Lexicon cover art

Lexicon

A Novel

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Lexicon

Written by: Max Barry
Narrated by: Heather Corrigan, Zach Appelman
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy Now for $21.50

Buy Now for $21.50

At an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students aren’t taught history, geography, or mathematics—at least not in the usual ways. Instead, they are taught to persuade. Here the art of coercion has been raised to a science .Students harness the hidden power of language to manipulate the mind and learn to break down individuals by psychographic markers in order to take control of their thoughts. The very best will graduate as “poets”: adept wielders of languagewho belong to a nameless organization that is as influential as it is secretive.

Whip-smart orphan Emily Ruff is making a living running a three-card Monte game on the streets of San Francisco when she attracts the attention of the organization’s recruiters. She is flown across the country for the school’s strange and rigorous entrance exams, where, once admitted, she will be taught the fundamentals of persuasion by Brontë, Eliot, and Lowell—who have adopted the names of famous poets to conceal their true identities. For in the organization, nothing is more dangerous than revealing who you are: Poets must never expose their feelings lest they be manipulated. Emily becomes the school’s most talented prodigy until she makes a catastrophic mistake: She falls in love.

Meanwhile, a seemingly innocent man named Wil Jamieson is brutally ambushed by two strange men in an airport bathroom. Although he has no recollection of anything they claim he’s done, it turns out Wil is the key to a secret war between rival factions of poets and is quickly caught in their increasingly deadly crossfire. Pursued relentlessly by people with powers he can barely comprehend and protected by the very man who first attacked him, Wil discovers that everything he thought he knew about his past was fiction. In order to survive, must journey to the toxically decimated tow nof Broken Hill, Australia, to discover who he is and why an entire town was blown off the map.

As the two narratives converge, the shocking work of the poets is fully revealed, the body count rises, and the world crashes toward a Tower of Babel event which would leave all language meaningless. Max Barry’s most spellbinding and ambitious novel yet, Lexicon is a brilliant thriller that explores language, power, identity, and our capacity to love—whatever the cost.
 Adventure Fiction Mystery Science Fiction Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Detective Paranormal Student Suspense

You may also enjoy...
Yellowface cover art
Yellowface Written by: R. F. Kuang
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most Relevant
I'm giving this book an overall score of 3 stars because, and this is purely from my personal view, "Lexicon" focuses more on the concept & plot of the story (which are very interesting) than the characters. I'm someone who prefers character-driven stories, and it's even better when those characters are part of an intriguing concept and/or fascinating world. I found that the characters in "Lexicon" were pushed by the plot rather than them moving the plot forward. However, as mentioned, the plot and concept were very cool. There are some end-of-chapter sections that dive into sociological/psychological aspects that could apply to our world. They also had some news articles of plot points, but with incorrect information. This was all rather fascinating.

All in all, if you're someone who enjoys plot-driven stories (or at least don't mind them) then I think you'll like this book.

Values Plot Over Characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.