This is as gripping as advertised. Having enjoyed other works by her, I can't wait to read the entirety of this one!

This was a nice, short and sweet extract from one of my most anticipated releases this year, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Thank you to both Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the exclusive extract of this book!

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 think this is the perfect little taste to get of this book. but it's also agonising since September feels so far away! From reading here we get a clear view that the House mentioned, is a bit of a TARDIS case. It looks to be bigger on the inside. Our narrator, the man of the title Piranesi, mentions halls of statues, rolling tides flowing through the House and secrets he ponders each day as he explore the House.

I'm fascinated by this introduction to Pitanesi and what possibilities lie behind him as a character. There is very big potential here that he could be either an unreliable narrator or that this book is possibly one that could break the fourth wall after concluding on this wonderful line:

The Sixteenth Person.

And You. Who are You? Who is it that I an writing for? Are you a traveler who has cheated Tides an crossed Broken Floors and Derelict Stairs to reach these Halls? Or are You perhaps someone who inhabits my own Halls long after I am dead?

I can't wait to read this and September can't come soon enough. Piranesi is out on the 15th of September from Boomsbury. Check back in here for my inevitable review.

I'm intrigued!

I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - this one started slowly but I know it's worth it so I kept going.

It looks like another world builder with a whole lot behind it and I'd like to know more.

It's on my wish list!

This is so fantastic, I've waited more than 10 years for the new book from Susanna Clarke and I am very very excited to read the whole book!

I really can't wait to read this book. It was a very intriguing and inviting extract.
There's the House or the World that seems like the center of the story. It's magical and beautifully written.

I loved what I read and can't wait to read the rest.

Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

Wow. I was lucky enough to read this early extract from Susanna Clarke's latest offering. Already a huge fan of Jonathan strange and Mr Norrell, I was excited to see where next. Once again Clarke creates the most remarkable world to escape into. A place where it doesn't make any sense but it absolutely does at the same time. I cannot wait for this release so the mystery can be solved!

I was so excited to read this, and it did not disappoint! Clarke has begun detailing a beautifully complex world for this story which is making me desperate for more. The depth and style of the narrative make this a captivating read, and certainly a worthy successor to Clarke’s earlier novel.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for providing an early preview of ‘Piranesi’ by Susanna Clarke. It is due to be published on 15 September 2020.

“Piranesi has always lived in the House.” The House is the World as far as Piranesi is aware: a watery labyrinth with many halls and corridors that imprisons an ocean. Every hall and passageway contains statues that he is currently cataloguing.

Piranesi isn’t quite alone. There is The Other, who is a scientist like Piranesi. He is convinced that somewhere within the House is a Great and Secret Knowledge that will grant them enormous powers once discovered. They meet twice a week to discuss their ongoing work. Also resident in the House are thirteen other people though all of these are skeletons.

Intriguing! So many questions from the preview and cover art of a statue of Pan (or faun) playing a flute. Is there a link to the illustrations of imaginary labyrinthine prisons by the Neoclassical artist Giovanni Piranesi?

I have long been an admirer of Susanna Clarke’s ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell’ and was very excited to hear news of the upcoming publication of ‘Piranesi’. Advance reviews from a few authors whose opinions I trust have heightened my anticipation. Only another three months to wait.

Firstly, I haven't read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, or the Ladies of Grace Adieu, although I actually own both books and they've been on my TBR pile for years. Woops.
I requested this early extract on her new book, Piranesi, as I was interested in what I would get.

It's a chapter or two of a first person narrative as we walk around a House. The narrator is describing the inhabitants, who he/she is (or who they think they are) and what their lives are like. There are hints at massive past events which wiped out the human race, or animals, or aliens - it's a mystery,

I also get the feeling that this is an 'unreliable narrator' novel - they don't really know much about where they're living and they're also quite young, so it's indicated that this is the only life they know, able to piece together information with the details they've gleaned and guessed from the other inhabitants. I was definitely interested to read on, and was disappointed when I looked for the next page in the extract and realised that was the end!

The extract on offer was painfully short- painful because I was desperate to keep reading more of what was a tantalising glimpse of Susanna Clarke’s new boo. It was just the perfect little high was followed by the desperate low of knowing it is more months to wait. I loved the extract- in just a few pages it reeled me in with wanting to explore the strange Halls of the House and its odd inhabitants. The sense of beauty and strangeness, the effortless language of the labyrinth.

I know where I will be headed when the full book is published in September.

Okay, I read an excerpt... but now I want the whole book!!!

These very short pages intrigued me right away and I can't wait to continue reading the book when it comes out.

It is true craftsmanship that Susanna Clarke demonstrates in packing so much world building in such short pages.
Most interestingly is that this World enthrals almost immediately.
There's a sense of longing for worlds lost and a mysterious past that needs exploring.
Truly, I cannot wait for the rest of the book.

It's so enchanting! I'm already curious, about the halls, about The Other, about the narrator. I sense there are so many stories to be told from this world. As extracts go, it's whetted my appetite enormously – especially having recently been enraptured by The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Starless Sea - both of which this reminded me of.

This page preview does not disappoint, totally different to Jonathan Strange, but nevertheless compelling looking forward to reading the novel in full.

I was surprised to realise it is more than ten years since I read Susanna Clarke's first (and so far, only other) novel, 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell'. Despite the decade that has passed, I can still remember elements of the story and perhaps more importantly, the feelings it evoked in me, more vividly than I can for lesser books read only this year. So I was very keen to read this early extract of Clarke's next novel, due in September 2020..

Whilst you can't tell too much from a short extract that takes just five minutes to read, it's certainly left me even more eager than I already was to get my hands on the full novel. The extract is narrated in the first person by Piranesi, a man of around thirty years old, who believes himself to be one of only two living humans in the world. He and ''the Other' inhabit a vast house that seems to behave as a world in itself. One reference hints to this being some kind of post-apocalyptic scenario.

It is certainly well written - I was immediately drawn into the world and absorbed in its detail. I could visualise the house described by Piranesi and was intrigued to understand more about it and how Piranesi came to be there.. No matter how the plot unfolds, the style is easy to read and immersive so I am pretty sure it will be an enjoyable novel. There is capitalisation of seemingly random words, which was a bit annoying in this small sample, but I expect will quickly become unnoticeable once you get into reading the whole thing.

Certainly on the evidence of this sample, Clarke has written another excellent novel that will have been worth waiting for.

As a massive fan of Jonathan Strange, I adored this extract exactly as much as I hoped I would. I am very excited for the full book.

Intriguing concept. I want to know more about it and where it’s going. I think I need more of a plot/synopsis to tell if I would read it. Obviously can’t give it any real rankings but so far - ok. My 3 stars is because it’s not enough to make me pre-order the book but enough to make me want to know more. Great marketing strategy though.

An inventive works, transporting the reader into mythical world. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was a monster hit and although the follow up novel was a long time in the making, judging by readers reaction ,Piranesi will be equally successful.

Thank you for this little snippet! I've heard many good things about Susanna Clarke, whose Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel I've not yet read yet, but will do so in the coming months before Piranesi is released.
These opening chapters were intriguing. Set in a house that may or may not represent the world, the writing is lush and vivid. However I did find it lacking in plot and was wondering what the story for this is. Nonetheless I was enchanted by the vivid descriptions.

Interesting and intriguing scene-setting. I can't wait to read this novel and was so excited when I saw that Ms Clarke had finally written another novel.