What if there were a magic ring that gave an evil being near-unlimited power, and the evil being lost it? What if there were a school where children went to learn magic? What if the back of the closet hid a doorway to another world?Įven by fantasy standards, though, the what-if behind Piranesi, Susanna Clarke’s long-awaited new novel, is a doozy. Fantasy, on the other hand-great fantasy novels can almost always be picked out by their what-ifs. “What if a man in a bad marriage went back to his hometown after his mother had a stroke?” is a question that could lead to a great realist novel, but as a premise, it feels a little interchangeable realist novels don’t always depend on memorable starting scenarios. Some books, and some types of books, have more memorable what-ifs than others. Welcome to Ringer Reads, a semiregular column by Brian Phillips about his favorite books, writers, and various literary happenings.Įvery book begins with the question what if, but not every book is immediately identifiable from the what-if that spawned it.
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