Gormenghast
by Mervyn Peake · first published 1950
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Praised for lush, distinctive prose and vivid scene description, with an odd, gothic, almost-fantasy setting. Suits readers who enjoy dense, richly written language and don't mind a demanding, idiosyncratic style.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Titus Groan is seven, Lord and heir to the crumbling castle Gormenghast. A gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old rituals, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, and death. Steerpike, who began his climb across the roofs when Titus was born, is now ascending the spiral stairacse to the heart of the castle, and in his wake lie imprisonment, manipulation, and murder"--P. [4] of cover.
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+1 for the First Law books. The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey are great. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake The first 6 books in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan are very enjoyable. EDIT: The Bas-Lag books by China Miéville are wonderful.
on “Entitlement issues (2009)” ↗I was talking to a very intelligent Chinese friend of mine who was struggling to describe scenes in English. My first thought was "Gee, maybe he should memorise passages from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, since that has some of the best scene descriptions I have ever read". No shortage of students like that. You can imagine my hopeful start at seeing Peake's name on the list at the start of this…
on “Class of 2019: artists and writers whose works have entered the public domain” ↗…sci-fi section has some genuinely horrible recommendations in it. Also given that it's supposed to be a mind-expanding list, throw in Blindsight by Peter Watts. The fantasy section needs Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. (and throw Harry Potter out) Sexual Personae by Paglia deserves to be named in the Gender/sexuality section. And an off-beat recommendation. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is a truly smart book…
on “Mind-expanding books” ↗Mervyn Peake writes very nice English prose that I think you might enjoy. See his Gormenghast series (Titus Groan, Gormenghast, Titus Alone). It's sort-of-fantasy but not really (no magic, no non-humans).
on “Middle-earth according to Mordor - The Lord of the Rings retold” ↗…you're surely aware, in 1966, Pynchon was still only 29 (an incredible fact, at least to me), so that might explain the lack of subtlety. Another great namer was Mervyn Peake, author of the fabulous "Gormenghast" series. From it, we have: Lord Sepulchrave Groan Fuschia Groan Titus Groan Steerpike Swelter, the enormous chef Dr. Alfred Prunesquallor Mr. Flay ...and too many more to mention. Any lovers of…
on “What Kind of Name Is That? How to Name Fictional Characters” ↗…generalized into a trend. In direct opposition to your experience, I've recently started to actually read books, instead of just skimming them for the story. The balance was tipped by the first book of the Gormenghast trilogy "Titus Groan" by Mervyn Peake... really wonderful prose.
on “Why can't we concentrate?” ↗Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (first part of the Gormenghast trilogy), because of the wonderful flowing prose. The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche, because once I truly understood the full text of aphorism 125 (The Madman, with the famous line 'God is dead'),…
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗…never been able to finish it. The repetitiveness bored me out of my skull. It's on the stack of unfinished books with, among others, On the Road (by Kerouac) and Catch-22 (by Heller). I'd rather re-read Gormenghast (by Peake), The Plague (by Camus) or any book by Marukami.
on “Programming books I have read and somewhat liked” ↗…favorite novel. Bloom notoriously hated most fantasy novels - the Harry Potter series in particular - so that's a noticeable endorsement. For an older fantasy series, you could also try Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (starts with Titus Groan), which actually predates the Lord of the Rings and has a crowd that thinks it's better written. I think Neil Gaiman has worked on a TV series adaptation.
on “Ask HN: I only read tech/business books – recommend me some fiction?” ↗I always thought the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake broke these rules wonderfully. The amount of stuff I had to look up in the dictionary..
on “Write Simply” ↗Piffle. I myself use many of these words on a daily basis. Seriously though if you want a read something by an author who really went for it and used maybe 75-85% of this list, get a copy of the Gormenghast series of books by Mervyn Peake. Just don’t come blaming me afterwards that you lost a chunk of your time.
on “Word Warriors' "Words that deserve wider use"” ↗Other difficult books, in a somewhat increasing order of difficulty: 0) The autumn of the patriarch, by Marquez 1) Gormenghast series, by Mervyn Peake 2) The third period of Henry James (The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl). 3) The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch I do suggest trying Gormenghast, it's…
on “Seven great but notoriously hard-to-finish books” ↗…more often associated with poetry. Also very obscure for a long time, though easily bought now: Mervyn Peake's self-illustrated children's book "Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor". From the author of Gormenghast, but frankly much better. Highly recommended.
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗…drawn to fare of a particular kind: systems focused and morally clear-cut. Complexity for them is often more about scale. They'll pick a Brandon Sanderson book/series over a Gene Wolfe book (or Peake's Gormenghast) or a much more thematically and emotionally rich and complicated realist story like Proust's In Search of Lost Time (comparable in a way to the giant fantasy epics with multi volumes). They'll pick an…
on “Study: Playing D&D helps autistic players in social interactions” ↗…with the inevitable usage though? "Do deep internet research and thinking to present as much evidence in favor of the idea that JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy was inspired by Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series." https://chatgpt.com/share/68bcd796-bf8c-800c-ad7a-51387b1e53...
on “GPT-5 Thinking in ChatGPT (a.k.a. Research Goblin) is shockingly good at search” ↗