What an enormous grab bag of a book! It takes bits and pieces of Peake's work, from a number of different sources (both published and unpublished), and I suppose it results in a sort of teaser-representation of the author... but then again I'm not sure that's quite accurate. In saying so, however, I'm aware that, for me, Peake's appeal resides firmly in his Gormenghast novels, which I adore. There's nothing of them here, bar a reprint of the related novella Boy in Darkness, which is outstanding. There's far more of the poet and playwright, which is why this is knocked down a star. I love his novels, I do really enjoy his poetry... but there's no denying that his plays don't have the same appeal. The Wit To Woo was apparently an enormous flop back in the day, and if I were reviewing it on its own I'd be hard-pressed to give it more than two stars - the thing really is a tedious slog, with the odd bit of fantastic language. The Noah's Ark play for kids isn't particularly outstanding either, but there's an improvement with the radio play version of Mr. Pye. What makes this collection worth reading, however, is the sheer impression of range that it leaves - Peake was really enormously talented in a number of fields - and as always his artwork is a sheer delight.