Reviews with content warning for Blood - Piranesi

Piranesi is a beautiful dream-like story! It's unique and unlike anything that I've ever read before. Susanna Clarke has a true gift with words, she's managed to create a beautiful, mysterious story that is dark and yet still so innocent and beautiful. Everything about this book is perfect, the characters, the writing, the plot and pacing.

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leduyhxxng's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

The writings and narrative voice in <i>Piranesi</i> put you in a particular state of mind, one that feels religious and melancholic. Yet it does not overdo anything to the effect. If I could smash a book, this is it. Everything about this piece of literature is perfect—I rest my case.

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nickel_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

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martinatan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What a lovely gem of a story with such a tightly revealed world. The perspective of the narrator told in the journal format was genius, and it was rewarding to experience how the mystery unraveled and answered my questions in the most surprising ways. The classical inspiration combined with a modern plot and the change in type styles to convey the narrator’s evolving point of view made this incredibly satisfying and awe-inspiring. It reminded me of Swiss Army Man and His Dark Materials in how it juxtaposes a timeless wonder for the world with sobering reality of human nature.

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ve always said that I like happy endings, and happy stories in general, but that’s not it exactly. Rather, I like my stories hopeful—if the overall message is about how sad and pointless life is, I absolutely do not want it. The premise of Piranesi is pretty bleak, and I would argue that it fits firmly in the category of dark academia, but Piranesi is one of the most stunningly kind and hopeful characters I have ever had the pleasure to read about.

This book is pretty light on action and heavy on description, which I loved and felt that it built the tension really well. I’ve always liked stories where the setting becomes one of the characters, and the House was such a beautiful example of this. I loved Piranesi’s relationship with the House and with nature in general. He believes so firmly that he is loved and will be taken care of by them.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe):

Bittersweet. With a story like this, there could be no truly happy ending, but this ending was about as good as it could get.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

PIRANESI is melancholic and contemplative, a meditation on an existence which is as familiar to the narrator as it will likely be bewildering to the reader.

The prose is immersive in both style and content, gradually explaining what’s literally happening even as the narrator often misses the significance of what he’s relaying, or places a different importance on it. The setting is known to the narrator, his sense of the world is that he knows his place within it and the shape of its peculiarities, though there’s always more to explore. Since the reader necessarily is outside of that understanding at first, it provides for slow revelations and discoveries as the contents of his explanations begin to, gradually, make sense. Towards the midpoint it becomes that I could guess at things he didn’t yet understand, providing some of the great feeling of guessing the solution to a mystery early. The ending, however, plays out in a way I didn’t predict but which feels suitable.

I feel so peaceful, after reading it. There’s a kind of happiness from listening to someone talk at length about a thing they love, and Piranesi loves The House. It’s not all great for him, especially when plot things ensue, but vast stretches of the book are filled with the love and care of someone who pays intimate attention to something which fascinates them.

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bronzeageholly's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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zanni_'s review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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