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Mervyn Peake is most famous for the Gormenghast Triogy, a sequence of stories that tell of the birth, adolescence and finally emergence into adulthood of Titus Groan, the 77th earl of Gormenghast, reluctant inheritor of crumbling dystopian castle that is ruled by tradition.

Having read this trilogy I had assumed that I had read all there was to read; however while absent-mindedly browsing the internet I discovered that there was a fourth story in the trilogy; a “childrens’ book”, hence excluded from the cannon of Gormenghast fiction.

Boy in Darkness is a shorter, easier read than the other three books; It’s cast a great deal smaller and it’s story is somewhat more frightening: Thematically it most resembles “Titus Alone”, because it departs from the purely human drama of Gormenghast and enters into the genres of horror and fantasy.

Growing tired of the endless ritual of Gormenghast, titus resolves to escape the castle over which he has recently become lord. His departure is assisted by a pack of hounds who apparantly without malice push him along a silent river towards a desert of lifeless grey.

There he is abducted by Goat and Hyena, a pair of men who have been partially transformed into beasts by their insidious master Lamb who has been waiting paitiently in his lair for Titus’ arrival. Lamb once ruled over a world of beastialised people, but of the hundreds who once worshipped in his subterranian court only the two others remain; however with the arrival of Titus the Lamb may once again have a chance to practice his occult transofrmative art.