Max Frei Returns with The Stranger's Magic

This week Russian literary sensation Max Frei returns to the United States with the third installment in the internationally bestselling Labyrinths of Echo fantasy series, The Stranger's Magic. 

First published in Russia more than fifteen years ago, Frei's Labyrinths of Echo series has since become a bestselling international phenomena, infusing highly philosophical comic fantasy with extraordinary wit. Plunging back into the enchanted parallel world of Echo originally portrayed in The Stranger and The Stranger's Woes, twenty-something eponymous anti-hero and self-described loser "Sir Max" returns in The Stranger's Magic, the smash hit series that has sold more than two million copies across the globe.


An unlikely protagonist, Max Frei is a social outcast,a  gluttonous loafer, and a hardened smoker who sleeps away his days until he finds himself transplanted to a magical world where he possesses powerful supernatural abilities. As a "Nocturnal Representative of the Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the City of Echo," Sir Max investigates cases more complicated, extravagant, and dangerous than ever in The Stranger's Magicas he battles illegal magic and combats trespassing monsters from alternate realities. Joined by a returning cast of crime fighting companions including the omniscient Sir Juffin Hully, the uproarious Sir Manga Melifaro, and the beautiful Lady Melamori Blimm, Sir Max and his friends tackle extraordinary capers including palace coups, attempted murders, and bungled burglaries.


Appropriate for first time visitors to Echo and diehard fans alike, The Stranger's Magic blends a complex web of clues with a cast of unforgettable characters, offering an unequaled fantasy epic for a new century.

Advance Praise for THE STRANGER’S MAGIC:

“Unpredictable, mysterious, and full of surprises … readers will be entranced by the complex world.” – Publishers Weekly

“There are moments that might have come from the pages of Douglas Adams, others that wouldn’t be out of place in Alice in Wonderland … literate, silly fun.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Quirky humor, hair-raising adventures.” – Booklist (Starred Review)

Praise for Max Frei and THE LABYRINTHS OF ECHO series:

“Fans of Jasper Fforde and Susanna Clarke will happily jump into Frei’s world.” – USA Today

“Impossible to put down … wildly imaginative and entertaining.” – Fantasy Book Critic

“[Frei] is smart, savvy, and funny; an everyman hero we can all believe in.”

– Bookslut

THE STRANGER'S WOES: The Continuing Adventures of Max Frei

THE STRANGER IS BACK!

Max Frei, author of the international bestselling The Labyrinths of Echo series, continues the adventures of twenty-something loser Max Frei with The Stranger's Woes, published this week by Overlook.

In this new volume, Max finds himself transported to the magical world of Echo, where he possesses magical abilities and becomes the Nocturnal Representative of the Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the City of Echo. With friends and colleagues—the omniscient Sir Juffin Hully, the hilarious Melifaro and the beautiful Lady Melamori Blimm—Sir Max enjoys a life where he’s no longer a social outcast as he solves crimes, battles illegal magic and fights trespassing monsters from other worlds. Now in The Stranger’s Woes, Max will takes on cases more complicated and dangerous than ever before in this strange universe.

Packed with the same wise-cracking humor and running jokes, The Stranger's Woes will delight fans of The Stranger, which is now available in a new paperback edition.

As many know by now, Max Frei is the pen name for the Russian writer and artist Svetlana Yuryevna Martynchik (right). Martynchik has written ten fantasy novels in the Labyrinths of Echo series as well as several other works. Max Frei, as we all know, appears as a character in the series.

New in Paperback: Max Frei's THE STRANGER

Max Frei’s novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and when The Overlook Press published The Stranger last year, American readers were equally thrilled.

Fantasy, horror, philosophy, and dark comedy are all ingredients in this amazing work in which a sharp wit and a bewildering web of clues opens up a Pandora's box of secrets. Max Frei is a twenty-something loser—a big sleeper (during the day, that is—at night he can’t catch a wink), a hardened smoker, and an uncomplicated glutton and loafer. But then he gets lucky. He contacts a parallel world in his dreams, where magic is a daily practice. Once a social outcast, he’s now known in his new world as the “unequalled Sir Max.” He’s a member of the Department of Absolute Order, formed by a species of enchanted secret agents; his job is to solve cases more extravagant and unreal than one could imagine—a journey that will take Max down the winding paths of this strange and unhinged universe.

With The Stranger now available in paperback, Overlook is set to release the second volume in Max Frei's "The Labyrinth of Echo" series, The Stranger's Woes, on June 9.