Weird fiction

[adam]

Screw that. I love all three Gormenghast books. They are in my top five all time works of fiction. They're freaking brilliant. His health was in decline by the end of the third one, and I suppose it shows, but I still think it's a bloody good book. I'd get into more detail, but, you know....spoilers.

They are a difficult read. Very dense descriptions. But if you can manage (my brother, for example, couldn't), they are very much worth the effort.

You can get all three books in one massive volume these days. His illustrations are great, too. Mervyn Peake illustrated a version of the Alice books I used to have that was great, too.

They centre about the castle that's utterly massive and nearly entirely autonomous. Every aspect of the castle life is governed by ritual. The series starts with the 77th Earl's birth, and progresses through his....well, I'll just leave it there. Most memorable characters ever. Fantastic book, very melancholy. No magic or anything like that.