts according to what drives him while every other character seems to live inside his/her own head.
The main problem I found with the book was character motivation, which, especially in fantasy, can be the only thing driving the story forward. The characters have very mundane and base motivations, even if they take the said motivations to extremes they are still driven by greed, wrath, and regret. In more than one case they are not driven at all. The only engaging character in the book is Steerpike and that is exactly because of his resolve and the fact that he acts according to what drives him while every other character seems to live inside his/her own head.