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Review by Emma Short on July 22nd, 2010
Titus Groan:
This book has two main plot arcs. The first is following the upbringing of Titus Groan, who is born at the beginning of this book and is soon to become the new earl of Gormenghast, the castle in which the book is set. The second is following Steerpike, the anti-hero of the book, who spends most of his time manipulating various people to gain power within the castle.
Gormenghast itself is a castle, but is treated in the book as a kind of society in itself, making everything seem very enclosed. I like this about the book - since the characters and scenery is limited to - mostly - within the castle, the characters are developed to such a point you can predict how they will speak, or react to the upcoming events. This book is fantasy, and all the characters are described in such a way as to make me think they are not human in some way, although they are.
Quite a lot happens in this book, reading the Wikipedia article on it, although in my head most of the plot developments happened in Book Two. This book ends with Titus becoming Earl of Gormenghast. The plot with Steerpike develops considerably throughout the book, but not enough for me to feel I have read a satisfying novel.
Gormenghast:
Second book in the series, this follows Titus as he goes through school, and Steerpike continues his malevolent quest for power.
The way this book is written is exactly the same as the first, with the same cosy feeling that there is not much outside the walls of Gormenghast save a forest and some poor families of dwellers. This book is better, though, as the all the stories that began in Titus Groan are coming to a climax. This book and Titus Groan together are a brilliant series.
Titus Alone:
I was warned before I read this that it was very different from the previous two. I tried to go into it with an open mind but was still very aware that this book probably wasn't going to be as good.
It begins with Titus leaving the castle to start a life in a city, that is similar in fashion to what Steampunk would become sometime after this book was written. I love steampunk, but it isn't at all in keeping with the gothic feeling of the first 2 books, and made Titus so hard to relate to from what I knew of him before that I couldn't get into the book at all.
I stopped reading this book about 2 chapters in. The plan was apparently for Mervyn Peake to write a whole series of books spanning Titus' life, but on writing this 3rd book he became mentally ill, so I will excuse this last book being of the (low) quality it is :P Still, I recommend Titus Groan and Gormenghast highly.
This series gets a 6, but only due to Titus Alone.
Emma Short