Gormenghast

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

So, a friend of mine changed her last name on facebook to 'steerpike' a while ago. I asked her why, she said it was from the Gormenghast novels. Now, I vaguely remembered that being the huuuge thick book on that bookshelf over there, and asked her if it was any good. She said "What do you mean, 'is it good?' READ IT NOOWOWOOWOWOW!"

I read it. I loved it.

Now she wants me to watch the mini-series. It has Christopher Lee, Stephen Fry and Jonathon Rhys Meyers in it, so it should be good.

How much did you all like the book/mini-series?

[Jaros]

I haven't read the books but I remember when the mini-series first came out, I love it. We recorded it and I'm pretty sure we still have it somewhere, I would definitely recommend it.

[Tengu_temp]

The mini-series is different - not bad, just different. It's less grotesque and absurd and has a stronger feeling of wonder and mystery to it. And, of course, there are changes, but that's unavoidable when making a movie out of a book, especially one that relies heavily on narration such as Gormenghast. Overall, I like both, but I prefer the book.

[Thufir]

Saw the mini-series, loved it, read the books, loved them even more.

The mini-series is actually a rather good portrayal though, allowing for the fact they had to cut quite a lot of stuff, and couldn't go into as much depth - most importantly, the characters felt right.

[Aidan305]

Both are good, I remember getting the trilogy for my birthday not long after the mini-series originally came out.

I couldn't, and still can't, get through Titus Alone though. It annoys me.

[Thufir]

I like it, personally. Though it is rather different to the first two books, which does make it feel a bit odd. However, Muzzlehatch is awesome.

[JonestheSpy]

I loved the books, though the third was a huge right turn after the first two. Haven't seen the miniseries but want rto very much.

I think it's also worth mentioning that Gormenghast seems to be one of the most influential-but-unknown-to-the-masses books there is. Piles of SF and fantasy writers have cited Peake's importance to them, Michael Moorcock being near the top of the list.

[factotum]

The first book was unquestionably the best, and the best character in it was Gormenghast itself--the castle stole every scene it appeared in, which was pretty much all of them! I didn't get the same sense of crumbling magnificence and scale in the second book, and the less said about the third the better, really.

[Worira]

First two books were excellent, third was a self-indulgent drug-addled sack of terrible.

[Tengu_temp]

What's so bad about the third book? I only read the first two so I don't know.

[BlueWizard]

At least watch the miniseries.
Early glimpse of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, he is a %^&*ing badass!!

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Yeah, I thought that the shift of focus from how the castle itself shaped everyones lives in the third book was... wierd feeling. I was left wondering how the newly enlightened Titus would fit into Gormenghast again in Titus Awakes, but of course that book was never finished. I think, just having read the book, that Titus Awakes was the book Peake wanted to write when he was writing Titus Alone, but he needed to get his out-of-castle adventures done first.

[JonestheSpy]

Yeah, it's really one of the tragedies of 20th century literature that Peake didn't live to finish the final book.