The Gormenghast Trilogy, by Mervyn Peake

Cafe Society
21

Band name. :wink:

List me as one that couldn’t get through the books, but enjoyed the BBC adaptation quite thoroughly. Sadly, almost all of my friends are of the ‘if there’s not something exciting happening in 15 minutes, I’m going to go do something else’ brand of TV-watchers, so I find it really, really difficult to sell to them.
One point in it’s favor from the slow pacing of action: When action -does- happen, it becomes very important very quickly, which I think is sort-of neat in a pacing perspective.

22

I’m very glad I read the books, but I also have no intention of reading them again. They’re weird like that.

23

Yes, they didn’t. It’s got Christopher Lee and Stephen Fry, among other people, in it.
And I agree with what others have said. Yes, it’s slow-moving, ponderous, and gloomy (at least in places, but definitely not without humor), and yes, that’s kind of the point. And yes, things do eventually happen—violent things.

24

Fun fact about my copy of Titus Groan. I have one of the 1967 paperback versions, and apparently, somebody at some point, uh shot? it with a…a…bow and arrow? All’s I know is that, starting about halfway through the book, there’s a hole that expands in a conical fashion to the approximate width of an arrow. Yes, it affects the text. Yes, I imagine it will be annoying.

I wonder if a previous reader is trying to tell me something. :smiley:

25

Book 1 was excellent. Book 2 was tolerable, but loooooooooooong and tedious. Book 3 sucked, but I read it because dammit, I made it through 1 and 2 …

26

This.

I still have the three on my bookshelf, in a space that can better be used by a work I can actually envision myself reading again. But I cannot more them.

27

I read very nearly to the end of Titus Groan. Stopped maybe 50 pages shy of the end for some reason. I want to finish it, but I imagine I’ll have a hard time picking back up.

Very, very unique piece of writing.

28

The miniseries is on DVD and if you liked the first two books, I highly recommend it. It’s full of fine, British character actors gleefully chewing the scenery, and was my introduction to Johnation Rhys-Meyers, who does a great job as Steerpike.

It’s been a long time since I read the novels; I remember enjoying the first two, but did not finish Titus Alone. Once he left the madness of the castle, I lost interest.

29

This, along with Little, Big, are the classic Edifice Fantasies, where the building is a character itself. Wonderful books. I think the fact that Peake was a visual artist as well, shows in his character descriptions.

Also comes highly recommended by China Miéville, who cites it as a major influence on Perdido Street Station (and it shows)

30

MrDibble - I never looked at “edifice fantasies” as a genre berfore. Hm, interesting. would obviously include The High House by James Stoddardhttp://www.amazon.com/High-House-Aspect-Fantasy/dp/0446606790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257445550&sr=8-1

31

I think the first two books are masterpieces of modern fantasy, the third one, not so much.

I love how he slowly and deliberately builds a richly detailed gothic atmosphere accented with some pretty startling portraits of deeply dysfunctional characters. All of this is time well spent as it gives his main characters deep context for their actions when the plot finally starts developing. It’s well worth sticking with the dense text, IMHO.

And “The Frivolous Cake” is one of my favourite poems. It’s playful, erotic and ominous all at the same time.

32

I think that it should probably be noted that the novella Boy in Darkness is also part of the Gormenghast series, appearing somewhen in Titus’ adolescence.

I actually am not done with the series. In fact, I wish that I could skip to read Titus Alone and Boy in Darkness, because the sci-fi and horror influences, respectively, sound really interesting to explore. I don’t want to skip around though.

33

I guess I’m one of the few people who like the third book. I think the reason most people don’t like it because the style is so different from the first two books. They pick it up expecting a dark Gothic fantasy and instead they get a light science fantasy adventure. I still think its good though, just in a different way from the first two books.

34

It’s pushing 20 years since I read them, but I’d place them right at the top of fantasy novels I’ve picked up. Really exceptional, and as others are saying, very different in style and conception from almost anything else. The character of Flay is one that’s stayed with me - his feud with the cook, or his striding down the stone lanes are really evocative storylines.

Agree with MrDibble that Crowley’s Little Big is very much in the same vein - and equally as important in fantasy lit. They have a very similar feel to them now that I think of it. Also Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun is strongly influenced by Gormenghast in it’s description of Nessus.