A doomed lord, an emergent hero, and an array of bizarre creatures haunt the world of the Gormenghast novels, considered to be some of the greatest fantasy classics of all time. At their center is the seventy-seventh earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom.
In this third volume, Titus turns against the iron discipline of Gormenghast Castle, abdicating his throne and setting forth on an uncertain quest—for himself. His pilgrimage leads to encounters with mysteriously omnipotent police and a battle to the death with Veil, a fearsome ogre with a body like whips and a face that moves "like the shiftings of the gray slime of the pit." In his quest for independence from his legacy, Titus successfully captures the universal struggle to "come of age."
This final installment in the Gormenghast trilogy is a fantastic triumph—a conquest awash in imagination, terror, and charm.
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"I'm not too sure what to make of this. The book rips Titus out of his medieval world and puts him in the realm of mad scientists. But Juno and Muzzlehatch are great characters, even if Titus himself needs a good beating."
— Catherine (4 out of 5 stars)
“[Peake’s books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience.”
— C. S. Lewis“A feat of storytelling unmatched in wit or imagination.”
— SF Reviews“Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly...It is a very, very great work…a classic of our age.”
— Robertson Davies on the Gormenghast trilogy" Gormenghast #3 - waiting to read in sequence "
— Rochelle, 1/12/2014" The last completed Titus Groan book was a little less coherent and polished as the first two. The fantastic language and imagination are still there and it is a pleasure to read - just not quite complete. "
— Rob, 12/27/2013" Book 3 of the Gormenghast Trilogy. A very odd series of books about the biggest castle in the world and it's crazy inhabitants. "
— Ron, 12/8/2013" Interesting and strange as to be expected. "
— Elvira, 10/19/2013" Sadly Mervyn didn't get to finish this book, and it shows. There should be some law against other people finding your half finished manuscripts and publishing them after you've gone. "
— Ktomlins, 9/28/2013" This book is so different from the previous two books. We have the edition that has all 3 books in one volume and, when Mark was reading it, I told him to just skip this one. "
— Merak, 9/27/2013" I envy Peake's imagination although perhaps not his descent into bat shit craziness which is most palpable in the final Gormengast book. Much fun though and his characters are just ace and bizarre. "
— Suzammah, 4/8/2013" One of my favorite Series of books. "
— Jonathan, 4/17/2012" My favorite of the Gormenghast trilogy. Bizarre and beautiful fantasy. I've yet to read anything quite like Peake. He created an entire separate cosmos with Gormenghast. A true original, which is, sadly, very very rare. "
— Ashley, 3/23/2012" First read in 1991. Have read it since and it's still good. "
— Kylie, 3/9/2012" I didn't like this book as much as I liked the first two in the trilogy. I see why the author chose to end the series this way. Just a bit too metaphorical for my taste. "
— Misty, 5/11/2011" First read in 1991. Have read it since and it's still good. "
— Kylie, 3/4/2011" By all means, read "Titus Groan" and "Gormenghast" but skip this one. Apparently it was never meant as a trilogy-ender, nor was it completed to the author's satisfaction--and it shows. "
— Anne, 1/5/2011" It's not really right to tag this as 'read' because I didn't. I tried, I made a good start but I skipped so many chunks of it I have to own up that it wasn't 'finished' at all. <br/>Many people love this so don't take any notice of me, maybe it was just not my kind of book. "
— Lisa, 12/27/2010" Tercer de la trilogia sobre Gormenghast. Diferent als dos primers llibres, més poètic i especial, tot i que no tant espectacular. <br/> "
— Jordi, 10/5/2010" Stick with the first two books as a pair, this one as a weird appendix... "
— Tom, 7/28/2009Mervyn Laurence Peake (1911–1968) is an author best known for his Gormenghast fantasy fiction trilogy. He also published illustrated verse and short stories for children, plays, short stories, and novels. He was awarded the W. H. Heinemann Foundation Prize by the Royal Society of Literature in 1950. He was born and raised in China until the age of eleven. He went on to study at the Royal Academy School in London, where he developed as an artist, designer, and writer. He worked as an artist on the island of Sark for several years and then returned to London to hold several exhibitions of his artwork.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.