Kraken

Fascinating, surreal urban fantasy. It's the sort of book that, for me at least, seemed less about the plot or characters themselves and more about the strangeness of the world they inhabit and the events they take part in. The ending felt unsatisfying, but besides that it was an enjoyable read.

I like that this is a different style for Mieville. It's good when authors do different things instead of just writing the same book over and over, which happens quite often. There is a lot of humor and lightness that I can't recall seeing in his other works.

I really enjoy his imagination, and there are quite a few interesting character concepts in this book, such as Wati, the afterlife familiar who can connect with the world via any statue, figure, or doll; Jason, who can put himself in any environment and convince you that you already know him; and the body-horror-esque sentient Tattoo. My personal favorite is Collingswood, a magic-using cop who behaves with nihilistic swagger you seldom ever see in a female character.

If you're a fan of humorous urban fantasy, then you probably already have read a bunch of books like this. If so, you're looking for something that will add something new to that kind of genre, a different take or an astounding story.

The story of the Kraken could have been a case investigated by Dirk Gently or Peter Grant, or have been something written by Neil Gaiman.

If not adding anything unique to a genre, authors can succeed by giving us characters we can really get involved with so we can care about what's happening on that level rather than because of a unique concept.

I didn't get this from The Kraken . If Gaiman or Adams had written this, there would have been more warmth and charm to it.

As interesting as the Kraken's character concepts are, he never takes them much past their concept into relatable personalities despite their inherent weirdness. He never makes the strange familiar enough for me to care about actions and motives.

The themes about belief and religion aren't anything new either.

The book felt incredibly long to me and three-quarters of the way in, I wanted it to be over. The plot cuts wide rather than deep with various groups running around with their individual investment in the apocalypse or the Kraken. A clean and well-organized plot can certainly bear up under the weight of so many competing character groups, but that wasn't the case here.

Fast-moving can be good but The Kraken was splattered chaos in need of an editor. I'm feeling 2.5-ish about it, but will round up to 3 since it did provide some moments of humor/entertainment.

another banger from our boy China, bottle = hero

Sincer, nu mi-a plăcut deloc și nimic. Rămân fan Crobuzon, dar când iese din acel univers Mieville nu mă mai convinge. Aici totul e un haos narativ, cu o pleiadă de personaje monodimensionale și deseori enervante, cu un fel de clonare nereușită de Zei Americani dus mai spre dark și cu pretenții exagerate de “suspension of disbelief” care poate mergeau la Lovecraft acum un veac, dar nu mai pot funcționa în secolul 21. Am încercat să o citesc și in eng și în ro, cu același efect: după 100 si ceva de pag m-am lăsat păgubaș. Mai bine citiți separat Lovecraft si Gaiman și gata.

It has all the interesting characters and magical world I usually enjoy. The 5 different world endings were too much. Goss and Subby and Wati were unique and interesting.

One of the weirdest, best-written books I've experienced. In text form, the combination of high vocabulary and low slang was too opaque for me, but the excellent audiobook narrator brought to life the music of Mieville's language. Be warned though, it's very wierd, like a cocktail of Gaiman, Lovecraft, and Carroll.

Recommended for: Fans of ‘Neverwhere', religious critism, and squids.

Mieville makes the absurd seem totally plausable and tells an entertaining story with believable characters. Probably the book I've enjoyed most in ten years. I have found my new favorite author.

Mieville is great at coming up with fantastical ideas for his worlds and the characters that populate them, but I don't think everything quite worked here. There is so much being introduced in this world at any given time that some of it feels too convenient and could have been seeded better.

The exposition is a little slow and clumsy at first, but when the story gets into full swing it's a great read.

In a book that features squid-worshippers, talking tattoos, thugs with fists instead of heads, and even a tribble, you would think that all this ridiculousness might run wild, but that is not the case with Kraken. Even though the world of the novel is a version of London where multiple gods roam and many of the residents have some affinity for magic, the novel never fully descends into outright absurdity. The villains of the story–a Dickensian pair of personified malevolence, one of whom speaks entirely in a hodgepodge of mixed metaphors, awful analogies, and Cockney nonsense–ground the narrative in a violent reality. Even though the characters have magic at their disposal, the villains have powers far greater and far more sinister, so there is actual drama and conflict, not merely a series of events ending in someone pulling a rabbit out of the hat and then watching as the rabbit saves the day.

The main flaw with Kraken is that the author sometimes gets lost in creating his alternate London. Like Neal Stephenson's Anathem, much of the narration of Kraken is explaining how the world works, and the histories of its bizarre denizens. These explanations come whether they are needed or not. Explaining the squid cult that is at the center of the novel, or the backstory between London's warring factions is all well and good. But is it really necessary to devote time to explain Chaos Nazis? They're Nazis who love chaos; it's pretty self-explanatory. There are also a couple of sub-plots that, although they join up with the main plot in the end, go into more detail than is actually needed. And there's one potentially interesting sub-plot, involving a kidnapped girl who might be a cross between a human and a djinn, that doesn't get nearly enough attention. But wayward plots are what come with the territory when mixing genres like Kraken does. The novel has elements of horror, Sci-Fi (speculative fiction, if you're nasty), fantasy, and mystery, blending all these genres in a seamless fashion.

In a book that features squid-worshippers, talking tattoos, thugs with fists instead of heads, and even a tribble, you would think that all this ridiculousness might run wild, but that is not the case with Kraken. Even though the world of the novel is a version of London where multiple gods roam and many of the residents have some affinity for magic, the novel never fully descends into outright absurdity. The villains of the story–a Dickensian pair of personified malevolence, one of whom speaks entirely in a hodgepodge of mixed metaphors, awful analogies, and Cockney nonsense–ground the narrative in a violent reality. Even though the characters have magic at their disposal, the villains have powers far greater and far more sinister, so there is actual drama and conflict, not merely a series of events ending in someone pulling a rabbit out of the hat and then watching as the rabbit saves the day.

The main flaw with Kraken is that the author sometimes gets lost in creating his alternate London. Like Neal Stephenson's Anathem, much of the narration of Kraken is explaining how the world works, and the histories of its bizarre denizens. These explanations come whether they are needed or not. Explaining the squid cult that is at the center of the novel, or the backstory between London's warring factions is all well and good. But is it really necessary to devote time to explain Chaos Nazis? They're Nazis who love chaos; it's pretty self-explanatory. There are also a couple of sub-plots that, although they join up with the main plot in the end, go into more detail than is actually needed. And there's one potentially interesting sub-plot, involving a kidnapped girl who might be a cross between a human and a djinn, that doesn't get nearly enough attention. But wayward plots are what come with the territory when mixing genres like Kraken does. The novel has elements of horror, Sci-Fi (speculative fiction, if you're nasty), fantasy, and mystery, blending all these genres in a seamless fashion.