About the Author

LEV GROSSMAN is Time magazine's book critic. He has written articles for the New York Times, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out New York, and the Village Voice. He lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR CODEX
"As surely as his hero, Edward, falls under the spell of a mysterious
manuscript so does the reader fall under the spell of Lev Grossman's
intricate plot and vivid characters.Codex is a rare treat for readers
and bibliophiles."
--MARGOT L I V E S E Y, a u t h o r o f EVA MOVES THE FURNITURE
"Codex makes the game of writing not just engaging but seductive.
How delightful that Lev Grossman, in a novel about the mysteries of
narrative, has created a page-turner."
--GLEN DAVID GOLD, a u t h o r o f CARTER BEAT S THE DEVIL
--

During a two-week hiatus between jobs as an investment banker, Edward Wozny finds himself plunging down a rabbit hole when a wealthy British client asks him to sort out a room full of old books. Among them may reside the sole copy of a fabled and vaguely portentous 14th-century romance, A Viage to the Contree of the Cimmerians. Grossman (book critic, Time magazine) echoes Edward's desultory hunt for the manuscript in the picaresque plot of the viage itself-as explicated by ice-queen medievalist and not-quite-love-interest Margaret Napier-and in the strange virtual world of MOMUS, a computer game devouring increasing chunks of our hero's time and mind. As literary thrillers go, this is pretty slim stuff, plotted with a dreamy gamer's logic that lacks the complexity, plausibility, or stakes found in works by Ross King, Iain Pears, Arturo Perez-Reverte, or Umberto Eco. Yet it is hard to resist joining in the quest for such a tasty maguffin. A wealth of diverting book lore and fanciful arcana conveyed in engaging, accessible prose helps to make this an engrossing, if ultimately unsatisfying, read. Recommended for larger public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/03.]-David Wright, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.