Titus Alone

Peake's own unique style and gift with language are still present here, as are some interesting new characters. Titus is a young man now, seeking his identity while exploring a new world, previously unknown to him. It is amazing that Peake maintained such an original vision for all 3 of these books, and that his beautiful pictures with words are never diminished. Perhaps because of the consistent quality and style, the effect and freshness of the language and characters are somewhat diminished by this third book. It may have been approaching too much of a good thing. It's hard to find any fault with such an achievement as these books, however, which I have so far found nothing to compare to in the science fiction/fantasy genre. Like them or not, these books largely created their own genre, and are a rewarding reading experience.

While this review isn't for this particular edition of the book, I thought it best belongs here, as a review of the third novel itself: Firstly, I was surprised that no one else had corrected the notion (that even the product review implies!) that this book is the final installment to a trilogy: it is not. It is simply the third book in a projected series about Titus, and the novel in which the focus shifts from the world of Titus's childhood (Gormenghast) into Peake's broader fantasy world. So, if you loved the first two books because of the world of Gormenghast, be warned that this book is different. This is the story of Titus going out into the wider word, a definite a coming of age story (closing line of the third-to-last paragraph: "He had grown up. What a boy had set out to find a man had found, found by the act of living.") and the story of what happens to someone when they leave a place like Gormenghast behind completely (even to the point of other people being thoroughly ignorant of its existence). It is not a particularly structured novel, but I think that its crazy meanderings, beautiful writing and marvelous characters (especially Muzzlehatch) are its greatest strengths. It reminds me of nothing so much as Petronius's Satyricon, and contains all at once a heart-breaking sadness, a horrifying picture of the dangers of the modern world and deliciously bizarre humor. It's not a book for everyone, especially people who are caught up in the neat story of Gormenghast in the first two novels, but I have a great respect and deep love for this book. A perhaps challenging read but one infinitely rewarding that will engage the imagination and the mind.

To my knowlege, the only thing ever written in the English language that even comes close is Shakespeare's latter plays. For characterization, plot, description, humor, pathos and sheer gothic intensity and wonder, Peake's Gormenghast trilogy may be without parallel in all of human literature. Read it and find out what the English language is capable of.

I enjoyed this book very much but it IS rather different from the preceding novels (Titus Groan, Gormenghast), which are really complete as a pair. Though related it is not necessary to have read them in order to follow the action of this story.Young Titus Groan, Lord of Gormenghast after his Father's assassination and the death of the villainous Steerforth, decides to set out to see something of the world beyond the eccentric traditions of his decayed and moribund realm. He finds a decaying and eccentric city, where he makes some allies as he becomes a nine-days wonder.Peake excelled at depiction of a monstrous and decaying world filled with wierd eccentrics. If you like that kind of thing, you'll love this book!

It is a serious mistake to discount Titus Alone as merely the weakest of Peake's magnificent trilogy. It is an expansion and development of his earlier themes, and considering the circumstances under which it was written (Peake was suffering from premature senility that eventually lead to his death, he could barely lift a pencil.) it is an extraordinary and painful novel. Leaving Gormenghast and its (surviving) inhabitants behind, the novel centres on the character of Titus, and crucially puts the earlier novels in context. Despite his mother's warnings at the end of Gormenghast, there is indeed a world beyond the walls, and a world which has progressed beyond the ritual and claustrophobia of the castle itself. There is technology here. And - most extraordinary of all - no one has ever heard of Gormenghast itself. Suddenly Titus is accused of insanity (among other things) and even begins to doubt the existence of his home himself. As disturbing and beautiful as anything that went before, Titus Alone was never meant to be the end of the series. Peake was planning to take Titus even further afield, but as merely a glimpse of the outside world, the novel is an essential part of an extraordinary work of literature.