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gardalf 's review for:
The Gormenghast Trilogy: Titus Groan/Gormenghast/Titus Alone
by Mervyn Peake
(spoliers) Having started this around 20 years ago and got half way through the first book before getting bored, it had been hanging over my head as the one book I had to finish. A couple of years ago I finished the first book and it took so much out of me I couldn't carry on to the second at the time. What motivated me to return was reading a review that explained that at some point Titus leaves the medieval castle setting and travels to a place where a modern city exists. This sci-fi element appealed to me such that I thought I would give it a go. However the city was not what I imagined and coming in the third book I had to wait a while. Whilst this seemed frustrating at points it actually meant I had to read the second book and this is probably where I got most enjoyment from the series as part of my committing to read the rest of the series was the promise to give the books a chance, and to treat the some-times over descriptive passages as like Tolkien and in so doing, stop looking for too much of a plot. This seemed to work as an approach as I grew into enjoying the descriptions and actually came to appreciate the subtleties of the plot more.
The books themselves made me think of a variety of things, at times it felt like a microcosm of Game of Thrones crossed with Animal Farm (that in the third book became more 1984 due to a change to the more urban setting, or even Brave New World), and some of the fantastical characters made me think of a gothic Dickens. Overall I struggled between a three star and a four star because I feel that the immense effort it took to get through detracted from my enjoyment, underlined by the sense of relief I felt when I'd finished them. However if I had begun to read this for the first time a month ago it may have been a four star as my personal relation to the book would not have been so dominant in my experience of the story. However there may be a certain irony in the fact the I have felt the weight of Gormenghast bearing down on me for such a long period of time, that in some sense makes it a more appropriate experience to relate to Titus' own experience of the oppressive load of his heritage. Well at least now I am free of Gormenghast!
The books themselves made me think of a variety of things, at times it felt like a microcosm of Game of Thrones crossed with Animal Farm (that in the third book became more 1984 due to a change to the more urban setting, or even Brave New World), and some of the fantastical characters made me think of a gothic Dickens. Overall I struggled between a three star and a four star because I feel that the immense effort it took to get through detracted from my enjoyment, underlined by the sense of relief I felt when I'd finished them. However if I had begun to read this for the first time a month ago it may have been a four star as my personal relation to the book would not have been so dominant in my experience of the story. However there may be a certain irony in the fact the I have felt the weight of Gormenghast bearing down on me for such a long period of time, that in some sense makes it a more appropriate experience to relate to Titus' own experience of the oppressive load of his heritage. Well at least now I am free of Gormenghast!