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
I’ve been meaning to read this book for so long! Even before I owned it, I wanted to read it. I’ve had friends tell me that they thought I would enjoy it…yet couldn’t explain why. Well, I finally read it and I really enjoyed it! I gave it 4 shiny stars.
I completely understand why my friends struggled to explain why they thought I’d love this. It’s very strange. It’s a strange and odd book. I do love books that are unusual and this really was.
The novel took the form of a journal. Each chapter was made up of journal entries that had been written by Piranesi and had used their own system for calculating the date. I really liked hearing about the world solely from Piranesi’s eyes and reading about his visits to the rooms and the skeletons. I felt that his kindness towards the skeletons was very respectful and sweet. Although a bit creepy that he assumed that the girl was intended as a future wife for him. He was very much a solitary being.
The world building was just fantastic. I really felt like I could imagine the house which sprawled tens, or perhaps, hundreds of kilometres in every direction . I could see the statues and the flooding. The loneliness of the world came across very well.
I enjoyed the very limited character list. As a reader, I could instantly see something was unusual. I liked reading about Piranesi being oblivious to the signs but he was just so immersed that it made sense.
I absolutely did not see the twist coming. It completely took me by surprise. I had foreseen a completely different thing happening so thoroughly enjoyed this. The ending was just excellent!
I can’t think of any other books that I’ve read which are similar to this. I absolutely loved the narration style, the labyrinth, the danger. It was such a short, yet thrilling read. I feel like so much was squished into the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this and love that so many of my friends saw me enjoying this, once again, my friends were right.
Kapowski Reads 
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