Codex [Paperback]

Lev Grossman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Harvest / Harcourt, Inc.; 1ST edition (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965934179
• ISBN-13: 978-0965934176
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,640,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lev Grossman is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Magicians and The Magician King. He is also the book critic at Time magazine. He's 42, slightly built and probably wouldn't last long in a post-apocalyptic, eye-for-an-eye world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

93 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wild ride that ends in a ditch, October 21, 2004

By 

K. L. Cotugno (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Codex (Hardcover)

SPOILERS AHEAD:

What a great ride the first 3/4 of this book provided! Effortless segues between modern labyrinthine MYST-like games and medieval mysteries, with enough intriguing characters and a very human protagonist, and as the narrative galloped toward the end, accelerating in suspense and menace, I kept noticing that there were far too many loose ends to be tied up and too few pages to do so (sorry about the mixed metaphors). Authors should not tackle thrillers if they can't resolve them with satisfactory endings. I thought I'd missed something, went back and read the last few pages. Even thought my book may have lost some pages somehow. But reading some of the other reviews, I realize that I hadn't missed anything. There was nothing there to miss.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not, September 23, 2004

By 

Ian Kaplan (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Codex (Hardcover)

Some have characterized this as the worst book that they've ever read. I would not quite put this book in that catagory. For me that catagory includes the
painfully bad "Ordinary Horror" by David Searcy or any book by Clive Cussler.

"Codex" is simply a weak novel. The characters are wooden, the plot is uninspired. It is interesting to compare "Codex" with the excellent "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In both novels, mysterious books play a central part. But the characters in Zafon's book have depth and feeling. This is entirely lacking in "Codex".

I purchased this book because it was well reviewed in several places. I have to speculate that this is because the author of "Codex" is a book reviewer himself. Perhaps those who reviewed "Codex" worried that a harsh review would be returned by Mr. Grossman when he reviewed their book. So they puffed
the review up.

For my part, I recommend saving your money, or, if you must read this book check it out of the library. I've sending mine off to the used book store.

As a previous reviewer pointed out, when it comes to books and mystery, in addition to "Shadow of the Wind" I highly recommend Arturo Perez-Reverte's "Club Dumas".

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars this codex need not be found, August 27, 2004

By 

D.K.V. "faithfulheretic" (Santa Monica, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Codex (Hardcover)

I got carried away at the bookstore one day and I ended up buying this book, since it looked like it could be promising. Ug, was I ever wrong. This sort of literary mystery fiction is hot these days, which I thoroughly enjoy, but this is just another one of those books trying to catch a free ride on the train.
I did not find the plot to be intriguing nor in the slightest bit believable, instead, it seemed contrived to fit a tidey, neat little literary mystery package.
Instead seek these codexes:
Mathew Pearl's 'Dante Club'
Carlos Ruiz Zafon's 'The Shadow in the Wind'
Arturo Perez-Reverte's 'Club Dumas'
Erik Larson's 'The Devil in the White City'