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Kraken China Mieville 9780345497499 Books

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Kraken China Mieville 9780345497499 Books

At the beginning, and for nearly half the book, I was quite taken with the wonderful absurdity of it all. In that way, it reminded me of Adams' "Hitchhiker." But at some point the infatuation wore thin, and it turned out there wasn't enough substance underneath to make me care enough to keep reading. I've no idea what happened to the damned squid, and though I'm curious, I can't muster the mental energy to keep going and find out.

It's extremely rare that I abandon a book. I really love this author's keen eye and delicious way with words, and maybe I'll try another of his titles. This one, though, was just too much.


Tags : Kraken [China Mieville] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. With this outrageous new novel, China Miéville has written one of the strangest, funniest, and flat-out scariest books you will read this—or any other—year. The London that comes to life in Kraken is a weird metropolis awash in secret currents of myth and magic,China Mieville,Kraken,Del Rey,034549749X,FIC009020,Giant squids;Fiction.,Magic;Fiction.,Museum curators;England;Fiction.,England,English Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fantasy,Fantasy - Epic,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction Fantasy Epic,Fiction Literary,Fiction Science Fiction General,Giant squids,Magic,Museum curators

Kraken China Mieville 9780345497499 Books Reviews

What a weird weird book. Delightful in so many ways, but something missing that gives me so much of the joy I found in Perdido Street Station or The Scar (even those books are arguably much more of a bummer). Perhaps it's that this world is so similar to our own? I still love the other London that Mieville depicts here-- it's fun and teeming with energy. I love the familiar strikes and that one of the best characters in the book is a union organizer. I think this book did a better job than some of his others of creating a really full cast of characters that you really come to care about. Would agree with another review that the pacing was off in this book. All in all, a fun ride, felt like American Gods, but better. +1 for squid puns.
I have been reading China Miéville's novels since he was first published, and was amazed at his blend of the fantastic with basic human behavior to achieve some of the finest speculative fiction ever written. Kracken is just another singular example of Miéville's brilliant ability to weave disparate elements into a fantastic story. Combine religious cults, a preserved giant squid, an alternative magical London and criminal gangs into an end of the world tale. His imagination and creativity are astounding.

I would recommend this to anyone who still believes the world holds wonders.
China Mieville is an author whose books don't often live up to the scope of his ideas, and Kraken is no exception in this regard. This is not to say that I don't like his work, or that I didn't enjoy Kraken, but going back to Perdido Street Station and the Bas Lag novels, he has the habit of jamming awesome ideas into his novels that unfortunately don't always work with the plot he's constructed. I get the feeling that he makes things up as he goes along, and molding his ideas to fit into a cohesive story is not one of his strong suits. I've always preferred Mieville's short fiction to his novels -- when constrained by a shorter format, his stories are much more satisfying and focused.

Kraken centers around a scientist at the Museum of Natural History in London named Billy who is responsible for preserving a specimen of a giant squid, architeuthis. The squid is one of the most popular exhibits at the museum, but has also caught the attention of London's secret underworld of mages and cults, who believe it to be both a god of the deep and the harbinger of an apocalypse. The Kraken is stolen from the museum, although there is no practical way to remove it from the room. Billy finds himself flung into the depths of a London he never new existed, a reluctant prophet for a cult that worships the squid, as well a person of great interest to the various supernatural factions in the city. What follows is a fairly standard "chase the McGuffin" story in which Billy and his new allies attempt to locate the squid and stop the end of the world, while various antagonists hunt for him.

I won't reveal any spoilers here, because there's lots of great surprises in the book -- an unusual labor movement, a Star Trek loving mage (as well as an insightful look into a particular Star Trek trope that is often taken for granted by fans), a pair of terrifying immortal hit men called Goss and Subby, a man with a bizarre tattoo on his back and much more. However, for all the unique ideas, I can't help but think of Kraken as a crazier version of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, or a saner version of Grant Morrison's comic book series, The Invisibles - either way, it covers ground that other writers have explored in better stories. In many ways, it is a conventional urban fantasy novel, except unlike others in the genre, the characters are ciphers who exist to carry Mieville's big ideas. Billy, though the central character, is mostly unknown to us through the end. We know he's very good at pickling squids, but other than that, we learn very little about him as a person. Others we get to know a little better, but given the strength of Mieville's past protagonists, I expected more.

Overall, Kraken is an entertaining read, but not Mieville's best. If you're new to his work, I'd recommend starting out with Perdido Street Station and The Scar, both of which are worth your time.
Just beneath the surface of modern cosmopolitan London is a collection of various cults and practitioners of magic that have made their home in alleyways and pubs hidden from most maps. One of these cults, the Krakenists, worship the giant squid and so when a bottled giant squid from the natural history museum goes missing, the squid’s curator (the novel’s protagonist Billy), gets dragged into an unfolding magic war with nothing less than the end of the world at stake!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The various players were all compelling. The Tattoo (a magical mob boss banished to a man’s backside) and his henchmen Goss and Subby were especially memorable. I also liked Wati, a magical totem from ancient Egypt who is now a union organizer for magical creatures.

I highly recommend the book for readers who enjoy a fast paced mystery that skates along the edge of absurd.
All of China Mieville's books seem to have an overarching theme that is illustrated throughout the story, though it is not directly related to the story. In "Perdido Street Station" the theme seems to be the nature of duty and obligation. In "The Scar", the theme is hubris. I think the theme in "Kraken" is the nature of being. All sorts of creative modes of being are suggested and explored as if they are really possible. The book is also a combination homage to and satire of Neil Gaiman and "Americam Gods" and H.P. Lovecraft and the whole Cthulu thing. I think it's also intended as a satire of religion in general and the Anglican Church in particular.

Oh, that's right, there's also a story. At heart this is a mystery novel about what may or may not be a plot to bring about the end of the world. It's fast paced with good characterization. It presents an almost plausible alternate reality that may invisibly exist all around us. It's especially interesting how ordinary people, we might call them "Muggles" are brought into an awareness of this magical realm.
At the beginning, and for nearly half the book, I was quite taken with the wonderful absurdity of it all. In that way, it reminded me of Adams' "Hitchhiker." But at some point the infatuation wore thin, and it turned out there wasn't enough substance underneath to make me care enough to keep reading. I've no idea what happened to the damned squid, and though I'm curious, I can't muster the mental energy to keep going and find out.

It's extremely rare that I abandon a book. I really love this author's keen eye and delicious way with words, and maybe I'll try another of his titles. This one, though, was just too much.