Warp - by Lev Grossman (Paperback)

About the Book

While his friends lives are on hold, another reality is running constantly in Hollis's head, one that leads him to believe that maybe, just maybe, it's time to get serious. Unlike other self-indulgent, whiny narratives of post-graduation angst, "Warp" is a lucid and immediate novel of what and where a twenty-something's mind is when it isn't even made up yet.

Book Synopsis

The lost literary origin story of #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians trilogy 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.

From the Back Cover

Hollis lives in an area not too far from where he graduated from college. His friends do, too. They all sleep late, talk about jobs they might get, girls they might date, money their parents might send them. In other words, their lives are seemingly on hold. Everything is going to happen. But despite this day-to-day boredom, Hollis has something to bolster him: Another reality is constantly running through his head, and it's one that leads him to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, it's time to get serious. Lev Grossman has written a lucid and immediate novel of what and where a twenty-something's mind is when it isn't even made up yet.

Review Quotes

"Honest and sad. A Generation X origin story from the nerd genius who gave us The Magicians." --Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

"Fast-paced and tightly structured, funny and incisive, Warp is destined to become a classic." --Melanie Thernstrom, author of The Dead Girl and Halfway Heaven

"A fascinating adventure of the most unusual sort." --Gary Gygax, Creator of Dungeons and Dragons

"Reading Warp, I relived my own awful, ridiculous passage into the real world. This time around, I could laugh." --Pagan Kennedy, author of Pagan Kennedy's Living and 'Zine

Praise for the Magicians Trilogy:

"This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story." --The New Yorker on The Magicians

"The best urban fantasy in years." --A.V. Club on The Magicians

"The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this." --George R.R. Martin

"Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy." --Joe Hill on The Magicians

'If the Narnia books were like catnip for a certain kind of kid, these books are like crack for a certain kind of adult...breathless, stay-up-all-night, thrumming excitement." --The New York Times on The Magician's Land

"Endlessly fascinating...This is an absolutely brilliant fantasy filled with memorable characters." --Booklist (Starred Review) on The Magician's Land

About the Author

Lev Grossman is the award-winning author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy, which is now an hour-long drama series on Syfy. Born in 1969, he attended Harvard and Yale and has been Time magazine's book critic since 2002. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family.