This is a fascinating puzzle box of a book. It's labyrinthine in both the literal and metaphorical sense; it kept me flipping back and forth to put all of the clues together. The setting of the House is expertly rendered - I felt like I was wandering through its halls with Piranesi as I read. It's not really possible to discuss the plot of the book without robbing a reader the opportunity to watch the story as it reveals itself, and I would never want to do that.

The first 25 percent of this book is brutal. It is slow. It makes little to no sense. I get that it is supposed to be confusing as Piranesi himself is confused, BUT, it goes on SO long that I almost gave up. The last 75 percent of this book is simply amazing. I am left thinking about faith, reality, science, mysticism, and all kinds of other head spinning ideas. I am glad I rode it out, and I would recommend anyone do so. You may have to skim and scan or even skip over the extremely long dates at the top of each chapter. Anything to help you get to the part where everything changes. You’ll know it when you get there.
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC.

A man wanders the many halls of a great "house." He knows only one other living person, and together there are fifteen people in the world. That is what Piranesi knows to be true.

Part mystery, part fantasy, Clarke leads the reader to a sooty window with a view into humanity.

What a quirky book. When I first began to read my reaction was, “What the ...”. The book was not fitting into any of my little book niches. I thought I would put it down but I didn’t. I had to see where the author was going with this and I had to learn more about this strange creature and his world/mansion. So I kept reading. I had to finish it and I am so glad I did. What a wonderful world, what a fresh and wonderful story, very memorable. Thank you, Susanna Clarke!

It is hard to describe this book -- so different, so other-worldly, yet so human and beautiful. I was on the edge of my seat, even while the writing was slow and winding. I felt at first like I was stepping into The Starless Sea, but it wasn't at all what I expected. If you liked The Starless Sea, you will LOVE Piranesi.

If you’ve been waiting for a new novel from this author for some time, you won’t be disappointed. It’s is wonderful, strange and beautiful.

Piranesi lives in a labyrinth of rooms that have tides and statues, clouds, birds, and skeletons, along with "The Other" the only live human being he knows to exist.

In Piranesi, Susanna Clarke creates a majestic and mysterious world that is utterly captivating. It is definitely a book you want to go into knowing as little as possible in order to get the most out of your reading experience.

While I was enraptured by the setting and premise of the book, and thoroughly enjoyed the characters and plot, I did come away from the book wanting more from all these elements. At times it felt like there was a disconnect between these pieces of the book that left me hesitant to fully let myself love this book. By the time I finished reading, I wasn't sure what I felt about it, though I ultimately realized I had enjoyed reading it.

Regardless of my own opinion on these aspects of the book, it will be a welcome title for any fans of Susanna Clarke and an interesting addition to any library's shelves.

So, this blew me away. Considering the plot description (and what I remember of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell) I figured this book would be predominantly atmosphere with some vague plot happening around the edges, but no. No, this book is as gripping and enthralling as a thriller. It is so perfectly paced (those well-timed reveals!) and so intriguing that after a certain point it's almost impossible to put it down. Everything was so wonderfully deliberate and the fact that it managed to be satisfying as a mystery, a character study, and a fantasy is pretty incredible. Pretty much the only real complaint I have is that I could've done less with the listing off of numbered halls and vestibules. I didn't really get why this bugged me so much until the end when we get a hall that is not named after a number. Just the name of that particular hall gave a sense of what it looked like and what it would feel like to be there, whereas the numbered halls just gave a sense of how big the House was. Which is information that after the first few chapters you've pretty much absorbed, so I thought that was kind of a wasted opportunity.

But other than that? An incredible, enthralling read. I'll be recommending this one far and wide.

An odd and marvelous little book. While completely different from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and The Ladies of Grace Adieu, the slow reveal of a magical alternate world is the same and it is a joy to be swept along in Clarke's prose while gently puzzling through the mystery at the heart of the book. The secret doors to other worlds and journey alongside the protagonist to discover the ways of the world felt similar to Erin Morgenstern's recent The Starless Sea. I just hope we don't have to wait another 14 years for Clarke's next book!

Overall, I'm not quite sure how I felt about this book. It does kind of defy description, and the feeling of the book is something like reading the notes of a wanderer through Roman ruins. It did not feel supernatural in any sense, though there are elements of "doorways" and "other worlds" at play. I think I would have preferred more of a book about the house than about Piranesi sorting himself out and observing statues. Much of the book was a bit boring to me, only because it focused so much on repetitive thoughts, actions, descriptions of statues, etc. I wanted a bit more *zing* with the reveal of the various unreliable narration situations, but found myself underwhelmed. I wanted more of a "House of Leaves" by Mark Danielewski or "The Gray House" by Mariam Petrosyan, or even more about the house itself. The idea of a house with tides is so interesting, I felt like there was a missed opportunity to focus more on this place than on the riffs between the more boring people.

I loved this book. When I wasn’t reading Piranesi I was thinking about Piranesi and anticipating when I would get to return to the world of Piranesi. My advice is to go in knowing as little as possible and let the book reveal itself to you. It’s not Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell 2 - that’s the one piece of information I would internalize before beginning, particularly if you love that book. Piranesi is its own world; let it transport you there.

(I read an ARC of this novel provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Netgalley!)

Let me cut to the chase: If you're looking for more Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, this book is 100% definititely NOT IT.

That's not necessarily a bad thing - I just didn't like it as much. A little bit in, I described it thus: "So far, it's like if a not-so-amazing Borges wrote The Starless Sea?" And that's still about right.

I should probably note that I'd just read Erin Morgenstern's new novel, The Starless Sea, which has A LOT in common with Piranesi. It's like the library except there are no books. Kind of.

For the first 60% of Piranesi, we're in a vast (endless?) set of halls with the titular character. Piranesi has been there for a long time, and he knows his way around hundreds of them. He catches fish to eat, and a tide comes in and drowns some of the halls periodically. He gets a visitor every so often, and they talk for a while. The visitor gives Piranesi gifts.

And eventually, we get clues as to what's going on.

That's pretty much it. I enjoyed it well enough, but it didn't live up to my expectations, which, granted, were insanely high because Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is one of my favorite novels. Don't disappoint yourself by coming to this one expecting another like the former. You'll probably like it a lot more if you approach it without expectations.

Should you read it? Yes. Is it as good as Clarke's previous work? I don't think so, but it's not bad either. It's just okay.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for this long awaited ARC!

Oh Susanna Clarke how I have missed thee! It's been 16 years since you brought Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell into the world and I've waited 16 long years to see what else you had hiding up your sleeve. Piranesi did not disappoint! I could have easily sat and read this book in one sitting but instead it took me just 3 days. I couldn't get enough of it! Again, you put so much thought into the descriptions, you could actually feel yourself wandering the Halls of The House.

If at all possible, this is the kind of book you should go into knowing as little as possible about it. It can be confusing and even disorienting at first, but it's a book that is very smart about how it is going to teach you what it is, so I recommend letting the book do that rather than any reviews or jacket copy.

Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is beautifully written, both in words and cadence. Initially, I wasn't sure what I was actually reading, though hints came throughout. It has no true a-ha moments, but a steady build with sensual prose. Like delicately peeling back the many petals of a rose to find the center. Piranesi is not a long book nor a tedius read, but you may find yourself lingering over the descriptions and patterns, trying to unravel all the threads for yourself.

Ten pages in, I began to suspect that Piranesi would be one of my favorite novels. I wasn't wrong. Clarke's setting is dreamlike and mysterious, yet the story is an absolute page-turner. I love this book.

Most fans of Strange/Norrell may be puzzled by this book, but it is a really interesting reading experience if they throw aside any expectations. Very engaging once you immerse yourself in the House and Piranesi's world. I agree with others that it's best not to read any reviews before or during. Unexpected, unusual, memorable literary fiction with elements of fantasy.

This book is practically impossible to describe, except that it’s surreal and mysterious. I read it in one sitting because I, much like the very likable main character, needed to find out what had happened. There’s no easy ending here, but this book is worth it.

Definitely an original concept and well written novel. It reminded me of the Magus by John Fowles in that the main character is clearly being manipulated and can't really be trusted to understand or describe correctly what is happening to him. I enjoyed it but felt it dragged a little in the middle and then the conclusion felt a little rushed. I loved the description of all the statues and the different halls and the name Piranesi was a great visual clue as to what the setting might be like. Still, I am not sure it will find as wide an audience as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I would recommend it to patrons who like fiction where the reader feels a bit lost at times, like Gnomon by Nick Harkaway or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.