Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

 

From Goodreads

New York Times Bestseller
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction
World Fantasy Awards Finalist

From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality.

Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

My thoughts

I hadn't really heard of this story before, I came across it while looking for books to read on BorrowBox the digital lending side of my local Library.  I gave this a 3 stars or 6/10.

After having read this I am still not sure what I make of it.  This is a story that you have to totally immerse yourself in and let yourself escape to a world completely unlike the one that we live in.  This is a fantasy read, that's well written but sadly it wasn't a world that the writer grabbed me with completely.  I carried on reading it as I was a little intrigued as to where it was leading and with it being quite a short read compared with others, it didn't seem such a chore and I didn't completely dislike the story.  

After having read this one, I don't think I will be in a huge rush to read her previous book Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.