Low fantasy novel full of descriptive scenes set in a sprawling, dripping, ancient castle complex, Gormenghast. Full of idiosyncratic characters, with their own patterns of speech, mannerisms and roles to play in the complex ritual existence of the castle and the Groan lineage, the story is a labourous study in pure conservatism in its strictest meaning. While the concept is sound, the whole exercise in describing the minute changes cascading through the book didn't do that much for me. There's no real conclusion to the book (although it's the first in a trilogy) and I get that it's part of the ideas about stand-still, but this makes it of limited interest to a wider audience.

At the back of their personal troubles, hopes and fears, this less immediate trepidation grew, this intangible suggestion of change, that most unforgivable of all heresies.