The Kraken Wakes

By: John Wyndham

Narrated by: Alex Jennings

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Journalist Mike Watson and his wife, Phyllis, trace it back to the strange showering lights they noticed on the final day of their honeymoon cruise; lights which appeared to land and disappear into the water. Reports mount of similar sightings all over the world. Governments embark on missions to investigate the sea, but ships disappear and diving crews never return to the surface. Something deep in the ocean does not want to be disturbed.

The Kraken Wakes is a tale of humanity’s efforts to resist alien invasion, narrated by Mike who unfolds the story as experienced by the couple - from the earliest signs of trouble, to the conflict between the sea-dwelling creatures and the human world. John Wyndham’s classic science-fiction masterpiece is powerfully brought to life in this unabridged production. His other titles - The Midwich Cuckoos and The Day Of the Triffids - are also published as audiobooks by CSA Word.

©1953 CSA Word (P)2011 CSA Word

classic sci-fi, wonderfully read

I'm a big John Wyndham fan, but this is one I'd never read - and fortunately it's wonderfully read and rendered as an audiobook. Like several of his others, this book follows an invasion of Earth, centering on England, but unlike many alien-invasion stories, this one involves aliens in the deep that are never seen by any of the characters in the book. It adds an air of mystery to the already mysterious happenings, as does the music that separates segments of the story in this production.

The narrator does a great job, not only in personalizing the different characters, but also in keeping the tone from getting too maudlin.

Classic sci fi with a satirical bite

Where does The Kraken Wakes rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best

What other book might you compare The Kraken Wakes to and why?

Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis. Has the same satirical taste

Which character – as performed by Alex Jennings – was your favorite?

Mike, the narrator.

If you could rename The Kraken Wakes, what would you call it?

Global Warming via Deus ex Machina

Any additional comments?

Only wish that some of John Wyndhams lesser known works, in particular 'The Trouble with Lichen' were also in audible format.

A classic

What did you love best about The Kraken Wakes?

Great original story - with some relevance to life today

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Kraken Wakes?

The final grim phase

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

Yes - well read without overdoing the other character voices

If you could rename The Kraken Wakes, what would you call it?

no

Perfect.

If you could sum up The Kraken Wakes in three words, what would they be?

Deal with meteors.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the atmosphere, the premise and the outcome. Alex Jennings gets the characters down pat, and I could actually see them in my mind. The main characters do exactly what I would do myself, and I can totally relate to them. I love the excitement, the frustration and the brilliance with which Wyndham creates the wife - she has the perfect balance between femininity, resourcefulness and intelligence.

Have you listened to any of Alex Jennings’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard Jennings do anything else, but I love his voice, and his delivery. His character voices are spot on, and I'm looking through his recordings now.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I have not only listened to this in one sitting, but I play it often as a bedtime story, while I'm doing chores, in the car - in fact everywhere.

Any additional comments?

I love the dated feel of Wyndham's writing, the nostalgia of bygone days but with the suspense and creepiness of impending doom. I have read his books over and over, and my only gripe is that he didn't write more.

Unexpectedly Prescient & Relevant

This is not an action packed novel, and the unassailable aliens are more concept than seen, but that gives this novel more strength as the novel explores a way of life that is enjoyed and then slowly, decays and collapses. As with ‘the Day of the Triffids’ I often found myself wondering what I would do if faced with similar challenges.

Ships are sinking, and no one knows why. Aliens arrive unseen, and settle in the deeps of the sea. Life goes on for years before humans realise that their way of life is being changed forever.

In these days of climate change I find the idea of uncontrollable sea level rise quite prescient. Another theme, which again has some traction today, is how the media reports, and how the public responds, to events. Some aspects irk, such as the unconscious superiority that imbues all the descriptions of non-British peoples. On the other hand the novel is also an interesting slice of life in the atomic cold war era.

The narrator is excellent. The accent was perfect for the book. His voice had just the right amount of animation, and even managed the farcical anti-Soviet sections (fortunately few and short) sound like we were all in some quaint joke.

Classic Sci-Fi!

I remember reading this book when I was going to college a long time ago and loving it. Now, re-"reading" it many years later, it stands up to time and I still love it! Alex Jennings is a fantastic narrator - I especially like his Russian voice. The Kraken Wakes and The Day of the Triffids are both classics from John Wyndham. Download it now!

Something of a Disappointment

I had loved this book when I read it some 30 years ago, but upon revisiting in audio form it I was quite disappointed. While the basic story line is good I found the writing style very dated and slow moving. The dialog between husband and wife is particularly hard to take; very stiff, upper class English diction, and the endless "darling, darling, darling" as they address each other is at times nothing short of grating. But I struggled through it and it does pick up in the last quarter. It has however caused me to reconsider purchasing the other Wyndham works.