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Codex
About to depart on his first vacation in years, Edward Wozny, a hotshot young investment banker, is sent to help one of his firm's most important and mysterious clients. His task is to search their library stacks for a precious medieval codex, a treasure kept sealed away for many years and for many reasons. Enlisting the help of passionate medievalist Margaret Napier, Edward is determined to solve the mystery of the codex-to understand its significance to his wealthy clients, and to decipher the seeming parallels between the legend of the codex and an obsessive role-playing computer game that has absorbed him in the dark hours of the night.
348 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Lev Grossman
50 books9,871 followersHi! I'm the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy—The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician’s Land—which was adapted as a TV show that ran for five seasons on Syfy.
I've also written two novels for children: The Silver Arrow, which the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, People magazine, Apple and Amazon all put on their best-of-the-year lists, and its sequel The Golden Swift. I do some journalist and screenwriting too.
I grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, the son of two English professors. My twin brother Austin is a writer and game designer, and my older sister Sheba is an artist. Sometimes I live in Brooklyn, New York, other times in Sydney, Australia, where my wife is from. I have three kids and a somehow steadily increasing number of cats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,097 reviews
August 18, 2007
Here's the thing. I loved the story and the way it unfolded--at a leisurely pace, with moments of inspiration and excitement. The problem, however, is that the last couple of chapters build build build and FIZZLE. There were at least half a dozen scenarios that I could think of for the ending as I was reading up to it, and instead what I got was this uninspired, pat ending with loose ends left everywhere. I don't need everything to be resolved by the end, but really. The author couldn't have at least given us another chapter? Was there a deadline or a word limit or something? The whole thing left me cold and reminded me of how I feel when I read Michael Chrichton's books. Meaty and interesting plot & content (even if it feels a LITTLE like it's cashing in on the DaVinci Code trend), highly unsatisfying ending. My rec: read this book until about 20 pages from the end, then stop. Whatever you imagine as the ending will likely be way cooler than what the author wrote.
December 3, 2021
This is one of the many The Da Vinci Code type books published this decade, although this one's by a more established writer. I found this is an average thriller, with the 'draw' being that the Codex being sought after by the investment banker protagonist, sees him not just investigating literature and literary riddles, but also computer tech as well, especially games! One needs to be more than like The Da Vinci Code to make one an interesting book! 5 out of 12, Two Star read.
2005 read
2005 read
July 3, 2007
I read this book on vacation, and so my brain was as relaxed as possible and as willing to be understanding. However, for the sake of full disclosure (and, hopefully, credibility), I am a graduate student in Medieval Studies, and I happen to have been taking a couse in the Medieval Book this semester, so that was my background while I was reading Codex.
I don't really need to repeat the comments of most of the people here -- that the plot is thin, the characters shallow, and that at best, the novel keeps you reading until the final, disappointing conclusion. I will say though that for the know-it-all tone that Grossman adopts, and considering that he brings in a medievalist graduate student to be even more erudite, his mistakes are glaring. (Some of these are factual mistakes that anyone with an acquaintance with the subject would spot, and some are logical mistakes that absolutely anyone would notice.)
I only remember one of them off the top of my head, and I can't check for more because I left the book in disgust at the hostel where I was staying. However, it's a notable example of the ignorance involved. Someone suggests burning the manuscript, and the main character says something like, "It's vellum, not paper. It doesn't burn."
EXCUSE ME? Someone should have told that to all the vellum manuscripts that have been destroyed in fires over the ages... then they would have known that animal skin doesn't burn.
Look buddy, if your main character was an English major at Yale, even as an undergrad he would know that vellum burns, because they all know that the Beinecke is full of rare manuscripts and books, and they like to tell you repeatedly (though incorrectly) how the air will be sucked out of the entire stacks in the case of fire. Also, he would know just a little more about books in general, ya know?
I don't really need to repeat the comments of most of the people here -- that the plot is thin, the characters shallow, and that at best, the novel keeps you reading until the final, disappointing conclusion. I will say though that for the know-it-all tone that Grossman adopts, and considering that he brings in a medievalist graduate student to be even more erudite, his mistakes are glaring. (Some of these are factual mistakes that anyone with an acquaintance with the subject would spot, and some are logical mistakes that absolutely anyone would notice.)
I only remember one of them off the top of my head, and I can't check for more because I left the book in disgust at the hostel where I was staying. However, it's a notable example of the ignorance involved. Someone suggests burning the manuscript, and the main character says something like, "It's vellum, not paper. It doesn't burn."
EXCUSE ME? Someone should have told that to all the vellum manuscripts that have been destroyed in fires over the ages... then they would have known that animal skin doesn't burn.
Look buddy, if your main character was an English major at Yale, even as an undergrad he would know that vellum burns, because they all know that the Beinecke is full of rare manuscripts and books, and they like to tell you repeatedly (though incorrectly) how the air will be sucked out of the entire stacks in the case of fire. Also, he would know just a little more about books in general, ya know?
February 9, 2014
Young investment banker gets caught up in the search for a medieval manuscript that may or may not exist.
Ouch, this is not good. It's what appears to be Grossman's default protagonist: young white New Yorker dude who is deeply confused that his enormous privilege doesn't translate automatically to happiness. But his later fantasies have so much more muscle and richness to them. This thriller, by comparison, thumps blandly along to its dull conclusion.
That's actually one of the saddest things about this book. It flirts with the fantastical around the edges, but then withdraws to the banal with what looks like a failure of courage. The protagonist plays a computer game, whose scenes and convolutions begin to parallel the quest plot in eerie and inexplicable ways. Inexplicable until explained, anyway, and not to get too psychological about this because I don't like doing that. But man. There is a fantasy novel strangled to death inside this rigid thriller, and it's kind of terrible to watch it happen.
Ouch, this is not good. It's what appears to be Grossman's default protagonist: young white New Yorker dude who is deeply confused that his enormous privilege doesn't translate automatically to happiness. But his later fantasies have so much more muscle and richness to them. This thriller, by comparison, thumps blandly along to its dull conclusion.
That's actually one of the saddest things about this book. It flirts with the fantastical around the edges, but then withdraws to the banal with what looks like a failure of courage. The protagonist plays a computer game, whose scenes and convolutions begin to parallel the quest plot in eerie and inexplicable ways. Inexplicable until explained, anyway, and not to get too psychological about this because I don't like doing that. But man. There is a fantasy novel strangled to death inside this rigid thriller, and it's kind of terrible to watch it happen.
April 23, 2018
This is by far the worst book I've ever read... I'm not an expert and I'm really sorry but this was a huge disappointment. At first it seemed quite promising. The first chapters were fast paced and quite intriguing I have to admit. However, there is nothing worse than a book which gets more and more boring as the story unfolds. It should be the other way around. When I finally made it to the last chapters I gradually regained my interest only find out that I had just read THE WORST ENDING EVEEEEER... It was like a bad joke. Seriously of all the possible endings( even the predictable ones seemed better) this one was the unimaginably wrong. I was left with nothing... Not a single explanation, a thousand questions swimming in my head. This should be renamed to: How to destroy a catchy plot.
May 12, 2016
Codex started so well, with a tone that reminded me strongly of Grossman's other novel, The Magicians. The book has one of those great beginnings that plunge you straight into the intrigue of the plot; from protagonist Edward's encounter with a strange couple, to his appointment with a client and subsequent acceptance - reluctant but instinctive - of a book-related quest, I was hooked within the first chapter. Scores of titillating details - Laura Crowlyk's archaic apartment building with its eccentric doorman, the coincidental appearance of the Went name and Weymarshe symbol everywhere Edward looks - add a touch of surreal magic to otherwise mundane events. And not only does Edward's adventure take in an ancient missing book and the family secrets of a dynasty of English aristocrats, we also watch him becoming obsessed with an unnervingly lifelike virtual reality game called MOMUS.
Unfortunately, after this excellent set-up, the middle of the story is mediocre and the end disappointing. The purpose and meaning of MOMUS turns out to be a letdown; the codex's secrets similarly anticlimactic. The final twist is so muted you hardly notice it's happening. Margaret's initial account of the story contained within the codex is entrancing, but when the long-lost ending is finally explained, it's a damp squib. Eventually, most of the loose ends are tied up - but in a dull kind of way, and those that aren't are just maddening (what on earth was the Duchess's bizarre letter to Edward supposed to mean?!) The other problem is Edward himself. To my mind, the reader never really gets to grips with what makes him tick; we're informed of his 'pain' upon leaving Margaret behind, but the narrative never gives the impression that his feelings for her go much further than vague affection. His obsession with the Duchess isn't explained properly, to the extent that his decisions at the end seem completely out of proportion to his previous thoughts, and his friendship with Zeph seems out of place too - would a 'hotshot' young banker obsessed with work and money really choose to spend his precious downtime with a self-confessed computer geek? I couldn't shake the feeling that Zeph had been written into the story purely to facilitate Edward's introduction to MOMUS.
This book was first published in 2004, when Da Vinci Code fever was at its height, and you can clearly see that influence in the plot, the characters and even the cover design - though Codex is better-written and less sensational. If you loved The Magicians, chances are you'll enjoy this too; it's not as inventive, but it's a good read. It's just a pity the last two-thirds aren't anywhere near as engaging as the first.
Unfortunately, after this excellent set-up, the middle of the story is mediocre and the end disappointing. The purpose and meaning of MOMUS turns out to be a letdown; the codex's secrets similarly anticlimactic. The final twist is so muted you hardly notice it's happening. Margaret's initial account of the story contained within the codex is entrancing, but when the long-lost ending is finally explained, it's a damp squib. Eventually, most of the loose ends are tied up - but in a dull kind of way, and those that aren't are just maddening (what on earth was the Duchess's bizarre letter to Edward supposed to mean?!) The other problem is Edward himself. To my mind, the reader never really gets to grips with what makes him tick; we're informed of his 'pain' upon leaving Margaret behind, but the narrative never gives the impression that his feelings for her go much further than vague affection. His obsession with the Duchess isn't explained properly, to the extent that his decisions at the end seem completely out of proportion to his previous thoughts, and his friendship with Zeph seems out of place too - would a 'hotshot' young banker obsessed with work and money really choose to spend his precious downtime with a self-confessed computer geek? I couldn't shake the feeling that Zeph had been written into the story purely to facilitate Edward's introduction to MOMUS.
This book was first published in 2004, when Da Vinci Code fever was at its height, and you can clearly see that influence in the plot, the characters and even the cover design - though Codex is better-written and less sensational. If you loved The Magicians, chances are you'll enjoy this too; it's not as inventive, but it's a good read. It's just a pity the last two-thirds aren't anywhere near as engaging as the first.
December 9, 2012
If you were an investment banker before the 2008 recession, and you had just begun your first vacation in four years prior to moving from New York to a cushy new position in London, would you take on a job unpacking and cataloguing an ancient library for an elusive, eccentric, and extremely wealthy British couple who also happen to be nobility? That’s what Edward Wozny does in Codex, and it changes everything. On the surface, that seems like it should be a good thing to say about a novel. Change—and specifically conflict—keeps things interesting. Unfortunately, Lev Grossman seems to have a knack for writing characters with whom it becomes difficult to sympathize, and Codex proves no different in this respect from his later efforts.
I’ve catalogued books before. During one of my summers working at the art gallery, I spent several hours a week in the tiny room that served as our library. It contained a diverse collection of arts books, catalogues from other galleries, newsletters and flyers announcing exhibitions from other galleries, and all manner of slides and film reels and bric-a-brac mouldering away. Armed, like Edward, with a laptop and a cataloguing program and, like Edward, lacking any experience in this field, I gamely went through the collection. I looked up books in online databases, estimated how much they might be worth for insurance purposes based on their condition and a search of used booksellers. I printed labels with Dewey classifications on them and stuck them to the spines before replacing the books on their shelves. It was an interesting experience, but it took a long time. And that tiny library is a lot smaller than the one Edward must tackle.
So I can understand Edward’s reluctance to get involved initially. And to some extent I can empathize with how he gets sucked into the task after that first day. But I don’t understand how, after he is dismissed, the hunt for a codex by Gervase of Langford still consumes him. Why is he still so obsessed with the Duchess? Grossman gives Edward an academic background in English, probably in an attempt to make Edward’s atrophied interests germane to the subject matter here. It’s not enough, though. Similarly, Edward’s newly found passion for the game that his techie friend Zeph passes on to him is unimpressive.
The problem here is simple: Grossman tries to emphasize that Edward is acting out of character. Yet we have met Edward so recently that we don’t have a good baseline for his character. So instead of internalizing this idea that Edward is deviating from his typical lifestyle, it just seems like Edward is a massive idiot. And my opinion of him does not improve at any point in this novel. He consistently and constantly invites disaster by confiding in people or failing to act when action should have been taken. The entire fizzling, disappointing coda to Codex could have been titled, “Why Edward Deserves to Fail”. At no point does he decide to take charge and do something his way.
Its black hole of a main character aside, Codex tries to be a thriller and just doesn’t work. Worse, it tries to be a literary thriller. This is no The Name of the Rose, an eminently superior book that Grossman name-checks with a bit of a pretentious literary wink. I don’t think Codex is trying to be The Name of the Rose, because it lacks any of the academic or philosophical depth that makes the latter such an amazing book. Nevertheless, Codex just isn’t very thrilling.
One reason is a lack of strong, nefarious antagonists. The Duke and Duchess are remote characters whom, aside from a brief cameo at the beginning, we never see. Moreover, Grossman tries to build the former up as this imposing person who should not trifled with, but he doesn’t even kill off a lackey. How are we supposed to find these people threatening? About the worst thing that happens is that Edward doesn’t sleep enough and fails to pack before his move to London. Oooh, so terrible. Where are the consequences here? Various people seem to insinuate that it isn’t easy to disentangle oneself from the grasp of the Wents once they have their cold, rich fingers closed around you. Yet at no point does Grossman ever do anything to demonstrate this is true.
And then we have the ending. Without going into spoiler territory, let’s just say that the eponymous codex puts in manifests in time. But, of course, Edward screws it all up even as he gets betrayed. We don’t really learn why he gets betrayed, nor do we get even a hint of the aftermath involved. Indeed, after all that sabre-rattling about how unpleasant his life would be if he failed at his task or displeased the Duke, the ending of the book makes it seem more like Edward is just going to get let off the hook. But I guess we’ll never know.
Reading Codex wasn’t a waste of time. It provided a certain level of empty enjoyment. It’s clear that Grossman did some research here, and his love of literature shines through. Edward and Margaret’s conversations about medieval scholarship and speculations on Gervase of Langford were genuinely interesting. It’s these few redeeming qualities that make this book so disappointing. As with The Magicians and The Magician King , Grossman infuses the story with a highly sophisticated literary subtext—but he does so at the expense of the story itself, and that is problematic.
I’ve catalogued books before. During one of my summers working at the art gallery, I spent several hours a week in the tiny room that served as our library. It contained a diverse collection of arts books, catalogues from other galleries, newsletters and flyers announcing exhibitions from other galleries, and all manner of slides and film reels and bric-a-brac mouldering away. Armed, like Edward, with a laptop and a cataloguing program and, like Edward, lacking any experience in this field, I gamely went through the collection. I looked up books in online databases, estimated how much they might be worth for insurance purposes based on their condition and a search of used booksellers. I printed labels with Dewey classifications on them and stuck them to the spines before replacing the books on their shelves. It was an interesting experience, but it took a long time. And that tiny library is a lot smaller than the one Edward must tackle.
So I can understand Edward’s reluctance to get involved initially. And to some extent I can empathize with how he gets sucked into the task after that first day. But I don’t understand how, after he is dismissed, the hunt for a codex by Gervase of Langford still consumes him. Why is he still so obsessed with the Duchess? Grossman gives Edward an academic background in English, probably in an attempt to make Edward’s atrophied interests germane to the subject matter here. It’s not enough, though. Similarly, Edward’s newly found passion for the game that his techie friend Zeph passes on to him is unimpressive.
The problem here is simple: Grossman tries to emphasize that Edward is acting out of character. Yet we have met Edward so recently that we don’t have a good baseline for his character. So instead of internalizing this idea that Edward is deviating from his typical lifestyle, it just seems like Edward is a massive idiot. And my opinion of him does not improve at any point in this novel. He consistently and constantly invites disaster by confiding in people or failing to act when action should have been taken. The entire fizzling, disappointing coda to Codex could have been titled, “Why Edward Deserves to Fail”. At no point does he decide to take charge and do something his way.
Its black hole of a main character aside, Codex tries to be a thriller and just doesn’t work. Worse, it tries to be a literary thriller. This is no The Name of the Rose, an eminently superior book that Grossman name-checks with a bit of a pretentious literary wink. I don’t think Codex is trying to be The Name of the Rose, because it lacks any of the academic or philosophical depth that makes the latter such an amazing book. Nevertheless, Codex just isn’t very thrilling.
One reason is a lack of strong, nefarious antagonists. The Duke and Duchess are remote characters whom, aside from a brief cameo at the beginning, we never see. Moreover, Grossman tries to build the former up as this imposing person who should not trifled with, but he doesn’t even kill off a lackey. How are we supposed to find these people threatening? About the worst thing that happens is that Edward doesn’t sleep enough and fails to pack before his move to London. Oooh, so terrible. Where are the consequences here? Various people seem to insinuate that it isn’t easy to disentangle oneself from the grasp of the Wents once they have their cold, rich fingers closed around you. Yet at no point does Grossman ever do anything to demonstrate this is true.
And then we have the ending. Without going into spoiler territory, let’s just say that the eponymous codex puts in manifests in time. But, of course, Edward screws it all up even as he gets betrayed. We don’t really learn why he gets betrayed, nor do we get even a hint of the aftermath involved. Indeed, after all that sabre-rattling about how unpleasant his life would be if he failed at his task or displeased the Duke, the ending of the book makes it seem more like Edward is just going to get let off the hook. But I guess we’ll never know.
Reading Codex wasn’t a waste of time. It provided a certain level of empty enjoyment. It’s clear that Grossman did some research here, and his love of literature shines through. Edward and Margaret’s conversations about medieval scholarship and speculations on Gervase of Langford were genuinely interesting. It’s these few redeeming qualities that make this book so disappointing. As with The Magicians and The Magician King , Grossman infuses the story with a highly sophisticated literary subtext—but he does so at the expense of the story itself, and that is problematic.
May 11, 2011
Codex got great professional reviews, with The New York Times comparing it and putting right next to The Name of The Rose. But when you read the "unprofessional" reviews you'll see that it bombed and was panned practically everywhere, including this site.
I disliked Grossman's The Magicians, but I decided to give him another chance since I already had the book. It was this title that made me interested in him, after all. The title caught my eye and the backcover caught my interest - a mystery involving a medieval manuscript that's somehow connected to an addicting videogame? SOLD!
Turns out I enjoyed Codex more than I thought I would, though largely because of the idea of it. Grossman takes many liberties with plot development and character actions (an investment banker organizing a private library? come on!) and some things are just too coincidential, particularly the parallels that start emerging between the virtual and real world.
I enjoyed Edward's struggle with his loneliness and work-centered life, though he seems to be rather stale throughout the whole novel. Grossman introduces new characters who pop in and out into his life and never seem to have any sort of real impact on him. I sympathized with Edward and his need to belong, and wished Grossman would develop the relationships between him and other people a bit more.
The game portions were what I was looking forward to, since I'm a game myself. I spent a great deal of my childhood playing, so the idea that a videogame is an important portion of the story really appealed to me. But MOMUS (that's the name of the game) is a game that's more a fantasy of one. Since Grossman writes a blog on technology I expected something fascinating but also realistic; something unique and compelling that I could imagine booting up on my PC. But the MOMUS sections seem to be written by someone who has no interest in gaming and whose last experience with computers was by watching the movie Hackers. The virtual reality portions aren't particularly original and lack detail - is it an FPS shooter? A MYST like adventure? We'll never know, which is weird because Grossman is not shy about providing large infodumps about books and history.
I enjoyed the quiet tone of the book. The plot moves at a slow, leisurely pace and the events happen one after another, like in any thriller, but there's never the feel of burning tension. Even though the book obviously rides on the coattail of The Davinci Code which was published only a year before, it's completely different in mood and style. The denouement in particular angered many readers but I enjoyed it as a quiet, fitting conclusion.
To sum up: Not bad as it might seem. Grossman is not the best writer in the world and Codex is not the best thriller, but I enjoyed it a lot more than his gloomy fantasy The Magicians. In the end, I can even say that I liked it; even though it appears to be it's not a Dan Brown novel, and that's a good thing.
I disliked Grossman's The Magicians, but I decided to give him another chance since I already had the book. It was this title that made me interested in him, after all. The title caught my eye and the backcover caught my interest - a mystery involving a medieval manuscript that's somehow connected to an addicting videogame? SOLD!
Turns out I enjoyed Codex more than I thought I would, though largely because of the idea of it. Grossman takes many liberties with plot development and character actions (an investment banker organizing a private library? come on!) and some things are just too coincidential, particularly the parallels that start emerging between the virtual and real world.
I enjoyed Edward's struggle with his loneliness and work-centered life, though he seems to be rather stale throughout the whole novel. Grossman introduces new characters who pop in and out into his life and never seem to have any sort of real impact on him. I sympathized with Edward and his need to belong, and wished Grossman would develop the relationships between him and other people a bit more.
The game portions were what I was looking forward to, since I'm a game myself. I spent a great deal of my childhood playing, so the idea that a videogame is an important portion of the story really appealed to me. But MOMUS (that's the name of the game) is a game that's more a fantasy of one. Since Grossman writes a blog on technology I expected something fascinating but also realistic; something unique and compelling that I could imagine booting up on my PC. But the MOMUS sections seem to be written by someone who has no interest in gaming and whose last experience with computers was by watching the movie Hackers. The virtual reality portions aren't particularly original and lack detail - is it an FPS shooter? A MYST like adventure? We'll never know, which is weird because Grossman is not shy about providing large infodumps about books and history.
I enjoyed the quiet tone of the book. The plot moves at a slow, leisurely pace and the events happen one after another, like in any thriller, but there's never the feel of burning tension. Even though the book obviously rides on the coattail of The Davinci Code which was published only a year before, it's completely different in mood and style. The denouement in particular angered many readers but I enjoyed it as a quiet, fitting conclusion.
To sum up: Not bad as it might seem. Grossman is not the best writer in the world and Codex is not the best thriller, but I enjoyed it a lot more than his gloomy fantasy The Magicians. In the end, I can even say that I liked it; even though it appears to be it's not a Dan Brown novel, and that's a good thing.
October 11, 2009
Interesting. Yes, it was an engaging story, well written. The reader is sucked tightly into Edward's mental struggles. But the conclusion--the very last pages--was as unsatisfactory as it was inevitable.
Edward stumbled through the story, the game, and life with little apparent engagement. It was like his youthful bout of chess mastery: it came and went with little investment by him. He observed as much as acted it. Several times Edward admits being afraid, but he never acts afraid. He never changes his behavior.
Grossman's "hero" is an investment banker and, though the story involves nothing about investment banking, a metaphor lurks there for the type of person Edward is. His role in both the MOMUS computer game and the search for the codex is not much different. He spends a third of his life drunk or hung over and a third playing a computer game, and he doesn't seem to realize or care that he's burning up precious moments. Sure, he ends up with the money and the job, but not the book or the girl. If he's happy with that bargain--and the author hints that he is--he just confirms my low opinion: of him and the story.
But the reader must then answer the question, why did Grossman write this book, and why this way? I have no clue. And there are more engaging stories--not to mention life--to spend much time pondering it.
Edward stumbled through the story, the game, and life with little apparent engagement. It was like his youthful bout of chess mastery: it came and went with little investment by him. He observed as much as acted it. Several times Edward admits being afraid, but he never acts afraid. He never changes his behavior.
Grossman's "hero" is an investment banker and, though the story involves nothing about investment banking, a metaphor lurks there for the type of person Edward is. His role in both the MOMUS computer game and the search for the codex is not much different. He spends a third of his life drunk or hung over and a third playing a computer game, and he doesn't seem to realize or care that he's burning up precious moments. Sure, he ends up with the money and the job, but not the book or the girl. If he's happy with that bargain--and the author hints that he is--he just confirms my low opinion: of him and the story.
But the reader must then answer the question, why did Grossman write this book, and why this way? I have no clue. And there are more engaging stories--not to mention life--to spend much time pondering it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2009
This book took a long time to grow on me. This was partly due to the basic fact that most thrillers start out slow and then speed up faster and faster until you cannot put it down. The other part was that, early in the novel, he uses the phrase(if I can recall correctly) "very expensive grey handmade suit." Whenever a banker wears a handmade suit, it is costly. He did not need to use "expensive", let alone "very expensive."
My snobbery, though, came back to bite me because I spent a good hour being wary. That was the only egregious sentence in the book. The characters are different; most contemporary, good-looking investment bankers in literature have active social lives, rather than "never getting laid." Aspies are rarely heroes, unless it is the movie "Adam." And his portrayal of Margaret was so true that her behavior in the end was a total shock.
His depiction of academia was so accurate that I have a hard time believing that there was no author Gervase of Langford in the middle ages.
All in all, a very smart book with a heart and an understanding of how humans work. Rare indeed.
My snobbery, though, came back to bite me because I spent a good hour being wary. That was the only egregious sentence in the book. The characters are different; most contemporary, good-looking investment bankers in literature have active social lives, rather than "never getting laid." Aspies are rarely heroes, unless it is the movie "Adam." And his portrayal of Margaret was so true that her behavior in the end was a total shock.
His depiction of academia was so accurate that I have a hard time believing that there was no author Gervase of Langford in the middle ages.
All in all, a very smart book with a heart and an understanding of how humans work. Rare indeed.
December 23, 2021
В целом, это даже неплохой читательский роман, очень атмосферный, и, как все книги Гроссмана, пронизанный особой человеческой тоской по нечеловеческому, по несуществующим книжным мирам с приключениями и куртуазной любовью, о которой, как опять же это бывает у Гроссмана, грезит герой, которому неуютно не в окружающем его реальном мире, а в самом себе, и он торопится при первой же подвернувшейся возможности уйти в прохладную затененную тишь библиотек, средневековых кодексов, квестов, загадок и несбыточной любви, чтобы лишний раз убедиться в том, что можно уйти от бабушки и от дедушки, от работы и от обязательств, чтобы в итоге попасться на зубок самому себе.
Ну и на фоне всего этого сюжет нитевидный, почти не прощупывается.
Ну и на фоне всего этого сюжет нитевидный, почти не прощупывается.
January 30, 2020
Nuevamente nos encontramos ante un libro con trama de "manuscrito encontrado." Pero si esperan sorpresas, acción, intriga o alguna que otra persecución, ya pueden olvidarse de ello.
Este libro transcurre en una biblioteca en donde el protagonista, quien es un abogado adinerado, por alguna extraña razón acepta pasarse sus vacaciones en la biblioteca de una pareja ricacjona buscando el manuscrito de un autor que al parecer es sólo un mito.
Y ya. De eso trata todo. El manuacrito no es más que una novela de la edad media que no afecta para nada si es descubierto o no. También hay una trama paralela en donde el protagonista juega un videojuego. Y listo. Esa trama tampoco lleva a nada.
Uno de los peores libros que he leído en toda mi vida!😱😱😱
Este libro transcurre en una biblioteca en donde el protagonista, quien es un abogado adinerado, por alguna extraña razón acepta pasarse sus vacaciones en la biblioteca de una pareja ricacjona buscando el manuscrito de un autor que al parecer es sólo un mito.
Y ya. De eso trata todo. El manuacrito no es más que una novela de la edad media que no afecta para nada si es descubierto o no. También hay una trama paralela en donde el protagonista juega un videojuego. Y listo. Esa trama tampoco lleva a nada.
Uno de los peores libros que he leído en toda mi vida!😱😱😱
December 7, 2023
DNF 74%. Interesting idea but executed poorly. The computer stuff was a bit dated (they went to a LAN party!), but that would not have mattered if the story or characters were at all compelling or intriguing.
June 17, 2022
‘Codex’ is the name applied to a medieval book, one which was composed of sheets stitched together, in contradistinction to ancient scrolls or wax tablets on which texts were written in the classical period.
The novel Codex is about just such a tome, one which appears to be both unique and therefore much sought after.
Around this book Grossman weaves a modern thriller which, given that the times move on apace, may not be as modern as Grossman might have hoped it to be.
In that this is a tale of a contemporary quest for a medieval book that purports to be about the Quest for the Holy Grail, Codex is undoubtedly an Arthurian novel. We are treated to circumstantial details about a medieval codex, 'A Viage to the Contree of the Cimmerians' by Gervase of Langford, and much about encoded messages, bookbinding and medieval manuscripts. This reveals the author’s intention to impress us with the depth of his research, and I have to say that some of the detail is fascinating; and as an Arthurian I thought the conceit of a hitherto unknown manuscript about the Matter of Britain promising.
Less promising are the details of a virtual reality game that the hero simultaneously gets drawn into, which are meant to impress us with the breadth of Grossman’s online experience; the novel is set in the middle of the noughties and so it becomes less hard as time goes on to say how that may not stand up as a plot device, especially while real-life technology overtakes his scenario.
Sadly, in common with many such thrillers – the paperback cover of this edition is a homage to, or perhaps rip-off of, the original The Da Vinci Code jacket with its medieval archways – there is little about the characters to empathise with or care about: they are enigmatic stereotypes, and it’s hard to feel a connection with cardboard cut-outs, particularly the vacillating and inconsistent protagonist.
The final nail in the coffin, for me, is the totally surreal view of modern England that is conjured up in the closing pages as the North American hero, the archetypical innocent abroad, chases after his chimaera on the other side of the Atlantic. And of course we know that this type of Questing Beast ultimately proves illusory.
Still, as a thriller it does its job, pulling the reader along at breakneck speed with reflective episodes interspersed, and is intriguing enough to mostly keep you enthralled, almost through to the end. There is affection enough in the asides about medieval literature and the physicality of ancient tomes; a pity then that there is an unreality about the concluding events.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-codex
The novel Codex is about just such a tome, one which appears to be both unique and therefore much sought after.
Around this book Grossman weaves a modern thriller which, given that the times move on apace, may not be as modern as Grossman might have hoped it to be.
In that this is a tale of a contemporary quest for a medieval book that purports to be about the Quest for the Holy Grail, Codex is undoubtedly an Arthurian novel. We are treated to circumstantial details about a medieval codex, 'A Viage to the Contree of the Cimmerians' by Gervase of Langford, and much about encoded messages, bookbinding and medieval manuscripts. This reveals the author’s intention to impress us with the depth of his research, and I have to say that some of the detail is fascinating; and as an Arthurian I thought the conceit of a hitherto unknown manuscript about the Matter of Britain promising.
Less promising are the details of a virtual reality game that the hero simultaneously gets drawn into, which are meant to impress us with the breadth of Grossman’s online experience; the novel is set in the middle of the noughties and so it becomes less hard as time goes on to say how that may not stand up as a plot device, especially while real-life technology overtakes his scenario.
Sadly, in common with many such thrillers – the paperback cover of this edition is a homage to, or perhaps rip-off of, the original The Da Vinci Code jacket with its medieval archways – there is little about the characters to empathise with or care about: they are enigmatic stereotypes, and it’s hard to feel a connection with cardboard cut-outs, particularly the vacillating and inconsistent protagonist.
The final nail in the coffin, for me, is the totally surreal view of modern England that is conjured up in the closing pages as the North American hero, the archetypical innocent abroad, chases after his chimaera on the other side of the Atlantic. And of course we know that this type of Questing Beast ultimately proves illusory.
Still, as a thriller it does its job, pulling the reader along at breakneck speed with reflective episodes interspersed, and is intriguing enough to mostly keep you enthralled, almost through to the end. There is affection enough in the asides about medieval literature and the physicality of ancient tomes; a pity then that there is an unreality about the concluding events.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-codex
January 31, 2010
I never just pick up a book off the shelf and buy it. But the title caught my eye and with a scan of the back cover I got carried away…. Medieval Manuscripts, Videogames, New York, mystery, rich people… SOLD to the man in the book story with the wandering eyes. And the quipped reviews on the back from the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, et al were practically beating off all over the cover. Buyer beware!
It was a shallow breezy read Grossman gives us the Dan Brown-light treatment. But everything in the book was super thin. The protagonist had a dreadful persona, flat, wooden and shallow. The videogame portions were horribly disappointing. As a gamer I may have had high expectations but MOMUS just didn’t make any realistic sense. It’s a game that could never happen. Was it a MYST type game? a shooter? a RPG? It appears to be written and conceived by a person who’s last videogame experience was Ms. Pac-Man. The mystery everything is spinning around sputters out early on and by the end of the novel you’re just bewildered in the worst way; like you were cheated.
Here are the few things I did learn:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Momus or Momos (μῶμος) was in Greek mythology the god of satire, mockery, censure, writers, poets; a spirit of evil-spirited blame and unfair criticism. His name is related to μομφή, meaning 'blame' or 'censure'. He is depicted in classical art as lifting a mask from his face.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
littera textura:
(from Latin texere, 'to weave'). Compressed, sharp and angular Gothic script in which the letters appear to be woven together to form a line.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
steganography \steg-uh-NAH-gruh-fee\ noun
: the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file
(From Merriam-Webster)
Did you know?
"Steganography" is a word that was resurrected after being in disuse for almost 150 years! It was put to rest in the early 1800s, labeled an archaic synonym of "cryptography" by dictionary makers, but was brought back to life in the 1980s as a word for a type of digital cryptography. There is nothing cryptic about the word's origin; it is based on the Greek word "steganos," meaning "covered" or "reticent."
It was a shallow breezy read Grossman gives us the Dan Brown-light treatment. But everything in the book was super thin. The protagonist had a dreadful persona, flat, wooden and shallow. The videogame portions were horribly disappointing. As a gamer I may have had high expectations but MOMUS just didn’t make any realistic sense. It’s a game that could never happen. Was it a MYST type game? a shooter? a RPG? It appears to be written and conceived by a person who’s last videogame experience was Ms. Pac-Man. The mystery everything is spinning around sputters out early on and by the end of the novel you’re just bewildered in the worst way; like you were cheated.
Here are the few things I did learn:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Momus or Momos (μῶμος) was in Greek mythology the god of satire, mockery, censure, writers, poets; a spirit of evil-spirited blame and unfair criticism. His name is related to μομφή, meaning 'blame' or 'censure'. He is depicted in classical art as lifting a mask from his face.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
littera textura:
(from Latin texere, 'to weave'). Compressed, sharp and angular Gothic script in which the letters appear to be woven together to form a line.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
steganography \steg-uh-NAH-gruh-fee\ noun
: the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file
(From Merriam-Webster)
Did you know?
"Steganography" is a word that was resurrected after being in disuse for almost 150 years! It was put to rest in the early 1800s, labeled an archaic synonym of "cryptography" by dictionary makers, but was brought back to life in the 1980s as a word for a type of digital cryptography. There is nothing cryptic about the word's origin; it is based on the Greek word "steganos," meaning "covered" or "reticent."
November 21, 2012
I honestly can't remember the last time I read a book so incredibly up its own arse as Codex. My God, this was a slog and could I see the last day or two over, knowing the ultimate revelations at the heart of the 'mystery', I would not have bothered. Nor should you.
The book gives us a rare library and priceless manuscript, as promised, but there's nothing 'deadly' about the secret. There's nothing interesting about it either. Plus we have to wade through 300 pages of dry, humourless prose driven by an incredibly boring, incredibly irritating workaholic protagonist who it's hard to truck any sympathy with, given Lev Grossman drips his novel in middle-class Americana, not to mention a horribly outdated, public school portrayal of British aristocracy. The whole thing feels weirdly old-fashioned, with it's jarring attempts to shoe horn a somewhat prescient computer game into a narrative that mostly involves our characters walking through dusty libraries, pondering on 14th century literature, or pontificating in the ponciest fashion about various and sundry. Grossman thinks he's writing something clever, literate and a bit profound, when I just want Eddie Chase to walk in, punch him on the nose, and shout 'ay up, bellend'.
Codex really is as boring and wanky as it sounds. Avoid it. And avoid Loyd Grossman. Actually, just avoid Lev Grossman, at least Loyd is entertaining.
The book gives us a rare library and priceless manuscript, as promised, but there's nothing 'deadly' about the secret. There's nothing interesting about it either. Plus we have to wade through 300 pages of dry, humourless prose driven by an incredibly boring, incredibly irritating workaholic protagonist who it's hard to truck any sympathy with, given Lev Grossman drips his novel in middle-class Americana, not to mention a horribly outdated, public school portrayal of British aristocracy. The whole thing feels weirdly old-fashioned, with it's jarring attempts to shoe horn a somewhat prescient computer game into a narrative that mostly involves our characters walking through dusty libraries, pondering on 14th century literature, or pontificating in the ponciest fashion about various and sundry. Grossman thinks he's writing something clever, literate and a bit profound, when I just want Eddie Chase to walk in, punch him on the nose, and shout 'ay up, bellend'.
Codex really is as boring and wanky as it sounds. Avoid it. And avoid Loyd Grossman. Actually, just avoid Lev Grossman, at least Loyd is entertaining.
June 29, 2015
Codex has a very interesting premise - a long lost manuscript that holds a secret and good guys and bad guys going after it. Sure, it's been done before but I'm always up for more stories like this.
But. . . .
Ultimately unsatisfying.
It is going to be very hard for me to review this book without spoilers, so -
But. . . .
Ultimately unsatisfying.
It is going to be very hard for me to review this book without spoilers, so -
October 23, 2018
Written before his wildly acclaimed Magician series, I can tell this is an earlier attempt at a novel. While Grossman spins a wicked tale, it's not as polished as later books.
Edward is a high-profile investment banker with a short sabbatical between job postings, when he's asked to sort out an antique book collection for a distant Duke and Duchess; specifically, to watch for a "certain book" rumored to be real and potentially in their stacks.
This of course leads to intrigue and suspicion, adventure and mayhem.
Some of the motivations and actions were far fetched, and the story process itself wasn't fully polished. And the ending, oh, the ending. A fizzle and a letdown. But there were many fine elements that make it worthwhile. I loved all the delving into ancient writers and the mindset of authors of the past, the snippets of writing style analysis, the physical acts of bookbinding and dismantling. And score one for an old school LAN party!
Also, I could see glimmers of his future Magician series: some of Edward's mannerisms, the magical tale wrapped in the mystery book, the fantasy world in a video game, even a description of a fountain. I am glad I read this even if just to see those glimpses into the writer's mind and to recognize what was percolating in there.
Edward is a high-profile investment banker with a short sabbatical between job postings, when he's asked to sort out an antique book collection for a distant Duke and Duchess; specifically, to watch for a "certain book" rumored to be real and potentially in their stacks.
This of course leads to intrigue and suspicion, adventure and mayhem.
Some of the motivations and actions were far fetched, and the story process itself wasn't fully polished. And the ending, oh, the ending. A fizzle and a letdown. But there were many fine elements that make it worthwhile. I loved all the delving into ancient writers and the mindset of authors of the past, the snippets of writing style analysis, the physical acts of bookbinding and dismantling. And score one for an old school LAN party!
Also, I could see glimmers of his future Magician series: some of Edward's mannerisms, the magical tale wrapped in the mystery book, the fantasy world in a video game, even a description of a fountain. I am glad I read this even if just to see those glimpses into the writer's mind and to recognize what was percolating in there.
May 23, 2009
Really enjoyable, readable, suspenseful bookworm stuff for weekend/vacation reading. There were some annoying elements, but nothing off-putting enough to wreck the fun for me. Maybe not as good as the very best in the genre, but I liked it way more than the NYT bestsellers revolving around similar themes.
Reading other people's 2-3 star reviews I have to agree with a lot of their complaints, but I still managed to really like the book. Even though the ending isn't very satisfying I didn't feel like throwing the book down and stomping on it.
I liked the time I spent with Codex.
Reading other people's 2-3 star reviews I have to agree with a lot of their complaints, but I still managed to really like the book. Even though the ending isn't very satisfying I didn't feel like throwing the book down and stomping on it.
I liked the time I spent with Codex.
August 21, 2012
Reading the book jacket, I was intrigued by this story, only to be horribly disappointed. And a fair bit of it, I'm sure, was that the writing just didn't develop the characters at all. Where to begin? We first meet our protagonist (Wozny - can't even remember his first name, even though I just finished this yesterday) and quickly learn that he is good at his job, headed to London for his company, and has 2 weeks of vacation. He somehow (it's never properly explained why he ends up on this project, or how) ends up checking in on some clients for a project that isn't explained to him, so he's curious as to what it's about. And from there, he gets drawn into a hunt for a manuscript that may or may not exist. Along the way, we meet his friend Zeph, and Zeph's wife Caroline (really not sure what her purpose was other than just to give Mr. Grossman something to write about?), and their friend the Artiste. We also meet a college acquaintance of Wozny's - Fabrikant - and get the impression that the guy has a weird obsession with Wozny, which doesn't even make sense.
In fact, nothing in this book seems to make sense, let alone the whole MOMUS game angle. Lev Grossman has created characters that don't seem believable, and seem to have no real motivation for their actions. I'm not actually sure why I continued to read the book, other than because I wanted to see if any of it wrapped up in a way that made sense - like I wanted to see if this could be salvaged at any point. And, sadly, it couldn't. I actually would never recommend this book to anybody. Usually, there's some audience for a book. This one doesn't even have that. There seem to be some interesting descriptions here and there, but nothing to sustain this. Also, there appears to be some romantic elements thrown in, because, why not? None of it develops the characters or the plot in any way, and it just seems like it was written in at the behest of an editor and not because the author seemed vested in writing the scene.
If I can save you from wasting your time reading this book, the time spent writing this review will have been worth it.
In fact, nothing in this book seems to make sense, let alone the whole MOMUS game angle. Lev Grossman has created characters that don't seem believable, and seem to have no real motivation for their actions. I'm not actually sure why I continued to read the book, other than because I wanted to see if any of it wrapped up in a way that made sense - like I wanted to see if this could be salvaged at any point. And, sadly, it couldn't. I actually would never recommend this book to anybody. Usually, there's some audience for a book. This one doesn't even have that. There seem to be some interesting descriptions here and there, but nothing to sustain this. Also, there appears to be some romantic elements thrown in, because, why not? None of it develops the characters or the plot in any way, and it just seems like it was written in at the behest of an editor and not because the author seemed vested in writing the scene.
If I can save you from wasting your time reading this book, the time spent writing this review will have been worth it.
January 2, 2017
So I've started watching The Magicians on Neftlix, a tv show based on a strikingly derivative Grossman's book the appropriates ideas with kleptomaniacal glee. I didn't care for the book originally despite loving the theme of magic, this wasn't an inspired choice. But it made me think of Codex, the book Grossman wrote before The Magicians fame, so I checked it out. Just as much as I love magic, I love a good bibliomystery and as far as bibliomysteries go this was pretty decent. Once again Grossman employs a young and not overwhelmingly charismatic or likable young protagonist, this time a magic free banker who on his few weeks of sabbatical between jobs gets involved with tracking down a medieval codex with a conditional help of an even younger and even less likable young woman scholar. There is also an unnecessary video game, which detracted from the plot. The inclusion of it was probably meant to make the book more hip, but frankly I'm not into the juxtaposition of dusty old manuscripts and shiny new (for that time anyway) technology. Didn't work for me in a more recent Robin Sloan's book either, although that one made a mistake of making the video game a crucial part of the plot, wherein here it could have been left out with minor edits. I don't understand the fascination with reading about video games, but it's probably a personal preference, after all Ernest Cline is making a career out of it. This book was an international bestseller and it reads like one. Very fast paced, very easy read, fairly entertaining if you don't stop to think about it too much, although the ending is slightly lackluster. Decent read in general, far less annoying and imitative than The Magicians and sequel free. The backstory of the codex's history was by far the most fascinating and interesting part and it pretty much made the book.
September 8, 2012
I'm hiding this review because it's impossible for me to review this without discussing the ending.
Codex was a book that I really, really wanted to love.
I'm a lover of literary mystery and of medieval history, so the premise began as enticing and quickly became irresistible. It presented a mystery so big and so ancient, that I couldn't wait to see where the author was going. It seemed like an incredible story for anyone who is fascinated by the mysteries of the past.
Throughout the book, it seemed like we were moving closer and closer to some kind of answer, or at least some information.
And then the end came.
Out of nowhere, with more confusion than it began with, Codex came to a close. The mystery wasn't solved - it had only gotten bigger. If there were some kind of other focus - if, for example, the characters had been incredibly deep and faced incredible growth throughout their efforts - I might say that Codex was worth my time reading. The first half or three quarters of the book was incredibly enjoyable, regardless of believability. In the end, Codex just left far too much unknown. If I wanted nothing more than a hugely intriguing mystery that I would never know the answers to, I could have found plenty in the real world instead of being disappointed by a novel.
Codex was a book that I really, really wanted to love.
I'm a lover of literary mystery and of medieval history, so the premise began as enticing and quickly became irresistible. It presented a mystery so big and so ancient, that I couldn't wait to see where the author was going. It seemed like an incredible story for anyone who is fascinated by the mysteries of the past.
Throughout the book, it seemed like we were moving closer and closer to some kind of answer, or at least some information.
And then the end came.
Out of nowhere, with more confusion than it began with, Codex came to a close. The mystery wasn't solved - it had only gotten bigger. If there were some kind of other focus - if, for example, the characters had been incredibly deep and faced incredible growth throughout their efforts - I might say that Codex was worth my time reading. The first half or three quarters of the book was incredibly enjoyable, regardless of believability. In the end, Codex just left far too much unknown. If I wanted nothing more than a hugely intriguing mystery that I would never know the answers to, I could have found plenty in the real world instead of being disappointed by a novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2010
I was all set to give this book a higher rating, really. The writing is not uncompelling -- I wouldn't say it's slick and fascinating prose, but it's not a turn-off, either. It's okay for lazy reading, and the descriptions are pretty good. Some parts are quite fascinating, particularly the descriptions of MOMUS.
Characterisation is shaky, though. I don't particularly care about any of the characters, or feel convinced by their relationships to each other. Edward, the main character, was blandly unobjectionable, really, and Margaret was no better. The Duchess could've been interesting, but there wasn't much of her. I didn't believe in any of Edward's motivations, either: it didn't make any sense.
And then the ending... nothing has changed since the first page of the book, really. Edward hasn't grown as a character at all. The status quo hasn't shifted so much as an inch. All the potentially interesting characters and plot exits stage left. It's an utter anticlimax. It's infuriating.
Characterisation is shaky, though. I don't particularly care about any of the characters, or feel convinced by their relationships to each other. Edward, the main character, was blandly unobjectionable, really, and Margaret was no better. The Duchess could've been interesting, but there wasn't much of her. I didn't believe in any of Edward's motivations, either: it didn't make any sense.
And then the ending... nothing has changed since the first page of the book, really. Edward hasn't grown as a character at all. The status quo hasn't shifted so much as an inch. All the potentially interesting characters and plot exits stage left. It's an utter anticlimax. It's infuriating.
April 21, 2021
I was enjoying this book right up to the last twenty pages, when the plot just collapsed. It was as if the author had run out of ideas or got so bored with the project that he just slapped together something like an ending and walked away. When I set the book down I actually looked at it and said, “That’s it?” What a disappointing finish.
It had started well, with an interesting plot and enigmatic clues to follow. I never really bought into the protagonist’s motivation, the fact that after demonstrating himself to be a hard-charging, ambitious rising star in the financial sector, he would he would set it all aside to hunt for a book that nobody really believed existed. He is completely out of his element in the world of medieval manuscripts and authors, and needs a guide. He finds one in a woman with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, but who is so focused and tightly wound she seems almost autistic. The two of them join forces and follow clues as the story unfolds. I don’t know if the author himself is very knowledgeable about medieval history, as well as inks and paper and bookbinding, but he either found his own guide or he is bluffing, and if he is bluffing he does so very well, because the details all sounded convincing.
Books need subplots, and Codex has one involving a computer game. The game sometimes seems to parallel the main plot so much that I was wondering if the author was going to make some kind of mystical connection, but he does not. This makes it something of a red herring, useful in only one place, when its creator drops an important clue about the book.
Codex was published in 2005, and shows the dangers of trying to insert things from the real world in an area that changes rapidly, such as technology. For instance, I was stopped cold when he mentioned using a Zip Disk. Really? I used them once upon a time, pocket-sized hard shelled disks that held 100MB, but I haven’t thought about them in ages. He also mentions dot matrix printers and a LAN Party, which is so archaic it sounds quaint. It was considered a technological feat to be able to get 32 people together on a single local area network to play some kind of PvP game. Today or course, in the age of broadband thousands of people can be online in a game simultaneously, such as World of Warcraft.
As the book moves toward its conclusion some subplots fall away and some make no sense. I don’t want to give away the ending, but why on earth would he be met at the airport in London and driven in a limousine all the way to a manor house in northern England only to find he wasn’t expected at all? Who sent the manor’s car and chauffeur? And the big reveal, the reason people were searching for the book? It turned out to be ludicrously trivial, maybe good for a laugh or two over drinks, but nothing to make a scandal out of. After that, Codex does not so much end as it just stops, and apparently the protagonist is going to go back to his business-world job and will pick it up as if nothing had ever happened. It was a very disappointing and unsatisfactory conclusion.
It had started well, with an interesting plot and enigmatic clues to follow. I never really bought into the protagonist’s motivation, the fact that after demonstrating himself to be a hard-charging, ambitious rising star in the financial sector, he would he would set it all aside to hunt for a book that nobody really believed existed. He is completely out of his element in the world of medieval manuscripts and authors, and needs a guide. He finds one in a woman with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, but who is so focused and tightly wound she seems almost autistic. The two of them join forces and follow clues as the story unfolds. I don’t know if the author himself is very knowledgeable about medieval history, as well as inks and paper and bookbinding, but he either found his own guide or he is bluffing, and if he is bluffing he does so very well, because the details all sounded convincing.
Books need subplots, and Codex has one involving a computer game. The game sometimes seems to parallel the main plot so much that I was wondering if the author was going to make some kind of mystical connection, but he does not. This makes it something of a red herring, useful in only one place, when its creator drops an important clue about the book.
Codex was published in 2005, and shows the dangers of trying to insert things from the real world in an area that changes rapidly, such as technology. For instance, I was stopped cold when he mentioned using a Zip Disk. Really? I used them once upon a time, pocket-sized hard shelled disks that held 100MB, but I haven’t thought about them in ages. He also mentions dot matrix printers and a LAN Party, which is so archaic it sounds quaint. It was considered a technological feat to be able to get 32 people together on a single local area network to play some kind of PvP game. Today or course, in the age of broadband thousands of people can be online in a game simultaneously, such as World of Warcraft.
As the book moves toward its conclusion some subplots fall away and some make no sense. I don’t want to give away the ending, but why on earth would he be met at the airport in London and driven in a limousine all the way to a manor house in northern England only to find he wasn’t expected at all? Who sent the manor’s car and chauffeur? And the big reveal, the reason people were searching for the book? It turned out to be ludicrously trivial, maybe good for a laugh or two over drinks, but nothing to make a scandal out of. After that, Codex does not so much end as it just stops, and apparently the protagonist is going to go back to his business-world job and will pick it up as if nothing had ever happened. It was a very disappointing and unsatisfactory conclusion.
July 30, 2024
I read this mostly because it is supposed to be about books. Edward, the protagonist, seems rather clueless and lost much of the time. Blanche, the Duchess is hard to figure out until late in the book, when you find it wasn't really worth the bother. Zeph is entertaining, if sometimes annoying, while the Artiste is just plain weird. I liked Margaret, although the end left me a bit disappointed in her. There are several parallel, overlapping stories: a video game, the search for the missing, possibly non-existent codex, and Edward and Margaret. The video game gets too much ink and quickly becomes tedious. Margaret's expositions on the physical structures of books are fun, although I already knew most of it. I found the conclusion entirely unsatisfying.
March 7, 2017
When you need a "plane book" -- you know, something to keep you entertained on those budget flights with no TV screens -- you need Engaging. None of this academic crap -- ya girl wants brain candy. I wanna finish that shit by the time I land.
Codex is probably the best plane book I've ever read. Engaging in spades -- quick-paced, not overly serious, but layered enough to keep interest and break formula. I keep finding myself reading these biblio-mysteries (will they find the missing manuscript?? what will happen when they do?? WHAT UNIVERSITY/RICH PERSON WILL IT GO TO??? etc.), and I'm not gonna lie....I love 'em. The bibliomystery is such a SMART genre, can I interject -- like what a way to consider your audience. Take people who like reading & books and give 'em a whodunnit about books. Brilliant. Give me more.
Anyway, I read too many of these. Some of them are legitimately excellent (S. and The End of Mr. Y come to mind), some are...less so (oh, Possession...I'll never escape you). Either way they're mind crack, and Codex was no exception. It's not in the 'excellent' category -- the plot's pretty guessable and unoriginal, and Mr. Y does the video game/literature mix better -- and so does Pynchon's Bleeding Edge, for that matter. The characters are nothing special (and do the main two EVER remind me of the two in Possession, holy hell no). HOWEVER: the ending kind of comes out of left field. In some ways, that's fantastic -- a few of my most-hated tropes are avoided, particularly of the romantic kind. In other ways, it makes absolutely no sense 'cause there wasn't enough buildup, and the payoff was real unsatisfactory as a result.
So I mean...I could review this objectively and give it 2 stars, BUT: I landed with a few pages left and was desperate to finish it before I got to my Airbnb, so, ya know. If nothing else, I obviously 'liked it!'
Codex is probably the best plane book I've ever read. Engaging in spades -- quick-paced, not overly serious, but layered enough to keep interest and break formula. I keep finding myself reading these biblio-mysteries (will they find the missing manuscript?? what will happen when they do?? WHAT UNIVERSITY/RICH PERSON WILL IT GO TO??? etc.), and I'm not gonna lie....I love 'em. The bibliomystery is such a SMART genre, can I interject -- like what a way to consider your audience. Take people who like reading & books and give 'em a whodunnit about books. Brilliant. Give me more.
Anyway, I read too many of these. Some of them are legitimately excellent (S. and The End of Mr. Y come to mind), some are...less so (oh, Possession...I'll never escape you). Either way they're mind crack, and Codex was no exception. It's not in the 'excellent' category -- the plot's pretty guessable and unoriginal, and Mr. Y does the video game/literature mix better -- and so does Pynchon's Bleeding Edge, for that matter. The characters are nothing special (and do the main two EVER remind me of the two in Possession, holy hell no). HOWEVER: the ending kind of comes out of left field. In some ways, that's fantastic -- a few of my most-hated tropes are avoided, particularly of the romantic kind. In other ways, it makes absolutely no sense 'cause there wasn't enough buildup, and the payoff was real unsatisfactory as a result.
So I mean...I could review this objectively and give it 2 stars, BUT: I landed with a few pages left and was desperate to finish it before I got to my Airbnb, so, ya know. If nothing else, I obviously 'liked it!'
December 27, 2019
I quickly engaged with this easy read and it kept my interest throughout. While the characters could have been more fully developed, my main complaint was that the computer game piece seemed shoe-horned in and completely out of character. I wonder if this additional piece was to keep it from being so much like the Dan Brown novels? A nice book for a lazy winter day. 3.5 stars
April 1, 2010
Investment whizkid Edward is offered a prestigious transfer from NYC to London, and decides to take a couple of weeks off in between the two positions. He's asked by his employers to do one thing during this fortnight -- a quick favour for a rich client, a pair of English aristocrats. This proves to be a request to catalogue the family's ancestral collection of rare books -- a major task rather than the quick service advertised. Before he can refuse, though, he inexplicably decides to go through with it. He is particularly requested to keep an eye out for a 14th-century codex by one Gervase of Langford, a book believed to be a ghost title invented by a much later manuscript forger. Of course, Edward gets it into his head that -- as the family has always maintained -- the codex really exists, and his obsessive quest for it, alongside the near-autistic post-doc medievalist Margaret, forms the basis of this tale.
Woven through the central plot is a secondary one about Edward's increasing addiction to a virtual-reality game called MOMUS (after the Greek god thrown out of Olympus for his habit of pointing out all the ways creation could be improved). All kinds of parallels between and intersections of his adventures within the game and those outside it appear with a tacit sounding of portentous chords, although in the end all these come to nothing: they're just unnecessary plot complications.
But these aren't as irritating as all the plotting lapses, mostly involving Edward's motivations. As noted above, it's inexplicable why he should take on a task that's completely alien to his interests, experience and expertise: he just does, because it suits the author's purposes that he should. Likewise, throughout the book it's occasionally trotted out as a motivation for this or that action that Edward is infatuated by the Duchess, co-owner with her despised husband, the Duke, of the book collection; yet Edward has met the Duchess only briefly, she's of an older generation, there was no spark of attraction between them during that meeting, and the relationship between Duchess and Duke was portrayed at the time as testily affectionate. In the end we are supposed to believe that hotshot Wall Street high-flyer Edward is prepared to throw away his entire career, not to mention his belatedly burgeoning love for Margaret, in hopes of a life with an older woman he's barely met and for whom he seems to have any warm emotion only when the author finds it convenient. I kept expecting some final revelation of the reasons why these two enormous plot implausibilities (there are others) should somehow make sense, but it never came.
The first chapter or so of Codex is written in the Dan Brown textual mode: a sort of determined mediocrity. Thereafter, though, things improve a lot, and much of the book is definitely compelling, especially the passages dealing with true and invented literary history, the contents of the supposed codex, the nature of the medieval mind, etc. (For a while I thought this book might be the antithesis of the student-writer cliche "show, don't tell" because I was enjoying all the genuine or imitation infodumping so much.) In other words, after its rocky beginning, Codex is a good fast read, but at it's end I felt I'd somehow been cheated.
I'm planning, because of multiple recommendations, to read Grossman's The Magicians soon, and hope I enjoy it better.
October 10, 2015
On audiobook. This novel begins with an atticful of books that were hurriedly shipped from their great English house to NYC when it looked like Nazi Germany would be taking over Great Britain. They've been sitting, still in their crates, since then, and it will be Edward, this novel's main character, who has the job of unpacking and cataloging them. Oh yeah, and he should keep an eye out for a very rare book by someone named Gervaise.
That's all it took. I was deep into this book, a little thrilled and ready to go. Joseph Campbell called this part of a story "the call to adventure", and is there any call to adventure that could speak to a library person more?
Edward encounters a medievalist scholar who gets involved in his search, and it's lucky for the reader that he does, because she explains a lot to him, and thus, to us, about medieval literature and rare books. And she provides a bit of a love interest. The search for the mysterious book is very exciting, at least for weird, bookish people like me. Oh, and Edward has a friend, Zeph, who I enjoyed very much, too, an enormous, smart, funny computer geek who the reader of the audiobook did such a fantastic job voicing that I forgive him for his mincing female voices.
I agree with readers who complained about this book's slightly fizzling ending, but it's so exactly The Kind of Book I Like To Read that I don't really care.
That's all it took. I was deep into this book, a little thrilled and ready to go. Joseph Campbell called this part of a story "the call to adventure", and is there any call to adventure that could speak to a library person more?
Edward encounters a medievalist scholar who gets involved in his search, and it's lucky for the reader that he does, because she explains a lot to him, and thus, to us, about medieval literature and rare books. And she provides a bit of a love interest. The search for the mysterious book is very exciting, at least for weird, bookish people like me. Oh, and Edward has a friend, Zeph, who I enjoyed very much, too, an enormous, smart, funny computer geek who the reader of the audiobook did such a fantastic job voicing that I forgive him for his mincing female voices.
I agree with readers who complained about this book's slightly fizzling ending, but it's so exactly The Kind of Book I Like To Read that I don't really care.
April 10, 2016
_Codex_ came highly recommended to me, so I was eager to delve right into the story. I thought it started out pretty good with the mysterious aristocrats, their rare book library, and the medieval scholarly tie-ins. It never quite gained the momentum that I was hoping for, but it kept me reading page after page. I liked Margaret's character, and really appreciated the things that she brought to the story. However, I thought the whole sub-plot with the computer game, MOMUS, was a little strange, and never quite fit with the rest of the story. I know that the author was trying to bring the rare manuscript and modern technology together in this game, but it would have been better to leave that plot line out altogether, in my opinion.
Yet, the biggest disappointment for me with this novel was the extremely abrupt ending. Within a few pages, the whole story is dropped completely, and the reader is left wondering "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Even after going back and rereading the text, I still found myself confused in the end. If Lev Grossman had kept his "day job" as a literary critic and was reading this novel, he would say that this abrupt ending nearly ruined the whole story... so why did he do it in his own debut novel?
In the future when I look back and think about this novel, I hope I can remember how much I liked the story, and not the awful ending.
Yet, the biggest disappointment for me with this novel was the extremely abrupt ending. Within a few pages, the whole story is dropped completely, and the reader is left wondering "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" Even after going back and rereading the text, I still found myself confused in the end. If Lev Grossman had kept his "day job" as a literary critic and was reading this novel, he would say that this abrupt ending nearly ruined the whole story... so why did he do it in his own debut novel?
In the future when I look back and think about this novel, I hope I can remember how much I liked the story, and not the awful ending.
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