The warning signs were all there. A much-delayed sequel to a well-loved masterpiece, "based on a fragment" by a long-dead author, focused on possibly the least interesting character in all of Gormenghast.

This is a tiresome book. Dull set-pieces featuring boring characters inhabiting a plot that goes nowhere, uttering god-awful dialogue that is both pretentious and wooden. I should have known better.

Its hard to know what to say about this one. The writing is good in places but can also be a bit monotonous or at least repetitious. It does resemble Titus Alone to a degree, although not to its credit being almost as random and fragmentary as that work.
However i enjoyed it more than my score might belie. My score is based on the quality of the writing but there is another level to it.

This is a work that was clearly written to be written, not written to be read. It must have been quite a cathartic experience for the author. This is a love-letter or a prayer and while i understood the ending i’m sure there where more allusions and reference points that i would have gotten more out of with a better knowledge of Peakes life.

While it was a bit of chore in places i do think it deserves a place as the final piece of the Gormenghast puzzle and i plan on buying a copy to reread along with the trilogy. ( )

When Mervyn Peake died he left behind a handful of notes for a fourth Gormenghast work, which his widow used as the inspiration for this novel.

Left wounded and alone at the end of the third novel, Gilmore takes Titus from a world of darkness and pain and leads him to a place of peace. It is not the book Peake would have written, but Gilmore's love for her husband and his creation are evident in every line she wrote. Titus Awakes serves as a satisfactory end to Titus's journey. ( )

This fit the rest of the Gormenghast series. ( )

Not authored by Mervyn Peake, but by his widow. The distinction needs to be made, because it's not Peake. Not close. It's pretty horrible and it should never have been published. ( )