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The Gormenghast Trilogy
 
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The Gormenghast Trilogy (Paperback)

by Mervyn Peake (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.00
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Frequently Bought Together

The Gormenghast Trilogy + Gormenghast [DVD] [2000] + Neverwhere - The Complete BBC Series [1996] [DVD]
Price For All Three: £20.96

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Product details

  • Paperback: 960 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Classics; New edition edition (4 Oct 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099288893
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099288893
  • Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14.4 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,848 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > P > Peake, Mervyn
    #14 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Classic

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy has grown out of its reputation as a cult classic and into the mainstream of fantasy, as a book no reader interested in Gothic dare to miss. It is one of the most distinctive, absorbing and wonderfully strange books ever written. The story concerns Titus, heir to and afterwards 77th Earl of Groan and his adventures in the sprawling, crumbling castle of Gormenghast. Gormenghast is an entire world and Titus comes to grips with his prime antagonist, the sinister kitchenboy Steerpike, amongst a brilliant profusion of characters and vivid detail. Peake's work is rarely compared with that other great fantasy trilogy to come out of the immediately post-war years, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings but in ways the two works do go together. Although Tolkien is plain and expansive where Peake is elaborate, poetic and inward-looking, both authors nonetheless use a detailed imaginative escapism in order to talk about the concerns of their day--specifically the passing of the old certainties of traditional England and the coming of something new. "'Equality is the great thing', said the sinister Steerpike, pulling the legs off a stag beetle and preparing to take on the whole hierarchy of Gormenghast, 'equality is everything'." This is why the short, surreal oddity of Titus Alone, the third novel, is the best: finally leaving his castle home Titus finds the larger world stranger even than his birthplace.

The new television series, with which this edition ties in, promises great things but the best part of Mervyn Peake is to be found in his ornate, poetic writing; his grasp of the Dickensian oddities of character and the utterly unique atmosphere of the books. --Adam Roberts --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Gormenghast is the vast, crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is lord and heir. Titus is expected to rule this gothic labyrinth of turrets and dungeons, and his eccentric and wayward subjects, according to strict age-old rituals, but things are changing in the castle. Titus must contend with treachery, manipulation and murder as well as his own longing for a life beyond the castle walls.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Gormenghast Trilogy
64% buy the item featured on this page:
The Gormenghast Trilogy 4.4 out of 5 stars (55)
£9.00
Gormenghast [DVD] [2000]
22% buy
Gormenghast [DVD] [2000] 3.9 out of 5 stars (37)
£5.98
Titus Groan (Gormenghast trilogy)
7% buy
Titus Groan (Gormenghast trilogy) 4.2 out of 5 stars (12)
£5.99
Gormenghast (Gormenghast Trilogy (Book Two))
4% buy
Gormenghast (Gormenghast Trilogy (Book Two)) 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.99

 

Customer Reviews

55 Reviews
5 star:
 (34)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (55 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars the few square centimetres inside your head, 1 Nov 2003
Reading this book is like being fully immersed in an utterly fantastic world. The way of life is described in microscopic detail until the existance of a world outside gormenghast becomes unreal. When Titus ventures out of the castle, the world (and indeed our world) by comparison is a pale, washed out image of reality. This is a book with which I have become far more emotionally involved than anything I have read before or since. Every reading feels like a homecoming. Peake's imagery is beautifully, indulgently rich, and the prose has been written with constant precision I defy you to find one single line which does not read like poetry.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars good book, bad edition, 26 Nov 2004
By A Customer
The book itself is excellent, great atmosphere etc. as everyone else has already said...however I give it 4 stars and am writing on here due to the fact that it's absolutely full of printing errors and has a habit of turning phrases like 'a long finger' into 'along finger'.

So if that kind of thing annoys you...just a warning.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic heaven, 26 Oct 2000
By A Customer
There is no other book that I can think of that transported me so completely into its world as The Gormenghast Trilogy. Never before have I been so utterly absorbed by a book (and I've read a lot of books). When I finished it and was singing its praises to my friends, a few people said 'What happens in it then?' to which I found myself replying, 'Well, that doesn't really matter'. Because the thing that makes the Gormenghast books enchanting is the detail, the description, the characters. One of the things that I most loved was that initially, none of the characters seemed to have any redeeming features at all, but as the trilogy progressed, they became more and more complex and started to surprise me. Peake's characters are often compared to those of Dickens, but despite the fantastic setting, they will seem more real and vivid to you than anything Dickens ever wrote.

By the way, the accident in the schoolroom in Vol 2 is one of the funniest things I have ever read, although like everything in the Gormenghast trilogy, it's very, very dark. I can't say that Gormenghast was the most cheerful thing I've ever read, but as soon as I'd finished it, I started straight again.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Fantasy of Manners
I've never read a book that has changed my life, and I am quite sceptical of people who say they have. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Ewan Rayner

5.0 out of 5 stars Gormenghast
This trilogy is one of the greatest achievements in imaginative writing of the 20th century. It is rare to find a book that is truly original and totally unforgettable and this... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Blue Yates

3.0 out of 5 stars A review of this edition - not the story
Poorly edited; this is a shame as it's a fine modern Gothic story. Recommend getting the three books individually instead.
Published 1 month ago by Binro The Heretic

4.0 out of 5 stars Enter the world of Peake
Brilliant .... at least, the first two books. The third is clearly the product of a man rapidly losing his grip. Read more
Published 2 months ago by BikerTrash

3.0 out of 5 stars long and slow, but deep
This book is something i have wanted to read for years, and the trilogy took me a long time to finish. Read more
Published 3 months ago by T. Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic horror never fades
I bought this as a present for my partner. He intended to read the first book and then take a break. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mrs. S. C. Bush

5.0 out of 5 stars Gormenghast
This is quite simply the best book I have ever read. Nothing quite compares. If you are trying to decide whether to read this book, I urge you to do so. Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. Doulton

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinding storytelling
This trilogy will probably strike some readers as very weird, but for me it is one of the best books/series I have ever read. Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. Firth

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Fantasy
I first heard of Gormenghast many many years ago, but didn't pick up a copy and read it, even though I have been reading the Fantasy genre as far back as I can remember. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ibraar Hussain

5.0 out of 5 stars in real life you would want to steer clear of Steerpike.
THINGS YOU WILL FEEL WHEN READING THIS BOOK

whilst reading the book you will have moments of Blisfull Transcendency

whilst reading the book you will fall... Read more
Published 12 months ago by B. J. Crossley

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