I've read Tom Simon's essays before, and he is always very intelligent. I agree with his principal point, that Gormenghast counts as fantasy (which is also why I'm willing to admit Islandia), but I disagree on some subsidiary ones. Some people do find the books intensely likeable - I was utterly enraptured by my first reading of Titus Groan, though it took me two months to get through it - I don't agree that the characters are purely single features, and I emphatically believe Titus Alone can be defended if you understand what Peake was writing it for.