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I had no idea that the world of Gormenghast existed. Quite how I managed to get to my age without ever hearing about it seems a literary crime. It, and writer Mervyn Peake, should be more well-known today than they are. It seems that our parents’ generation did not pass on their appreciation of him.
Peake has created a world arguable as detailed as that of Tolkein for his Gormenghast trilogy. Okay, he stopped short of inventing languages, but no one uses Tolkein’s anyway. The world of Gormenghast ...more
Peake has created a world arguable as detailed as that of Tolkein for his Gormenghast trilogy. Okay, he stopped short of inventing languages, but no one uses Tolkein’s anyway. The world of Gormenghast ...more
I've championed Mervyn Peake for a long time, but really, if you've not read him, you should. This, the first of three novels set around the massive, rotting castle Gormenghast focuses on the events surrounding the birth of the 77th earl of said castle, Titus. It's equal parts Poe, Dickens, and Shakespeare. For some reason, it's often compared to Tolkien, if only because it was published around the same time (eight years before, actually) and was probably incredibly hard to classify at the time.
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There's a definite magic that happens when you read a book at the right time in your life. I first tried to read this book about 10 years ago, but I wasn't ready for the complexity of the phrasing or the advanced vocabulary. When I picked it up again this year, I was nervous that it would still feel as impenetrable as it did last time, but thankfully, I've changed a lot in the last ten years.
It's hard to describe this book--it's fantasy, but nothing fantastical happens (no magic, no dragons). It ...more
It's hard to describe this book--it's fantasy, but nothing fantastical happens (no magic, no dragons). It ...more
It's really good, but holy cow is it ever long. Peake can take 4 pages to tell you "nothing happened". I'm not sure if I'm ready to read the rest of the trilogy yet, perhaps I will pound back some shorter works to freshen my attention span first.
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Apr 17, 2008
Dracolibris
marked it as to-read
Aug 20, 2009
Vesra (When She Reads)
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Oct 21, 2010
Deedee
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Apr 04, 2012
Sonja
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Nov 24, 2012
Luke
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Jul 16, 2013
Cheryl
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Jul 24, 2013
Michaela
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Jul 21, 2014
Andrei Rybin
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Dec 09, 2016
Jackie Plage
marked it as to-read
Jun 10, 2017
Maryanne
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Jan 21, 2018
Diana
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Apr 20, 2020
Kirsten
marked it as to-read
Nov 03, 2021
Zac
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review of another edition
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Mar 17, 2023
Maeve
marked it as to-read-1001-book
