3.7 stars. “Piranesi” has started out strange. I am not entirely sure what is happening or where the story is going but I am intrigued and full of questions. The first being how Piranesi came to be where he is and how he is learned despite seemingly not be raised. Perhaps the House raised him? I will certain,y be picking this book to finish where I’ve left off, “Piranesi” has captured my attention and is not ready to let me walk away. I eagerly await the remainder of this story.

I was initially attracted to the book because of the immensely beautiful cover.... the blurb also sounds very intriguing. Through netgalley, I read a very short excerpt and it seems very interesting. I have already pre ordered the book and hope to review the whole book soon. This 3 star rating is only based on the excerpt. I have heard so much about the book and am really excited to pick it up. 🙏

I read an excerpt of Piranesi. Can't say much about the book. But by reading this I came to know in the story there exist Piranesi and another one named the Other. There is no human existence than the two. and Piranesi maintains separate journal for everything to note down and I think he lives in the middle hall as the hall below is covered with water and the above with clouds and there is n number of halls which he needs to find and look into. This is the first book I am reading about this author. I don't know whether I will buy this book or not. I felt like this is no the right book for me but I love to explore new things. If I may have got full review copy I may have reviewed this book well. There were mentioning on a lot of halls based on the direction and saying more on statues as Piranesi want to explore more in the house.

This is a review of an excerpt of Piranesi provided by the publisher and author via NetGalley.

It is a little difficult to write a review for an excerpt but I am definitely intrigued with the premise. There is not much to go on to start but I get the sense that perhaps something a bit sinister went on in the world before our narrator’s time. I enjoyed the his attempt to remain scientific when exploring this strange world and creating these logs for a future entity to discover. I wonder if the whole novel will be written in this journal/log style or if just parts?

I really struggled to get into this. Not sure I’ll be picking up a copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the sample.

This review is for the extract that I requested from Netgalley and clearly does not reflect on the bok as a whole. Having thoroughly enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell many years ago I was very excited to read these first few chapters.
A young man writes a diary of his life in a house that seems never ending. The sea flooding in is his constant companion and yet twice a week he spends an hour with a mysterious "Other". Its hard to guess how this will progress because it feels like an experiment or even something dystopian. I can say I'm very intrigued and look forward to reading more when it is published.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

This is a review on the two chapter preview from NetGalley. I enjoyed the diary entry setup that immediately tossed the reader into a quirky world. I've tried for years to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, but have had problems committing to it due to the length and other requirements. That being said, I still have absolutely loved what I have read of Clarke; she truly is a great fantasy writer and one of the best of our time. Once again, she shines in this excerpt, with a witty touch and digestible flow of purple prose. I think I might finally tackle her other work completely now though. The overall plot is a bit unclear from this brief, but I am intrigued and will plan to read the entire novel to understand! The cliffhanger at the end of the previous especially caught my interest. Regardless, the novel does seem to take place in a setting similar to our own world so the reader is thrown into familiar waters. The title does give some clue in that Piranesi was famous for art of prisons, which does make sense given the narration in the excerpt. Much to think about while I wait for the rest.

[for the provided excerpt of the first 26 pages of the novel...]

What an interesting and compelling start to this book! I am completely fascinated by the unusual structure, the very vague sense of what’s actually happening in the story, the identities of the characters, the nature of their bizarre world, and whether or not what I am envisioning in my mind correlates at all to the reality of the world in the book.

The writing style is direct and channels that sort of scientific feel that fits the narrative voice of the MC who selfidentifies as “a scientist and an explorer” which all contrasts sharply with the fact that nothing else in the book or its world seems to make any kind of sense.

My most pressing questions are...
Who really were the skeletons? Where did they come from? Where did the MC and the Other come from?
Is the House really a house or are these concepts being used to describe something else entirely?
What are the Tides, really?
How do the MC and the Other get notebooks, messenger bags, watches, well-cut suits etc if they’re the only people?

Hopefully my request for the full ARC will be accepted so I can read the rest of the book asap! 😊

I've never read a book by this author before, but I'm always fascinated by encapsulated worlds. However, this felt chaotic and disorganized. The character of "Piranesi" did not give us much to latch onto beyond the fact that he views himself a scientist but also doesn't seem to have much of a grasp of what's going on. The writing is more whimsical than detailed and I found myself seeking more substance. Not having names or a real sense of anchoring in the world acts against the book, in my opinion, and I didn't find myself curious enough to want to continue. Perhaps an audiobook with a very dynamic narrator would encourage me to continue with this story.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sharing the preview. I’m anxious to read the entire book now.

I was sent a short extract of this book by the publishers via Net Galley I return for an honest review. Having loved Clarke's novel 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell' I was keen to read this new novel. It is however difficult to write a review of a book based on only the first two chapters. This is a fantasy, set in some kind of post-apocalyptic future. The narrator keeps a journal and it is this diary which forms the bulk of the extract, enticing readers with the way of naming years by significant events rather than dates and that the setting appears to be one infinite house. I am rating the extract with 3 stars but will revise this when I read the complete novel which I do intend to do as I believe on the basis of the extract that Clarke has created another fantastic fantasy world with intriguing setting and characters.

Susanna Clarke writes in a language of her own creation. The sampler for Piranesi is whimsical and makes you feel like your reading something special. The way the author works with words creating such an intriguing atmosphere i am literally twitching to get my hands on this book. I do not know where this story is heading but i know i want to be along for the ride.

This is just an excerpt, so not much to review. Quite different from this author's previous book. I look forward to reading it.

Sometimes it takes me 50 pages or even half of a book to really get into the story. I'm one of those who doesn't easily give up on a book because the pace or interesting events often pick up farther into the book. When I saw that Piranesi was only a small excerpt instead of the whole book, I thought I'd have trouble getting into the story. The plot started with all the different names he gave the years. That's something I'll never remember, I thought. But, that was okay. By the time he talked about being one of only two people left in the world, about the skeletons of humans that he had found, and the time the only other person asked him if he could remember something called Batter-sea, I was enjoying the story and looking forward to the rest of it. Maybe I'll just have to pick up a copy.

Thanks to Netgalley for this excerpt from Piranesi.

I received an excerpt of this book for review on Netgalley. This is a book that I currently have on my to buy list and was happy to be able to read an early excerpt to determine whether it’s one I would love to continue and the answer is a definite yes. Although this sample didn’t tell me as much as I wanted to know, I can tell it’s a “different” type of read that should be very interesting. I will revise this review once I read the entire book.

This is an unusual novel set in an alternative universe about a young man who is a scientist keeping track of Piranesi's house. It's no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. This isn't my normal read and I'm sure I'll be in the minority with only 3 stars. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What an eerie and strange beginning! With just a few pages, I now have multiple theories about what the house is, who Piranesi and the Other are, what is going on, what are the statues!

I can already say I love the way this novel is written: I love the journal format, the way Piranesi expresses himself and the author's writing-style.

I'm intrigued by the Tides, by the House, by the Statues, by the relationship between Piranesi and the Other, by the "other people"! And I loved this incipit thanks to the strange feeling it gave me: I want to be in this House with Piranesi to explore it.

What a way to end an extract!! I can't wait to read the entire novel now!!

The writing is evocative, the idea unique, and the author is a favorite. All these combined have left us with an incredibly fascinating tale that, though daunting (and a bit confusing because we only get a teaser of it right now). The atmosphere of the book is dark and I love settings with gothic houses and just … shivers down your spine in anticipation of what comes next. The writing is fantastic, pacing is oddly not slow despite the length of the book, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the complete work.

My first thought on diving into the excerpt was seeing that the final Part is listed as starting on p. 231 and I experienced a sudden feeling of disappointment. This is Susanna Clarke after all, I want it to be 3000 pages long, come on!

But anyway, this is immersive from the outset. It has that same intellectual and precise language as JS&MrN and that same... unwillingness to explain itself. If you want to know, you just have to keep going and I get the feeling this book will be completely worth it. I so very much want to know what is going on.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the excerpt** to read and obsess over and make me all the more excited about the book eventually coming out.

** someone, please correct that in the file name, 'exceprt' is just making me sad here

Excerpt Review:

Piranesi has been on my TBR list from the moment I heard about it. I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell four years ago and it immediately jumped to place on my top five favorite books of all time. I preordered a hardcover copy for myself months ago. So far, this short excerpt has me entranced and I look forward to reading the full novel.

While less experimental in form than Mark Danielewski’s doorstopper House of Leaves, I suspect fans of that book will enjoy the labyrinthine house of Piranesi. Fans of the horror podcast Mabel are likely to be similarly entranced.

My Goodreads account has a shelf labeled “Places with Character,” so it may come as no surprise that I have a weak spot for stories where houses, cities, or landscapes serve as a character in their own right. Piranesi looks as though it will fit that bill perfectly.