Warp
Ratings4
Average rating2.8
15
Ratings4
Average rating2.8
The lost literary origin story of #1 bestseller Lev Grossman - including a new foreword about how and why he wrote his first novel: "It is the intense, concentrated, boiled-down essence of the unhappiest years of my life." Twenty-something Hollis Kessler languishes in a hopelessly magician-less world (with the exception of a fleet-footed nymph named Xanthe) not too far from where he graduated college. His friends do, too. They sleep late, read too much, drink too much, talk too much, and work and earn and do way too little. But Hollis does have an obsession: there's another world going on in his head, a world of excitement and danger and starships and romance, and it's telling him that it's time to stop dreaming and get serious. This re-publication of Lev Grossman's debut novel, Warp, shows the roots of his Magicians hero Quentin Coldwater in a book that is for anyone (and everyone) who has ever felt adrift in their own life.
Reviews with the most likes.
I grabbed this at a used book sale because I liked The Magicians, but I assumed from the title it would be science fiction. Instead, what I got was the dull meanderings of a sad white guy with awkward pop culture interjections that might work if this were visual but just come off as jarring interjections as opposed to the layers of meaning Grossman seems to want them to be. There's no real plot, no character development outside of Hollis at all, a manic pixie dream girl who makes no sense, and just everything I hate about Quentin Coldwater without any of the growth that made me like him in the end. I wouldn't really bother with this one. This book wasn't for me, and I also don't know who it was for. I know it's a first effort, and I know Grossman gets a lot better (Magicians is one of few trilogies where I like the last book more than the first), but if you're just looking to read an author's complete works, you can probably skip this.
