A review by thefiendslibrary
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

4.0

Titus Groan was one of the most interesting reading experiences I have had in a long time. I am normally a fan of overly fancy prose, but I still went into this 1940's fantasy classic afraid that I wouldn't enjoy it because of Peake's legendary verbosity. However, I was pleased to find that although the text is indeed more than a mouthful, the characters and descriptions are so poignant and wonderfuly constructed that, even during mundane scenes, I often amused myself by studying how Peake chose to portray an event from a given perspective.

The plot is fairly glacial, and admittedly not a lot really happens in this first book of the Gormenghast series. This doesn't bother me too much because I do like a slow burn, and the presentation of major events (when they finally arrive) is executed in such incredible fashion that several scenes have likely been seared into my memory forever.