Susanna Clarke, the elusive author of The Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (one of my top five favorite novels of all time) returns with a mysterious tale that examines the nature of fantasy itself, and it's bloody brilliant. It's a weird, haunting, somber, hopeful, and mystical story about a man named Piranesi who is trapped within an Other World, one that is a mansion like labyrinth - complete with statues, birds, and an ocean within its halls. At first Piranesi is content with his life - the tasks of exploring the house, understanding the labyrinth, and caring for its dead gives him plenty to do - but a terrible truth soon emerges. The other person in the house, a man called The Other, understands A Great and Secret Knowledge and helps Piranesi research it. However, revelations quickly test the reality of Piranesi's exist as he finds signs of another visitor to the House. Enthralled, he relates the news to the Other, whose habitual cold indifference gives way to stern warnings: Piranesi must keep away from this other person at all costs; his very sanity could be in danger.

It would be a disservice even to hint at the revelations that follow, revelations that not only upend Piranesi’s world but confront the reader head-on. This, the much awaited novel from Clarke, bears similarities to Jonathan Strange in its preoccupation with the nature of fantasy and reality itself. However, instead of an alternate Regency England, Piranesi takes place in the present day — up to the minute, or at least the late 2010s but its still features the worldbuilding we have come to love from Clarke.

There is not only a deep sadness but also a wonderful sense of discovery and beauty to this novel. With Piranesi, Clarke has peeled back the curtain of reality and has exposed us to the Other.

I'll forever be disappointed by the real world.

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Maybe too sandboxed for me. Not enough rationale. Too poetic for poetic's sake. Liked, but didn't love. ( )

Quite wonderful. Not my normal fare, but something in the tone, the character’s utter believability in this strange other world was compelling, sweet, and fun to read. One always hopes that if one’s memory goes, a sweet earnestness, a joy and wonder of the world, will remain. As the final line states: “The beauty of the House is immeasurable; it’s Kindness infinite.”

It was OK. The writing is good but the moments I wanted to DNF outweighed the moments I was intrigued. ( )

If I could give it zero I would. It was pointless, boring, confusing, and pretentious. ( )