Gormenghast

The Hobit, and Gormenghast's main characters are both unconventional and give a new take on the fantasy world. In The Hobit, it is a past middle aged tiny creature with hairy feet, who is past the point of seeking out an adventure to find themselves, nevertheless it happens to him. The Hero's Quests never come to the willing, because it means there is something that needs to change. In Gormenghast the story revolves around the main character, which is the actual castle, and what goes on inside it. Following the ancient castle's going ons and development of the people living inside, which affect the castle itself.

Gormenghast starts out with Titus being born, the heir to the house of Groan. Born in what seems to be a deserted city, with stragglers left. But nevertheless it is one giant structure that keeps growing and dying. Since Titus is just a baby, the story does not focus as much on him, but more on the other inhabitants of the castle. The inhabitants of the castle have daily lives that are filled with rituals. It dominates their lives. It causes them to be self sufficient and perpetual.

I have never really been interested in the Hobit, and Gormenghast didn't quite captivate me from the start. I was more interested in Titus' development than anything else. In the Hobit I could never relate to the protagonist. But it is definitely a different take on fantasy stories. Causing people to rethink this formula of the Hero's Quest, which usually happens to youths that are in need of development.

There are usually so many details put into fantasy stories, it never keeps my attention long. But, since these stories create different worlds, it is necessary to describe these worlds in detail, which end up being a reflection of our own. It is necessary for these fantasies to exist, which are usually seen as an escape, but in reality are based off of our reality. Putting it into this context, the fantasy worlds will live inside the readers and bring a little bit of the purpose of the world into reality through the reader.

Anansi Boys

I love how Neil Gaimen turns all our expectations on our heads by using unknown gods, and not making the race of the main characters clear. He explores what is important and what is not, pushing the book to its boundaries, causing us to question the conventions and ideas of normality we place on ourselves. He also accomplishes this by wrapping it in stories within stories within stories. Causing the novel to develop, and the protagonist who was at first the teller of a story, and became the singer and liver of his own story through hardships and trials where he is faced by an enemy or obstacle.

“Fat Charlie” is a middle aged man about to marry, not the typical fantasy novel protagonist. But he has child dispositions where he acts immature enough and innocent enough to invoke the cycle of development and finding oneself. His problem is, is that he resides in his father's shadow, automatically ashamed of him, and habitually apologizes for his embarrassment to the people his father interacts with. He goes through ordeals that eventual lead him to find himself as his own person, despite everything that has happened to him.

The book and every story either directly or indirectly revolves around Mr. Nancy, from the very beginning. It starts out from Fat Charlie's perspective describing his father, and his death. Fat Charlie's life is heavily influenced at first by his dad, which is where the story begins. We are told about Anansi's past, and even a few stories. These stories, explained in the book, have Anansi in two different forms a human and a spider, it all depends on how the story is told. At one point it explains how Anansi stole stories from Tiger. And now Anansi is in another form, dead, gone, not present but heavily influential in the story nevertheless. Making the entire story his own, which transfers to his son who finds himself in the story.