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Reviewed by Pinwheel Pearl

To try to explain what Gormenghast is about would take ages, never mind reviewing it. So I suggest you read Caper Plip's excellent entry first.

Basically, each of the three books cover the life of Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of Gormenghast, a place steeped in ritual. The first, Titus Groan, begins with his birth and covers his first year. The second Gormenghast, starts 7 years later and finishes when he is in his late teens. In the third Titus Alone, we see Titus become a young man, and follows directly on from Gormenghast. The trilogy does not make for light reading; yes, it is a fantasy story, but the cunning of another main character, Steerpike, and
the sheer inventiveness make this an epic of Lord of the Rings proportions.

The charting the formative years of the young Earl in the first two books is almost a sub-plot to the escapades of Steerpike. A thoroughly unpleasant character, he enters Gormenghast as a kitchen hand, and slowly makes his way up the ladder to apprentice Master of Ritual. To watch him slowly infiltrate the castle life is painful to read, as you can sense that something terrible will happen, but it makes for a gripping read. His main crime is to take over the senile twins, Titus's aunts. His control over them is a major help to his plans.

Of course, the baddie cannot be allowed to get away with his crimes, among them burning the library of Lord Sepulchrave, Titus's father, using the twins as scapegoats. He gains (or thinks he has gained) the trust of the Groan family, by rescuing them from this terrible fire.
But, without giving away the plot, the family's faithful physician Doctor Prunesqualler, and Countess Gertrude, Titus's mother, begin to get suspicious, and hungry for revenge at the mysterious deaths in Gormenghast. This forms the basis for the second book, just as gripping as the first, if a little bit more difficult to get into. It also introduces the first hint of romance in the book, between Irma, the doctor's sister, and the Headmaster of Gormenghast's school. This supplies much needed life relief from the twisting Steerpike plot.

Unfortunately, and I suspect due to Peake's illness, Titus Alone doesn't keep up the heady momentum. Titus is off travelling, trying to escape his duties and the oppressive ritual of Gormenghast. Interestingly, the older Titus gets, the more sexual the books get.
Here, Titus explores the mystery of women far more fully than I expected, in fact, I found the third book to dwell a little too much on the sexual nature of things, and women's prowess and power over men. On it's own, Titus Alone is still an excellent novel, but as the end of a trilogy, it's a bit of a damp squib. It is also more difficult to get into, as it begins to explore the Matrix> style concept that Gormenghast may only exist in Titus's head. I'd advise you to stick with it, as it is rewarding, and the character of Cheeta gives the novel back its cunning.

Mervyn Peake wanted to continue writing about Gormenghast and I don't doubt that, if he had, the books would have continued to live up to expectations. This trilogy is full of sub-plots, and explores the full range of human emotions, thoughts and feelings to an exhaustive extent. Gormenghast is a feast, and well worth eating.

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