Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

16 reviews

honeyvoiced's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow. I don't even know what to say about this novel that won't spoil the experience for anyone thinking of reading it, but I really enjoyed this. The descriptions of the world are fascinating, the main character is charming and his ways of thinking are described in a way that makes them make sense, and the plot took plenty of turns.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Dementia, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Mental illness

Minor: Violence, Ableism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Animal death, Homophobia, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

morgcxn's review

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

leduyhxxng's review

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Slavery, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Death, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit and Gun violence

Minor: Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Confinement

Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

rieviolet's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.0

I think what I liked the most was Piranesi himself as a narrator, how we slowly discover the house and the story connnected to it from his point of view. 

It is a very imaginative story and certainly very unique, I was really captured by the first half and I still enjoyed the second one, but I think that as the plot progressed and we discovered the darker aspects of it, some of the initial brillance got lost, at least for me. It was still a very enjoyable read that I had trouble putting down (a good half of it I read in just one sitting) and a very well crafted story. 

I also had some personal quibbles over the treatment of certain topics (mailny the only depiction of queerness and also a quite fatphobic description at the very end of the story that really annoyed me) that dimmed my general enjoyment of the book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Murder, Gore, Excrement, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders