Book · 2020
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.
What does Reddit think of Piranesi?
2159 mentions, split almost evenly across four subs the way no other book in this set manages: 971 on r/suggestmeabook, 591 apiece on r/Fantasy and r/printSF. That spread is the story. r/Fantasy treats it as proof "literary fantasy" is a real category, name-checking it alongside Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as the two poles of Susanna Clarke's range (↑174). One review calls it "curiously empty" and immediately hedges, "possibly that's the point," about as split as consensus gets in this sample (↑174). The dominant advice, repeated across threads, is to start blind: go in knowing as little as possible and let the puzzle of the unreliable narrator resolve on its own (↑240). r/printSF's top quote is stranger, a reader saying the pitch for the book nearly talked them out of reading it (↑236), suspicion of hype rather than the book itself. Mentions peaked in 2021 at 480, the year after publication, then settled into the high-300s range it's held since, 358 in 2025.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · unreliable narrator solving his own memory
- · literary fantasy as a real category
- · isolation in a vast, rule-bound house
- · the case for going in blind
Common praise
- + Readers keep repeating the same advice: go in knowing nothing and let the puzzle resolve on its own (↑240).
- + r/Fantasy cites it as proof literary fantasy is a real shelf, pairing it with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as Clarke's two extremes (↑174).
- + It gets a flat 'Very good!' with no further justification offered, which on r/Fantasy counts as a strong review (↑399).
Common criticism
- − One reviewer calls it 'curiously empty' before walking it back with 'possibly that's the point,' the most divided take in the sample (↑174).
- − A printSF commenter says the sales pitch for it nearly talked them out of reading it at all, suggesting the marketing undersells or oversells depending who's talking (↑236).
- − Getting paired with Dungeon Crawler Carl in the same breath shows how little genre logic actually governs its recommendation slot (↑252).
Who it's for
Go in cold if you can manage it; the puzzle only works on readers who don't already know what's waiting for them. You'll likely respond to this if Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell worked for you, though Piranesi is a fraction of the length and carries none of the footnotes. Skeptics of "literary fantasy" as a marketing category should sit with the 591-591 split between r/Fantasy and r/printSF before dismissing it. And if "beautiful but empty" sounds like a dealbreaker rather than a feature, the "curiously empty" review is worth reading before you buy the book.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Piranesi?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Literary fantasy ABSOLUTELY exists, as does literary sci-fi and literary horror. However, you probably wouldn't want a fantasy War and Peace, since that book is a slog about how much it annoyed Tolstoy that Russian people wanted to be French. Anyways. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a stunnin…
“Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Very good!)
“Dungeon Crawler Carl & Piranesi
“Piranesi. Start reading the book knowing as little as you can, and then it almost reads like a puzzle, where you slowly piece together what's going on through the skewed view of a not very reliable narrator
“I feel like if I hadn't read Piranesi, this post would make me less likely, not more likely, to read it
“Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
“It’s not an exact match, especially when it comes to a fully fleshed society, but *Piranesi* hits on some of your desired elements. *A Short Stay In Hell* kind of does too, although unlike *Piranesi*, I was pretty disappointed with that one.
“Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and her latest Piranesi are definitely up at the literary end of fantasy and JS&MN is a wonderful book. Not sure what I think about Piranesi, it's definitely a beautiful book but I also found it curiously empty. Possibly, that's the point.
Convinced? Pick up Piranesi
Readers also mention
All books like Piranesi →Books that share discussion threads with Piranesi — counted from the comments, not curated.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
Two rival English magicians revive magic itself, and neither can predict what the fairy they bargained with actually wants.
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
A woman searches a dying continent for the daughter her husband stole, while the world ends again on schedule.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Cloud Atlas
David Mitchell
A soul migrates across six centuries, from an 1850s ship to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii, before doubling back through every life it touched.
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
A pandemic collapses civilization and a traveling troupe keeps performing Shakespeare in the wreckage twenty years later.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
Martha Wells
A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
Piranesi — frequently asked
Should I know anything about Piranesi before I start it?+
No. The dominant advice across the 2159 mentions in this sample is to go in blind, with one top-voted comment (↑240) recommending readers start knowing as little as possible so the puzzle of the unreliable narrator resolves on its own. Spoilers reportedly flatten the experience.
What does Reddit think of Piranesi?+
Mostly enthusiastic but not unanimous. It draws 2159 mentions spread almost evenly across r/suggestmeabook, r/Fantasy, and r/printSF, with one dissenting review calling it 'curiously empty' before conceding 'possibly that's the point' (↑174).
Is Piranesi science fiction or fantasy?+
Neither camp claims it exclusively. r/Fantasy and r/printSF each log exactly 591 mentions, an even split rare in this dataset, while r/suggestmeabook's 971 mentions treat it as general literary fiction first.
Is Piranesi as good as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?+
Reddit treats them as companion pieces rather than a ranked pair. One r/Fantasy comment (↑174) calls both 'up at the literary end of fantasy,' praising Jonathan Strange as 'wonderful' while staying more guarded about Piranesi specifically.