Reviews

Piranesi by Viktor Plesl, Susanna Clarke

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jenni28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

So this was *not* the book I thought it was going to be!

I went into this pretty much blind, had had it recommended by a few different people without knowing much, if anything, about the plot, and I think that was a huge plus. Because of that I’m going to keep my review brief and vague, so as not to take away from future readers the joy of diving in and finding out for yourselves.

Beautiful written, atmospheric, mysterious - with a whole load of plot I didn’t see coming. Piranesi is a great read for anyone who is into mysticism and mystery in general, but it’s not your typical “fantasy” novel, and I thought the whole novel was more about Piranesi’s relationship with “the world” and his pure joyful innocence that hides something dark and quite sinister.

This one will stick with me I reckon. Haunting. Definitely worth a go!

sophieb25's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

niamh_99's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Loved this fun and whimsical challenging to get into the start

emmadaniella's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

carlita_tv's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I never read anything like this. It was a bit hard at the beginning to keep focus and some journal entries were very tedious but other than that, amazing

kinzo103's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I was told that this was an absolutely stellar book and to go in blind if possible, so that’s exactly what I did. I was not expecting such a cerebral masterpiece. At first it felt like “wtf is going on?” And then once you start to understand the story, it still feels like “okay, but wtf?” It was stunning. It takes immense skill to write such an intricate world and story within only 245 pages. Perfect for fans of The Magicians.