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Code and Codex
Not yet published
Expected 25 Feb 27In the stars-spanning Censorate, all languages other than lingua rubra are forbidden. The Censorate’s ruling Peacock, Aurelia, wields the universal language to manipulate reality itself and to command the obedience of all who hear and understand her.
Valentina was sold as a child to Aurelia to serve as her sworn companion, the Swan, responsible for extracting useful knowledge from foreign texts before destroying their languages wholesale. Until she delivers a book of forbidden verse to the Peacock, which proves to be the key to enslaving the Basilisk, a traitor imprisoned for a thousand years, whose gaze is so powerful that he once destroyed the Censorate’s entire fleet…
Valentina was sold as a child to Aurelia to serve as her sworn companion, the Swan, responsible for extracting useful knowledge from foreign texts before destroying their languages wholesale. Until she delivers a book of forbidden verse to the Peacock, which proves to be the key to enslaving the Basilisk, a traitor imprisoned for a thousand years, whose gaze is so powerful that he once destroyed the Censorate’s entire fleet…
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication October 27, 2026
About the author
Yoon Ha Lee
211 books2,099 followersYoon Ha Lee is an American science fiction writer born on January 26, 1979 in Houston, Texas. His first published story, “The Hundredth Question,” appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1999; since then, over two dozen further stories have appeared. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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October 24, 2025'about plans to reach backwards and forwards in time by revising history in this space opera adventure of linguistics magic in the author’s return to adult science fiction' GIMME
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received a free copy from Saga Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date October 27th, 2026.
I loved Lee's Ninefox Gambit, which I consider one of the definitive SF works of the last few years, so I was excited to get a chance to read an advance copy of his latest. In Code and Codex, Valentina is right-hand man to the Peacock Aurelia, who holds absolute power over the Censorate wielding the power of the universal language. When Aurelia sends her on a mission to retrieve a forbidden text, Valentina begins to unravel a web of secrets that leads directly to the Basilisk, the traitor imprisoned for centuries for destroying his own fleet.
Code and Codex is deeply indulgent on a number of levels, the most obvious being its strong resemblance to Ninefox Gambit. Ancient jail prisoner: 2!!! Many of the elements here will be familiar to people who have read the rest of Lee's oeuvre, from ancient jail prisoner Jenner, the basis of the universe's reality on the lingua rubra, and Valentina's deep and twisted devotion to Aurelia. Of course, there's something to be said about an author who knows what he likes, and we like it too, or the Machineries of Empire series wouldn't have won all those awards. The prose also has a level of playful indulgence that reminded me a touch of Cat Valente. It's rich with little jokes and the sheer joy of language. Take this passage: "the Censorate's original weapon was not guns or germs or (you expected steel annihilation indices." The careless reader who's skimming too fast or isn't familiar with Jared Diamond's pop history, for instance, is not going to have fun with this text. Half the book is comprised of oblique references, and the sentences are textually dense enough that you could annotate them like poetry. Reminds me a bit of Vajra Chandrasekera's writing in that way.
Of course, the downside of all of the attention lavished on sentence-level prose is that the plot is neglected in comparison. The plot is straightforward, starting from Jenner's escape, enough so that I won't spoil any more than that. But the actual flow of the story is discursive and rambling. Only about a third of the novel focuses on the forward-moving plot, with equal dedication given to flashbacks to Aurelia and Valentina's codependent shared youth, or to standalone little anecdotes, like meditations on the nature of language, the story of a particular lab tech who was promoted from a janitorial position, or the evolution of the historic form of spaceship. Fun, but it did yank me out of the flow of the narrative every time, and the book felt like slow going even at a slight three hundred pages.
Deeply rich and indulgent, like a gigantic slice of chocolate cheesecake. However, I do have to say that I'm often more of a the simplicity of the raspberry sorbet person, and at times Code and Codex trips over its own conceits. Still, I don't think that either Ninefox Gambit or Cat Valente enjoyers will turn up their noses at Lee's latest novel.
I loved Lee's Ninefox Gambit, which I consider one of the definitive SF works of the last few years, so I was excited to get a chance to read an advance copy of his latest. In Code and Codex, Valentina is right-hand man to the Peacock Aurelia, who holds absolute power over the Censorate wielding the power of the universal language. When Aurelia sends her on a mission to retrieve a forbidden text, Valentina begins to unravel a web of secrets that leads directly to the Basilisk, the traitor imprisoned for centuries for destroying his own fleet.
Code and Codex is deeply indulgent on a number of levels, the most obvious being its strong resemblance to Ninefox Gambit. Ancient jail prisoner: 2!!! Many of the elements here will be familiar to people who have read the rest of Lee's oeuvre, from ancient jail prisoner Jenner, the basis of the universe's reality on the lingua rubra, and Valentina's deep and twisted devotion to Aurelia. Of course, there's something to be said about an author who knows what he likes, and we like it too, or the Machineries of Empire series wouldn't have won all those awards. The prose also has a level of playful indulgence that reminded me a touch of Cat Valente. It's rich with little jokes and the sheer joy of language. Take this passage: "the Censorate's original weapon was not guns or germs or (you expected steel annihilation indices." The careless reader who's skimming too fast or isn't familiar with Jared Diamond's pop history, for instance, is not going to have fun with this text. Half the book is comprised of oblique references, and the sentences are textually dense enough that you could annotate them like poetry. Reminds me a bit of Vajra Chandrasekera's writing in that way.
Of course, the downside of all of the attention lavished on sentence-level prose is that the plot is neglected in comparison. The plot is straightforward, starting from Jenner's escape, enough so that I won't spoil any more than that. But the actual flow of the story is discursive and rambling. Only about a third of the novel focuses on the forward-moving plot, with equal dedication given to flashbacks to Aurelia and Valentina's codependent shared youth, or to standalone little anecdotes, like meditations on the nature of language, the story of a particular lab tech who was promoted from a janitorial position, or the evolution of the historic form of spaceship. Fun, but it did yank me out of the flow of the narrative every time, and the book felt like slow going even at a slight three hundred pages.
Deeply rich and indulgent, like a gigantic slice of chocolate cheesecake. However, I do have to say that I'm often more of a the simplicity of the raspberry sorbet person, and at times Code and Codex trips over its own conceits. Still, I don't think that either Ninefox Gambit or Cat Valente enjoyers will turn up their noses at Lee's latest novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
2.5 stars rounded up to 3
There is no question that the author has an incredibly creative imagination. The story felt like a blend of the Bene Gesserit from "Dune", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and the wonderfully strange, sentient world of "The Terraformers" by Annalee Newitz. On paper, that combination should have been exactly the kind of science fiction I enjoy.
Unfortunately, the writing style never worked for me. Reading this book felt less like reading for pleasure and more like being back in high school working through a novel assigned by my English teacher, although this one certainly would never have appeared on a school reading list because of its numerous sex scenes. I finished it because I received an advance review copy through NetGalley and wanted to give the book a fair evaluation, but it often felt like a chore rather than an escape.
The prose frequently relied on uncommon vocabulary and highly stylized language that pulled me out of the story instead of drawing me deeper into it. High level vocabulary words appeared often enough that I became more aware of the author's language than of the story itself. I know this was the author's point with the hyper-focus of the novel being words and languages, however, for my taste, the writing felt so ornate that it overshadowed what was otherwise a genuinely imaginative premise.
I also found that several chapters seemed disconnected from the central narrative and did not meaningfully advance the story. Combined with the dense prose, this made the novel feel much longer than its page count.
I can absolutely appreciate the originality of the worldbuilding and the ambition behind this novel. Readers who enjoy highly literary speculative fiction and luxuriant prose may have a very different experience than I did. For me, however, the writing style prevented me from connecting with a story that otherwise had tremendous potential.
There is no question that the author has an incredibly creative imagination. The story felt like a blend of the Bene Gesserit from "Dune", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and the wonderfully strange, sentient world of "The Terraformers" by Annalee Newitz. On paper, that combination should have been exactly the kind of science fiction I enjoy.
Unfortunately, the writing style never worked for me. Reading this book felt less like reading for pleasure and more like being back in high school working through a novel assigned by my English teacher, although this one certainly would never have appeared on a school reading list because of its numerous sex scenes. I finished it because I received an advance review copy through NetGalley and wanted to give the book a fair evaluation, but it often felt like a chore rather than an escape.
The prose frequently relied on uncommon vocabulary and highly stylized language that pulled me out of the story instead of drawing me deeper into it. High level vocabulary words appeared often enough that I became more aware of the author's language than of the story itself. I know this was the author's point with the hyper-focus of the novel being words and languages, however, for my taste, the writing felt so ornate that it overshadowed what was otherwise a genuinely imaginative premise.
I also found that several chapters seemed disconnected from the central narrative and did not meaningfully advance the story. Combined with the dense prose, this made the novel feel much longer than its page count.
I can absolutely appreciate the originality of the worldbuilding and the ambition behind this novel. Readers who enjoy highly literary speculative fiction and luxuriant prose may have a very different experience than I did. For me, however, the writing style prevented me from connecting with a story that otherwise had tremendous potential.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
I first came across Lee's work with the fantastic Conservation of Shadows collection many years ago. Several stories in that dealt with this "calendrical" concept where competing beliefs and their perceptions of time and space could affect the outcomes of battles and such.
Did I truly understand the ins and outs of it all?
Not at all.
Did I FEEL like it made sense and did I believe it worked in that universe?
ABSOLUTELY.
I find it so easy to go with the flow of Lee's universes. I feel like I'm rising out of a dream when I close the book and maybe I'll have a moment of, "What did I just read?" or "How does that work...?" but not in a bad way. It's a puzzle I want to solve until I remember it's beautiful to behold just as it is.
Anyway, all that to say, what Lee did with math and calendars in those stories is what Lee does with linguistics here. In this universe, mastery of a language is linked to control in many different ways. The Peacock, ruler of this stellar empire, can actually change people's will, form, etc so long as they can understand her speech -- something so dangerous that a man whose gaze kills destroys his ability to understand language to keep himself out of her power. The empire itself eradicates other languages to engulf nearby plants. We can see the metaphor there!
Aside from the amazing prose and world building, I absolutely loved following Valentina's journey to learning who she truly is and what she wants. The walls around her life have always been strong and I love how forbidden poetry and a (winged) cat can be a catalyst for so much. (not a metaphor -- books do that!)
I'm so happy I got to read this one early!
Did I truly understand the ins and outs of it all?
Not at all.
Did I FEEL like it made sense and did I believe it worked in that universe?
ABSOLUTELY.
I find it so easy to go with the flow of Lee's universes. I feel like I'm rising out of a dream when I close the book and maybe I'll have a moment of, "What did I just read?" or "How does that work...?" but not in a bad way. It's a puzzle I want to solve until I remember it's beautiful to behold just as it is.
Anyway, all that to say, what Lee did with math and calendars in those stories is what Lee does with linguistics here. In this universe, mastery of a language is linked to control in many different ways. The Peacock, ruler of this stellar empire, can actually change people's will, form, etc so long as they can understand her speech -- something so dangerous that a man whose gaze kills destroys his ability to understand language to keep himself out of her power. The empire itself eradicates other languages to engulf nearby plants. We can see the metaphor there!
Aside from the amazing prose and world building, I absolutely loved following Valentina's journey to learning who she truly is and what she wants. The walls around her life have always been strong and I love how forbidden poetry and a (winged) cat can be a catalyst for so much. (not a metaphor -- books do that!)
I'm so happy I got to read this one early!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The idea of an all controlling ruler using language as a way to manipulate reality itself is SO good. Having a tale of political intrigue & covert spying & far reaching space battles to overthrow a tyrant,etc.
But that's not what 'Code and Codex' really is.
Reading this felt like drowning in excrutiating minutiae: long passages on furniture carvings, exquisite ring decoration and hidden messages within, etc and etc and etc. Every time the action seemed like it was building some momentum, the novel went off into random tangents.
I also never felt like I learned anything substantial about the main cast (not Aurelia, not Melisande, and not the main character Valentina herself). Since the book is so laser focused on the smallest of details, I never got the sense of what the far reaching empire is like or what any of the characters truly care about.
I thought the growing attraction between Valentina & Melisande would lead somewhere at the end, but it had zero impact on the plot. Valentina was only interesting when her childhood was described, and what her relationship with her original family was like. In her appointed position as the 'Swan', she was kind of an empty character.
This could have been such a good space opera, but...
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book.
But that's not what 'Code and Codex' really is.
Reading this felt like drowning in excrutiating minutiae: long passages on furniture carvings, exquisite ring decoration and hidden messages within, etc and etc and etc. Every time the action seemed like it was building some momentum, the novel went off into random tangents.
I also never felt like I learned anything substantial about the main cast (not Aurelia, not Melisande, and not the main character Valentina herself). Since the book is so laser focused on the smallest of details, I never got the sense of what the far reaching empire is like or what any of the characters truly care about.
I thought the growing attraction between Valentina & Melisande would lead somewhere at the end, but it had zero impact on the plot. Valentina was only interesting when her childhood was described, and what her relationship with her original family was like. In her appointed position as the 'Swan', she was kind of an empty character.
This could have been such a good space opera, but...
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book.
May 31, 2026
Yoon Ha Lee goes and takes the specifics on linguistics and how the way you think and talk can literally shape reality, turns that into the science/magic of her new world, adds in some toxic lesbian royalty and court intrigue, and you get a hell of story. And yes, because it's linguistics based magic, that means there's a lot of prose fuckery (positve), and some truly amazing flexes on Yoon Ha Lee's part. This comes out in February (release date was originally October when I read it), and I highly recommend preordering this now.
Did Not Finish
July 19, 2026DNF at 13%
I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters enough to want to keep going. On top of that, I found the plot confusing, and the author uses so many different terms that it makes the story feel tedious.
I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters enough to want to keep going. On top of that, I found the plot confusing, and the author uses so many different terms that it makes the story feel tedious.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Rating: 3.5-3.75 (might bump it up to 4). RTC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
2 stars
This was a difficult book to read. At times, it felt like work and I would have stopped it, if not for my commitment to the publisher/author. The writing is confusing, dense and purposely nonsensical. I could not follow what was going on. In a big picture sense, the plot is interesting and compelling, but the writing gets in the way. If the writing scaled back and let the characters come to the forefront, this would be a better book.
I'll say this though: This book cover is absolutely gorgeous. Flawless.
This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a difficult book to read. At times, it felt like work and I would have stopped it, if not for my commitment to the publisher/author. The writing is confusing, dense and purposely nonsensical. I could not follow what was going on. In a big picture sense, the plot is interesting and compelling, but the writing gets in the way. If the writing scaled back and let the characters come to the forefront, this would be a better book.
I'll say this though: This book cover is absolutely gorgeous. Flawless.
This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews