Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarkeby Susanna Clarke
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 41 fantasy novels by recommenders
Recommended for its beautiful prose and otherworldly world, often likened to Strange and Norrell. Critics say the second half is anticlimactic.
Recommended for its beautiful prose and otherworldly world, often likened to Strange and Norrell. Critics say the second half is anticlimactic.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beautiful, precise prose
“Not a word is wasted. It fills out beautiful scenes by slowly lowering abstractions into them.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “The brilliance of the book is the prose and the world”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Book Prizes Don't Work How You Think” “so beautiful and surprising”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” Otherworldly, richly built world
“It has wonderful world building that was reminiscent of The Library of Babel.”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?” “Piranesi was otherworldly in the way of Strange and Norrell”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Book Prizes Don't Work How You Think” “The brilliance of the book is the prose and the world”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Book Prizes Don't Work How You Think” Favorite book recommended widely
“one of my favorite books of the last few years”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros” “one of the books that I recommend to everyone”
Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Second half feels anticlimactic
“the second half is banal and anticlimactic”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?”
Other fantasy novels people recommend
The four most recommended other fantasy novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of the Ringsby J.R.R. Tolkien | 66 | 11 | 86% | 12 | 15 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien | 49 | 13 | 79% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Dungeon Crawler Carlby Matt Dinniman | 48 | 6 | 89% | 11 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalityby Eliezer Yudkowsky | 19 | 17 | 53% | 7 | — | — |
| Piranesiby Susanna ClarkeThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I enjoyed the second half even though it was not what i expected.”
“Not a word is wasted. It fills out beautiful scenes by slowly lowering abstractions into them.”
“the second half is banal and anticlimactic”
“so beautiful and surprising”
“The brilliance of the book is the prose and the world”
“Piranesi was otherworldly in the way of Strange and Norrell”
“one of the books that I recommend to everyone”
“one of my favorite books of the last few years”
“It has wonderful world building that was reminiscent of The Library of Babel.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.