A review by cruelspirit
Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Titus Alone is the third and final entry in the Gormenghast trilogy. Released nearly a decade after the previous book it takes a sharp turn in presentation and scope. While doing so it also still offers much of Peake's iconic style. I’m ultimately conflicted in my perception of this final entry but think writing it off wholesale would be a disservice to Peake and this series.

This final book is different in many ways. It is nearly half the length of each of the previous two entries and offers short chapters rarely pushing past a page or two. Personally, these brief chapter books have never been a favorite of mine. This style often gives me very little to latch on to and can drive focus away from the narrative, especially when it jumps from character and perspective so often. This is probably the main reason I am rating this so low but that is not to say that this book doesn’t offer many other great elements. 

While short, it still does offer the lavish prose that Peake made a name for in the previous books. In many ways this is still a quintessential Gormenghast book, even if in just as many ways it is not. The changes aren’t all bad. I really liked some of the more expansive ideas that push the narrative and world of Gormenghast beyond that of the first two books. 

In the first two books Gormenghast stood as a solid fixture of the world. The ancient and omnipresent setting of the dramatics of its inhabitants. In Titus Alone we remove all of that pretense. Titus truly is alone as he enters a modern world of mid 20th century technology. No one has heard of Gormenghast and he is seen as an insane outsider. This is a really interesting turn in the series and one I think I would enjoy more if this wasn’t the final book. I think it is a bizarre shift and one that offers a lot of contemplation. The surreal nature has an almost inverse Alice in Wonderland take as Titus is a fantastical being entering a more contemporary society. I enjoyed this more in the first half, exploring the mystery of why he was here but as the story continued and new characters were introduced I started to lose interest.

For the flaws I found, I did enjoy the ending. I think it is a great way to show the growing into adulthood and venturing out into the world. It wraps up the series nicely but I do wish more could have been explored in further entries. This is where the actual real world takes its influence on the narrative as Peake was in declining health and could not continue the series further. A lot of people blame this drastic narrative shift on Peake’s mental state but I think that is too dismissive of the ideas explored here and it is clear that while not the same he still was capable of writing amazing passages akin to those found in the earlier entries. 

Having finished the series. I’m amazed with what was accomplished here as a whole. I will be rereading these books in the years to come and I hope on returning to this entry I can find more in its intentions. On initial read, this work is in such stark contrast to the rest of the series that it’s hard not to be devoted mainly to those elements of the book.