The Gormenghast Trilogy Reading Order

Classics of epic fantasy, Peakes series of Gormenghast novels represents one of the most brilliantly sustained flights o… Classics of epic fantasy, Peakes series of Gormenghast novels represents one of the most brilliantly sustained flights of Gothic imagination. For the first time in years, the first book in this timeless series is available in an individual paperback volume, complete with new packaging. read more

A young earl's future in a sprawling castle could be changed by a feral girl and a cunning servant in this acclaimed got… A young earl's future in a sprawling castle could be changed by a feral girl and a cunning servant in this acclaimed gothic fantasy trilogy's second entry. Titus Groan is seven years old, lord and heir to the crumbling castle Gormenghast. A gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old rituals, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, and death. Steerpike, who began his climb across the roofs when Titus was born, is now ascending the spiral staircase to the heart of the castle, and in his wake lie imprisonment, manipulation, and murder . . . Gormenghast is the second volume in Mervyn Peake's widely acclaimed trilogy, but it is much more than a sequel to Titus Groan—it is an enrichment and deepening of that book. The Gormenghast Trilogy ranks as one of the twentieth century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing. Praise for Gormenghast " Gormenghast is must-read fiction, that's all. You'll finish it with a small spike of regret stabbing at your heart, and a desire to start again at page one the moment the back cover is closed. It's a tale to be cherished for life. This is as good as it gets." —Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Reviews read more

"A startling and unusual creation by an author who had imagination to burn and burn again . . . A feat of storytelling u… "A startling and unusual creation by an author who had imagination to burn and burn again . . . A feat of storytelling unmatched in wit or imagination." — SFF180 The basis for the 2000 BBC series Now in development by Showtime As the novel opens, Titus, lord of Castle Gormenghast, has abdicated his throne. Born and brought to the edge of manhood in the huge, rotting castle, Titus rebels against the age-old ritual of which he is both lord and prisoner and rushes headlong into the world. From that moment forward, he is thrust into a stormy land of a dark imagination, where figures and landscapes loom up with the force and vividness of a dream—or a nightmare. This final installment in the Gormenghast Trilogy is a fantastic triumph—a conquest awash in imagination, terror, and charm. Praise the Gormenghast Trilogy "There is nothing in literature like Mervyn Peake's remarkable Gormenghast novels . . . They were crafted by a master, who was also an artist, and they take us to an ancient castle as big as a city, with heroes and villains and people larger than life that are impossible to forget." —Neil Gaiman "[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 "Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It is a very, very great work." —Robertson Davies, New York Times-bestselling author read more