Titus Alone - Mervyn Peake

Written by Mervyn Peake
Read by Richard Matthews / Simon Vance
Format: MP3
Unabridged

Titus Alone (Book three of Gormenghast Trilogy)
Mervyn Peake (Author)
Robert Whitfield (Narrator)

Description
With Overlook’s new single-volume republication of Mervyn Peake’s timeless Gormenghast novels in individual volumes, readers everywhere have embraced Titus Groan all over again. Peake’s trilogy is an undisputed classic of epic fantasy, and finally Titus Alone, the final volume in the series, is available again.
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 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.
Amazon.com Review
Mervyn Peake’s gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy, begins with the superlative Titus Groan, a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle. The Gormenghast royal family, the castle’s decidedly eccentric staff, and the peasant artisans living around the dreary, crumbling structure make up the cast of characters in this engrossing story. Peake’s command of language and unique style set the tone and shape of an intricate, slow-moving world of ritual and stasis:
The walls of the vast room which were streaming with calid moisture, were built with gray slabs of stone and were the personal concern of a company of eighteen men known as the ‘Grey Scrubbers’…. On every day of the year from three hours before daybreak until about eleven o’clock, when the scaffolding and ladders became a hindrance to the cooks, the Grey Scrubbers fulfilled their hereditary calling.
Peake has been compared to Dickens, Tolkien, and Peacock, but Titus Groan is truly unique. Unforgettable characters with names like Steerpike and Prunesquallor make their way through an architecturally stifling world, with lots of dark corners around to dampen any whimsy that might arise. This true classic is a feast of words unlike anything else in the world of fantasy. Those who explore Gormenghast castle will be richly rewarded. –Therese Littleton

***
Thanks to anonamouse, this is a reshare