Kraken

By: China Mieville

Narrated by: John Lee

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, where criminals, police, cultists, and wizards are locked in a war to bring about—or prevent—the End of All Things.

In the Darwin Centre at London’s Natural History Museum, Billy Harrow, a cephalopod specialist, is conducting a tour whose climax is meant to be the Centre’s prize specimen of a rare Architeuthis dux—better known as the Giant Squid. But Billy’s tour takes an unexpected turn when the squid suddenly and impossibly vanishes into thin air.

As Billy soon discovers, this is the precipitating act in a struggle to the death between mysterious but powerful forces in a London whose existence he has been blissfully ignorant of until now, a city whose denizens—human and otherwise—are adept in magic and murder.

All of them—and others—are in pursuit of Billy, who inadvertently holds the key to the missing squid, an embryonic god whose powers, properly harnessed, can destroy all that is, was, and ever shall be.

©2010 China Mieville (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Mr. Miéville's novels - seven so far - have been showered with prizes; three have won the Arthur C. Clarke award, given annually to the best science fiction novel published in Britain…. [H]e stands out from the crowd for the quality, mischievousness and erudition of his writing…. Among the many topics that bubble beneath the wild imagination at play are millennial anxiety, religious cults, the relationship between the citizen and the state and the role of fate and free will." ( The New York Times)

Fascinating, but difficult for an audio book

I absolutely love China Mieville. Perdido Street Station is one of my favorite books. I loved the story with Kraken but the plot is so complicated and there are so many characters that this is a real challenge as an audio book. I found I tended to get confused a lot about who, what, when, where. It definitely requires your full attention. Since I already have it in audio I will listen to it again, but I think it would probably be better enjoyed in regular book format.

Squidelicious magical fantasy set in London

Kraken by China Mieville is a little bit of a modern, adult Harry Potter in that the main character begins with no conception of the alternate magical realm that co-exists with the City of London, but ends up playing a central role in preventing a world ending catastrophe. Billy is a low level curator at the Darwin museum which has as the big draw a preserved giant squid. The squid (and its large case) goes missing without leaving any clues as to how or who. Billy is quickly drawn into a bizarre world that includes "Kraken worshipers, a crime boss tattooed onto a hapless victim, London-mancers who whisper to city structures, as well as the ocean itself, a dead inky criminal, and the presence of Star Trek magic. Following along with Billy is a special police unit that is somewhat aware of all this stuff as well as the girlfriend of Billy's best friend.

While the overall theme of the story is magic, this is not the classical magic of warty-nosed witches with boiling cauldrons of eye of newt. Rather this is modern, hip magic with a wide range of creative and unique features, such as an iPod "nacked" for protection providing the right playlists are synced or the magical creation of a Star Trek like phaser weapon to entice a Trekkie to use his "beaming" magic. The sleuthing to discover the ultimate culprit is quite detailed and as each false lead is played out, the crowd after the squid continues to grow. The ultimate purpose of the crime is plot twisted many times, but the ending is refreshingly original.

Th narration is superb with a wide range of standard London accents and good gender distinction.

Mieville's urban fantasy is great fun.

It was great! More words for the min. submission one two three four five done.

Should have read rather than listened

Great story, but struggled with the narrator... Feels like he's doing the voiceover for a World War II documentary

Another Great Story by Mieville

Another great story by China Mieville and solid narration by Lee! always hard to match the New Chobuzon collection but this work does a great job highlighting what makes Mieville's stories so interesting by engaging the reader in an impossible and fantastical adventure.

Great set up some falling off

The characters have some abrupt endings and I feel as though a large portion is spent on the beginning and middle while the ending is rushed.

Imaginative romp through London underground

What made the experience of listening to Kraken the most enjoyable?

The twists and turns as the author continuously invented new worlds within worlds to keep the reader reeling.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Many of the characters developed - up and down - through out the book and it would be hard to pick one overall favorite. I kind of liked some of the bad guys more than the good guys even though I was rooting for the world not to end.

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His mastery of different London accents is more that I could do for myself.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wouldn't say moved, but about halfway through the book I realized that this was not going to be like any other book I had read and I was excited to keep going.

Good but not amazing

Great story that owes a lot to Adams, Pratchett, and Gaiman. The ending is a bit too tidy for my taste. Good characters -- although the female characters are relatively flat and stereotypical. The reading was good enough. Character voices were somewhat inconsistent, but not annoyingly so. Some were excellent. Worth downloading and listening to -- especially if you have run out of Discworld and Adams.

Great Performance, Ripping Yarn

I have to admit that half the time I had no idea what was happening, but I still managed to truly enjoy the story and the performance.

Fantastic Book

Would you listen to Kraken again? Why?

The story was nicely complex -- there was much I missed the first time through. The second and third time I picked up on things I missed and found new parts to be thought provoking.

What other book might you compare Kraken to and why?

Neverwhere (or anything by Gaiman) It's the same mind bending twists that happen in "our" world, but just around the corner just ahead of us or behind us. Like, what happens in the fridge when you close the door sort of thinking.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

It was quite mesmerizing -- But I love John Lee, which is partially brought me to this book in the first place.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was quite thought provoking.