Titus Groan
The Gormenghast Trilogy, Book 1

A doomed lord, an emergent hero, and an array of bizarre creatures haunt the world of the Gormenghast novels which, along with Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, reigns as one of the undisputed fantasy classics of all time. Peake has created a world where all is like a dreamlush, fantastical, vivid, and yet symbolic of a dark struggle. At the center of everything is the seventyseventh earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom. When he is crowned, he is called ChildInheritor of the rivers, of the Tower of Flints and the dark recesses beneath cold stairwaysChildInheritor of the spring breezes that blow in from the jarl forests and of the autumn misery in petal, scale, and wing.