Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by daviddavidkatzman
Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
2.0
Book 3 in the Gormenghast series takes the story in an unexpected direction, and one that I felt was not nearly as successful as the first two books. This review is not a spoiler for Titus Alone, but because it is book 3, it is generally a spoiler for the first two books in the series, so I don’t recommend reading this if you have any interest in books 1 and 2, which I reviewed here.
One of the intriguing and compelling aspects of Books 1 and 2 that made it feel so dark and claustrophobic was the enclosed and isolated nature of the kingdom of Gormenghast. Book 3 takes the Earl to-be Titus Groan, as a youth (teenager it would seem), and sends him out in the wide world. He essentially runs away from home. His reason being that he doesn’t want to be defined and ruled by the rituals of Gormenghast and expectations of his royal position. He’s also rather torn up by the death of his sister. Unfortunately, he’s a bit of an idiot. He basically runs away…with nothing. He’s a homeless teen traveling from city to city most of which are hostile to random homeless teens from unknown cities.
The original Gormenghast world seemed to exist in medieval times. There was no technology beyond swords and books. Yet here in the third book, Titus encounters cars and airplanes of some strange sort. It seems as if Gormenghast was so isolated it had no contact with the greater world, which doesn’t really make much sense in any logical way…it’s not on an island or deep in a jungle. Why it would be so separated is never explained.
Titus is not only a bit of an idiot, but he’s also an impulsive teenage jerk. He’s not very likable and his decision-making skills are quite poor. He is repeatedly caught by the law, women seem to fall for him, and he rejects them due to his self-justified wanderlust and a sense of royal entitlement. Because he was born to rule a kingdom, he has a degree of relatively undeserving self-confidence that seems to draw romantic interest from women.
Titus Alone features a panoply of odd characters just as the first two books do, but unfortunately we never become invested in them in the way we do in the first two parts of the series. They seem less comprehensible and somehow…irrelevant. In fact, they are strange in some ways that seemed too similar to the characters from the first two parts of the series…making them feel derivative. His style at this point has become a bit formulaic. Still uniquely his style…I’ve never read any other author with his techniques, but at this point he's imitating himself too much. The peculiarities also worked much better for me when they arose in the isolated world of Gormenghast. I can imagine how such quirks could arise in a very isolated place, but in the outer world they begin to feel contrived.
The writing is still quite fine overall. Peake has a poetic craft with prose that can’t be denied. Unfortunately, the story here feels unnecessary. I’m glad that I read it…out of a sense of completism and curiosity. But it failed to stand up to the value of Books 1 and 2 in the Gormenghast series. I’m going to reiterate that I highly recommend the first two parts, but Book 3 is an unnecessary read.
One of the intriguing and compelling aspects of Books 1 and 2 that made it feel so dark and claustrophobic was the enclosed and isolated nature of the kingdom of Gormenghast. Book 3 takes the Earl to-be Titus Groan, as a youth (teenager it would seem), and sends him out in the wide world. He essentially runs away from home. His reason being that he doesn’t want to be defined and ruled by the rituals of Gormenghast and expectations of his royal position. He’s also rather torn up by the death of his sister. Unfortunately, he’s a bit of an idiot. He basically runs away…with nothing. He’s a homeless teen traveling from city to city most of which are hostile to random homeless teens from unknown cities.
The original Gormenghast world seemed to exist in medieval times. There was no technology beyond swords and books. Yet here in the third book, Titus encounters cars and airplanes of some strange sort. It seems as if Gormenghast was so isolated it had no contact with the greater world, which doesn’t really make much sense in any logical way…it’s not on an island or deep in a jungle. Why it would be so separated is never explained.
Titus is not only a bit of an idiot, but he’s also an impulsive teenage jerk. He’s not very likable and his decision-making skills are quite poor. He is repeatedly caught by the law, women seem to fall for him, and he rejects them due to his self-justified wanderlust and a sense of royal entitlement. Because he was born to rule a kingdom, he has a degree of relatively undeserving self-confidence that seems to draw romantic interest from women.
Titus Alone features a panoply of odd characters just as the first two books do, but unfortunately we never become invested in them in the way we do in the first two parts of the series. They seem less comprehensible and somehow…irrelevant. In fact, they are strange in some ways that seemed too similar to the characters from the first two parts of the series…making them feel derivative. His style at this point has become a bit formulaic. Still uniquely his style…I’ve never read any other author with his techniques, but at this point he's imitating himself too much. The peculiarities also worked much better for me when they arose in the isolated world of Gormenghast. I can imagine how such quirks could arise in a very isolated place, but in the outer world they begin to feel contrived.
The writing is still quite fine overall. Peake has a poetic craft with prose that can’t be denied. Unfortunately, the story here feels unnecessary. I’m glad that I read it…out of a sense of completism and curiosity. But it failed to stand up to the value of Books 1 and 2 in the Gormenghast series. I’m going to reiterate that I highly recommend the first two parts, but Book 3 is an unnecessary read.