Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Piranesi

A perfect blend for readers who love character books and readers who love plot books.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that I couldn’t put down. The beginning was confusing and slow, but the writing was worth pushing through. I’m glad I didn’t know much about this going in because I think that really helped me enjoy it and reflect on it. I wasn’t sure about the ending as soon as I had finished, but going back to read it again made me bump up my original rating.

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ambers's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm of two minds about this book. I read the whole thing in one sitting, and I honestly thought I was going to give it 5/5 stars. Then, as I started to think about it, I changed that to 4/5. At the time of actually siting down to write this review, I've dropped it to 3.5/5.

Why? There was obviously plenty that I loved, given my knee jerk reaction. The lush writing, the strange ecology, the dreamlike quality and its descent into nightmare - all of that was fantastic. Unfortunately, I can't get past the author's choice to write her only gay character as a predatory villain with a pattern of taking advantage of younger men, including lumping his sexuality in with his 'transgressive' nature (which explicitly includes several despicable acts). It isn't that queer characters can't be villains (although I would, honestly, caution authors to be careful of that regardless - being aware of harmful tropes is important), but this particular blend of using sexuality to highlight someone's perversion is harmful and dated. The longer I sit with that, the more I sour on this book. It's a real shame, because Piranesi could've been something beautiful.

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themirrorball's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective relaxing medium-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

5.0

i absolutely loved this book. the prose was fantastic, and created a vivid world that i missed whenever i wasn’t reading the book. piranesi is honestly the most pure thing to ever exist, i love him. the pacing of this book was perfect, with just the right combination of world building and plot. towards the end, i could not put it down. this book was definitely an amazing surprise.

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tmickey's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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sacath's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This beautifully written novel follows Piranesi, our curiouslg innocent narrator and guide through the wonderful world of the House, and how he comes to understand the past, the present, and the future. The reader comes away with a new understanding of hope and sorrow, and how the two are oh-so-delicately intertwined.

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pastelmeganes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

I felt the beginning of the book was a real drag to tread through. The halls and scenery were very daunting to keep track of. Besides certain locations reference multiple times, i kinda just ditched trying to understand where everything is. I enjoyed keeping track of things though piranesi’s journal entries. It was nice and gave me ini

Spoiler

idk why but the biggest plot twist for me was that Piranesi was half black this whole time! Idk why but i just pictured him as a whole white man. Also i feel i needed more on 16/Raphael. I feel she kinda got thrown in?? Something about her being a big center of the final act made me feel a certain way. I wasn’t too shocked that Ketterley was the main antagonist, it was more the way it was presented that made it enjoyable.

Spoiler

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deenmachine's review against another edition

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adventurous relaxing 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? Yes

4.0

Slow start, but it's well worth pushing through. Beautifully written and imagined.

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carbs666's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

This is a very strange and beautiful little book that I liked quite a bit! I found the first quarter a bit difficult to get into but once the intrigue starts to unfold it becomes difficult to put down.

I really liked how Clarke leverages the limitations of first person perspective and takes the concept of the unreliable narrator to an extreme here; I don't think the book would work without these choices. I also liked that the book sort of felt like it could be an appendix or a companion to another book, which helped keep the fantasy elements fairly grounded in a world that feels real.

My main issue with the book is that the ending came on suddenly and feels unresolved. For some reason it didn't feel right to me that Piranesi is returned to "the real world" and I felt a general unease about his future. Also all of the characters, even the one narrating, are still very much a mystery to me and many of their choices don't make sense. Those issues aside, it's a good book and well worth the read!

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