books 2016: Codex, by Lev Grossman

[supercheesegirl]

I really wanted to love this, but it just didn't do it for me. <lj-cut>I just found it so implausible that the weird little man the protagonist meets at his best friend's house on the same day that he meets the Duchess just happens to be involved in the whole plot, and just happened to have put the whole thing into a video game that just happens to be addictive. I mean, the best friend has apparently known this guy for quite some time, so why wouldn't the hero have met him earlier? And why did the ending have to be so depressing? I'm guessing Grossman just hadn't perfected the stellar devastating plot twist he employs so well in the Magicians series and was learning how to do it here and just didn't pull it off entirely. I was just saddened and kind of confused by the ending (I had to reread the airport bit a few times and still didn't quite catch what had happened there). </lj-cut> I'd like to see Grossman try this sort of book again now that he's honed his talent on The Magicians. I'd read that  book, and probably like it better than this one.