Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

163 reviews

tmickey's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Kidnapping and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide, Murder, and Vomit

miss_vonnegut's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I mostly loved this book. I love that it almost feels as if you're meandering through the House with the main character for a lot of it. It almost feels healing. In fact, if not for one thing, I would have given it five stars. The one thing I didn't like though is a pretty big one for me. It's that the one character who is clearly given a sexuality (a gay man) is portrayed as malevolent and predatory. I don't think we're at a point in time/history where that can be done without other LGBTQIA+ characters in the same book who are not villainous. I'm still glad I read it for everything else that was in it, but I think it's an important thing to note and be aware of when reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Kidnapping

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Murder

chlorai's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Confinement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, and Mental illness

ayamaro's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Death, Drug use, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Minor: Fatphobia

jessjess125's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

 This gave me strong TANIS vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder

juksu's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic friendship

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Murder

englishrobin210's review against another edition

fast-paced

2.75

Interesting little book (esp the beginning!), but once the mystery starting unraveling I lost a bit of interest in the second half. Very atmospheric and loved Piranesi as a main character. The House was fascinating and I wish would could have spent more time with the labyrinth and the statues. Something that irked me was

when Arne-Sayles was revealed to be a predatory gay man. Frankly, an unnecessary detail for the story and put a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book.

If you liked this concept but prefer more thoughtful portrayals of queer characters and more time spent on worldbuilding, I recommend The Starless Sea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Trafficking, Murder, and Slavery

Minor: Sexual assault, Excrement, and Pedophilia

jesselopod's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Delightful and strange, a peaceful horror story where the themes feel more important than the plot, and the whole thing could be interpreted a multitude of ways. A most loveable main character and an a short and compelling allegory. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Confinement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Murder and Kidnapping

seanml's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Piranesi is almost like a deluxe short story: the idea is concise with no frills, but allows you to sit in the moment for enough time to appreciate the story. The voice that Clarke uses for our protagonist makes the story easily readable, but also endearing. I don't know what else to say other than I enjoyed it. 250 pages usually don't go by that quickly! 8.5/10.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

cabbagecakes's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Murder