Kraken

Scott F reviewed Kraken by China Miéville

Brilliantly weird magic cult apocalypse whodunit

4 stars

I was totally absorbed in this brilliant, very weird, sometimes quite silly, but mostly gripping and sometimes downright chilling, yarn about a giant squid heist and multiple predicted apocalypses vying for imminent fulfillment. The hero Billy Harrow is a perfect stand-in for the reader, both in his initial bewilderment at the complicated supernatural world he's been thrown into, and later in his realization, gaining confidence, that he knows more than he thinks. The characters are richly drawn, from the incorporeal labor organizer Wati who speaks by temporarily inhabiting statues to the heartbroken Marge, like Billy a regular person, who's drawn into the aetherial cult world seeking answers for her partner's disappearance.

It's overwhelming sometimes, particularly in part 5 (of 7) where the novel dragged a little with a subplot that felt extraneous, but the denouement brought me back, full of unexpected twists and turns. A fitting novel for our apocalyptic …

I was totally absorbed in this brilliant, very weird, sometimes quite silly, but mostly gripping and sometimes downright chilling, yarn about a giant squid heist and multiple predicted apocalypses vying for imminent fulfillment. The hero Billy Harrow is a perfect stand-in for the reader, both in his initial bewilderment at the complicated supernatural world he's been thrown into, and later in his realization, gaining confidence, that he knows more than he thinks. The characters are richly drawn, from the incorporeal labor organizer Wati who speaks by temporarily inhabiting statues to the heartbroken Marge, like Billy a regular person, who's drawn into the aetherial cult world seeking answers for her partner's disappearance.

It's overwhelming sometimes, particularly in part 5 (of 7) where the novel dragged a little with a subplot that felt extraneous, but the denouement brought me back, full of unexpected twists and turns. A fitting novel for our apocalyptic times. "End of the world?" "Ends."

Michael Steeves reviewed Kraken by China Miéville

Entertaining enough romp through mystic London

3 stars

Billy is a staff member at museum who leads a tour into the museum's star attraction, an immaculately preserved giant squid, only to find that the massive tank has somehow vanished from the locked room.

This sends him off on adventures through London where he learns of its role as a world nexus for all manners of magic and cult activity while also trying to prevent the stolen squid from being used to spark a global apocalypse.

Not terribly deep, but an entertaining light romp.

Marek reviewed Kraken by China Miéville

Miéville's signature weird unleashed on his beloved London

4 stars

This it a re-read, I picked this up when it was first released.

In some ways, this is one of the more straightforward stories from China Miéville. It's a romp of a thriller in which esoteric religious beliefs ground an urban fantasy, as a museum curator, Billy Harrow, tumbles down the rabbit hole into a London of mystical cults, exotically arcane gangs, and clashing apocalypses.

Miéville's love for the crazy melting pot of London is on display, as he takes every bizarre sect at its word, and continues to twist the surreality dial over the course of the tale from "curiouser and curiouser" all the way to "gargling warthogs dancing the can can".

The writing is jarring mixture of his signature extended vocabulary at the service of a chopping London vernacular cadence that gets a little tough to read in places. That's just a sometimes thing, though, in what is …

This it a re-read, I picked this up when it was first released.

In some ways, this is one of the more straightforward stories from China Miéville. It's a romp of a thriller in which esoteric religious beliefs ground an urban fantasy, as a museum curator, Billy Harrow, tumbles down the rabbit hole into a London of mystical cults, exotically arcane gangs, and clashing apocalypses.

Miéville's love for the crazy melting pot of London is on display, as he takes every bizarre sect at its word, and continues to twist the surreality dial over the course of the tale from "curiouser and curiouser" all the way to "gargling warthogs dancing the can can".

The writing is jarring mixture of his signature extended vocabulary at the service of a chopping London vernacular cadence that gets a little tough to read in places. That's just a sometimes thing, though, in what is otherwise a delightfully witty and loving wink at the power of faith and narrative. Excellent characters, some fun twists, and a setting that doesn't let you pause for breath.

Makes me want to reread some of his others now too.

boysmithers reviewed Kraken by China Miéville

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

2.5 stars. I started reading this a decade ago and gave up. The beginning of the book is dreadful, the characters and the writing are very irksome... although I enjoyed all of his other previous books. It gets a lot better in the second half though.