My rating covers the overall package, as well as the stories; the forewords and accompanying art. It's a nice little package, even if nothing is quite as good as the title story.

While not outstanding, the collection shows that Peake bordered on literary chameleon. His style, rhythm and pace seems to change from story to story according to what feels apt for the narrative. Always pretty, often whimsical, but the range of writing feels wide.


Boy In Darkness - 4

Nothing beats Titus Groan for me, but this is an enjoyable little nightmare and a nice extension to the world of Gormenghast (and beyond). It starts and ends a little clunkily, but the meat of the tale is engrossing and packed with delicious prose. I'm sad I've now read everything the world has to offer.


The Weird Journey - 3.5

Beautiful prose weaves a breif, whimsical narrative, producing less wonder than expected.


I Bought A Palm-tree - 3.5

A simple, witty story about the spontaneous and uninformed purchasing of a palm-tree.


The Connoisseurs - 3.5

An on the nose, but amusing, satire on art.


Danse Macabre - 3.75

A dark, ghostly tale. I found the writing a tad laborious at first, but the direction the story takes toward the end is intriguing and the ending nothing short of brutal.


Same Time, Same Place - 3.5

A runaway youth and his naive, romantic pursuit. Nicely written, very readable.


Overall a nice little collection. Worth picking up as a fan of Peake, and certainly worth it for the title story alone if you're a Gormenghast completionist. ( )

On the blurb and in the Introduction, it's stated that the title story is about Titus Groan, though he is never named. Well, he's called "Titus" twice and the setting so closely resembles the Castle of the Groans that there is no doubt at all, as far as I can tell. It's a good, weird, story, too - worth the tiny second-hand price I paid on its own.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/893302/boy-in-darkness-mervyn-peake

The title story of this collection is fabulous. If the details in Titus Alone weren't enough evidence, the setting of this novella firmly places the world of Gormenghast in some kind of post-apocalypse future in which vestiges of an advanced technology linger in scattered places. In Boy in Darkness, Peake gives us the horror of the Lamb, a being able to dominate others by force of will and to bend their bodies into the bestial shapes of their id.

14-year old Titus (explicitly named), escapes from his castle home (not explicitly named, but clearly Gormenghast) on the festive date of his birth, wandering into an adjoining, but utterly foreign and unfamiliar wasteland, where he falls first into the clutches of the Goat, and then Hyena, emissaries and thralls of the terrifying Lamb.

Peake's description of the deserts of dust, broken buildings, fractured girders and shattered machinery evokes a post-industrial cataclysm from which, perhaps, Gormenghast was a refuge and sanctuary for survivors - speculative, but possible. I wonder whether Peake's experiences of the London blitz and of being an official War Artist on Germany are channelled through these images?

Boy in Darkness is a worthy supplement to Peake's Gormenghast novels, and an inspired work of literary genius in its own right. ( )