In even just the first few sentences of her novel, Susanna Clarke manages to create a tone that captures the concept of the magical through the eyes of a protagonist that is wholly convinced that his experience is mundane. Susanna introduces the world in a very natural fashion, and even in this short extract that I read, I found myself taking on some of the curiosity and wonder of Piranesi, the self-proclaimed scientist. There are certainly more questions raised than answers given, for both the reader and Piranesi himself, and I, for one, am excited for the answers - and, doubtless, more questions - that the rest of the novel will reveal.