Rating: 
Summary: Almost but not quite
Review: I was expecting to like this book, I'd heard it was similar to the Da Vinci Code. It started out good but the ending kind of Did not make sense. Over all I liked the plot (except for the ending) but there did not seem to be any meat to the writing. Some people like this writing style, stark, but its not for me.
Rating:
Summary: Abrupt ending kind of ruined it for me...
Review: _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.
Rating: 
Summary: Meh.
Review: I got this for my birthday and all I can say is that if this guy is a product of both Harvard and Yale and a contributor to the New York Times, Time Out New York and Salon (as the book jacket boasts), it sure doesn't show in the writing. Grossman takes a mildly interesting -- if precious and pretentious -- premise and drains all the fun out of it with tepid, by-the-numbers writing and boring, off-the-rack characters. Even as an attempt at slumming with a mass market genre novel in order to make a quick, cynical buck this book fails. A snooze and a bore with a dissapointing ending (you know where he wanted to go, but he just didn't have the writely chops to pull it off). Maybe Grossman should've tried Princeton?
Rating: 
Summary: A "stay up late to finish" read, very entertaining!
Review: I was surprised by the number of ninnes who gave this book one star. I am an avid reader, and this book was very well done: interesting plot, entertaining, well written. It may have a few flaws, but what book doesn't? My only complaint was that it had to end. I hope the author picks up the stream of this story into a second book, as I felt a bit cheated at the end...this caper could certainly go on and on. I enjoyed this book more than DaVinci Code (much more) and stayed up late to find out the conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Snap... crackle... thud!
Review: This books starts off with some great stuff that gets you hooked - and then goes nowhere with it. I finished this book, checked three times to be sure that I had really just read the last page, and then threw it down in disgust. After staying up three nights in a row very, very late and getting totally engrossed in the mystery that was developing, I was bitterly disappointed in the ending chapter. Nothing was resolved at all. On a positive note, the author's attention to detail is fascinating. He recounts vivid little things such as "trying to mate a pad of stickies together" rather than just saying he was "fiddling" with them. Or bothering to explain the exact soda he was drinking "Code Red Mountain Dew" rather than "soda". And the lovely descriptions of all the old books he and the love interest were cataloging were very nicely detailed. But it is not hard to tell this was a first novel. The story is clumsy in spots and I could almost hear the author thinking "what do they do next?" in some places. His attempts to weave the computer game together with the real-life mystery of the codex were comical. For example, his choice to bring a socially inept midget spirit guide into the story to tie it all together is laughable. And the end is unforgivable - what a letdown! The bio says this author is the book critic for Time magazine. I think he should stick to criticism and leave the writing to writers.
Rating:
Summary: A modest debut effort
Review: Edward Wozny is off to England after a transfer from New York as a banker. He has two weeks before he leaves and spends the time visiting friends in New York prior to his departure. However, he is given one unusual assignment before leaving. He is asked to sort through and catalogue a large antique book collection belonging to a couple of English nobility. While sorting through, he is asked by the Duchess to find a codex written by a Gervase of Langford. Edward soon enlists the help of a medieval scholar, Margaret Napier, for help. However, it seems the Duke wants it even more than his wife for some unknown reason. Edward must choose where his loyalty lies.
I am not quite sure where the author was heading with this book. There is much literary history and a somewhat rollicking plot. Lev Grossman never seems to have a true affinity for the creating of characters and it shows in his portrayal of the Duke and Duchess who come off wooden. Edward's friends are stereotypes and Margaret is truly bizarre. All leads to a lack of reader identification and as such no sympathy. The ending is highly unsatisfying with little imaginative imput. All in all a modest effort.
Rating:
Summary: Too much to swallow
Review: I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but . . .
A bodega on Madison Avenue and Eighty-Fourth Street?
An ugly, old high rise left over from the nineteenth century?
An apartment building with a cheap-looking awning on Eighty-Fourth Street between Madison and Park?
An archecturally inapproriate new top on a nineteenth century building in a landmark district? The there's the hero's job. I know more about what investment bankers do from reading about various financial scandles in the New York Times than the author bothered to find out before creating his hero's job description and resume. I gave up on page 25.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning. Brilliant.
Review: There's nothing like the feeling of plunging down the rabbit hole into a rich, gorgeous, thrilling new world. That's what I got from this book. It grabbed me and didn't let me go. It's about an ordinary guy who gets caught up in a world of high-level intrigue and intellectual thrills, rare books and virtual reality. And as a professional librarian I can tell you, Grossman has done his homework.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Me
Review: Very strange book -- just when I'm getting interested and the plot seems to move, it bogs down but I kept plugging along. Edward Wozny is a very unsympathetic character, as is everyone in the book. I did learn some things about old books, but that wasn't enough to make up for the letdown ending. Just not my type of book.
Rating:
Summary: On the trail of an ancient manuscript.
Review: Edward Wozny is a high-powered New York investment banker in "Codex," a literary mystery by Lev Grossman. Edward is looking forward to a two-week vacation, and he is also eagerly anticipating his impending transfer to London. However, before he leaves, Edward has been asked to look in on the Wents, who are a Duke and Duchess and also one of his firm's wealthiest clients. Much to Edward's surprise, a woman who works for the Duke and Duchess greets him and gives him instructions. Rather than being called upon for his financial expertise, Edward's job is to examine and catalog crates of old books that have been in the family for years. He is to be on the lookout for a particular manuscript by a medieval author named Gervase of Langford. Edward has no idea why he is being asked to do this, but he is intrigued nevertheless. He finds a brilliant researcher named Margaret Napier who has the expertise and the tenacity to help him in his quest. Lev Grossman has written a seductive and original novel about a young man who is caught up in matters that he cannot comprehend. Adding to Edward's confusion is an addictive video game called MOMUS, which seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to events and places in Edward's life. As Edward and Margaret are drawn deeper into the mystery of Gervase's manuscript, they begin to realize that whatever the outcome of their mission, their lives will never again be the same. I enjoyed "Codex" for its intelligence, quirkiness, and clever literary allusions. It is also a satisfying psychological study of how personal ambition, vindictiveness, selfishness, and greed can warp people's minds and emotions.
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