Kraken

By: China Mieville

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

Fun story

Fun story. Kind of like 5th Element meets the Witcher. ending left a little to be desired but overall an enjoyable exp

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.

A New Favorite Author

If you like Neil Gaiman, you may like Mieville. I would not describe this story so much as horror (some of Gaiman's stories are more so), but a philosophical fantasy. Kraken has less steam-punk and science fiction than some of Mieville's other stories, although it has plenty of the fantastic. It is a riot. In this story, it is centered very much in the alternate reality of the City of London, which is a major character in Kraken. If you are an architect or interested in cities, you may love it for this reason alone, but if you are interested in more intellectual sci-fi-fantasy with other influences of science and religion, you may also like it. The characters, moreover, are also more developed, or memorable, than some of his other stories. Lastly, the narration, by John Lee, is of course superb. I listened to it twice.

Arcane Horror A-Go-Go!

Another classic Mieville immersion into the unconscious of London herself - but this time through the ink of a magical giant squid. And not just any giant squid mind you, but god-spawn... Join Billy the museum curator, and preserver of said deus enfant, on his horryifying and often hilarious journey through the seedy underbelly of London's secret religions. Dark magic and evil, dripping beasties spawn from every crevice as Billy tries to preserve his sanity and his life. Fans of Mieville's Perdido Street Station will feel right at home in this occult city on the brink of apocalypse(s?!). Narration of Mieville's rollicking and eerie prose performed splendidly by John Lee.

great book highly recommend to anyone

loved every second of this book. I've recommended to many people already. great modern fantasy world full of magic

Disjointed Fun

Lots of fun. I didn't think the story hung together well, but I didn't think it really needed to, to enjoy the ride.

Alternate London + Pop Culture Sci Fi = Fantastic

This book is a wonderful jumble of pop culture science fiction and fantasy blended with an alternate modern day London. China Mieville is known for descriptive world building that makes you feel present in the story. He lives up to his reputation in Kraken. It is a very detailed book, and this is book is only for multi tasking if you are doing mindless tasks like laundry. If you do not focus on it you will miss some intelligent pieces of humor. This book definitely caters to those that love the sci fi/fantasy genres but you can still enjoy this book if you are only a casual sci fi/fantasy reader. I loved the fact China Mieville was willing to poke gentle fun at himself and his audience.

Kraken involves an alternate London that has regular London living obliviously living amongst them with no idea that they have Gods, Londanmancers, cults, and familiars (currently on a union strike) living amongst them. Billy gets pulled into this world when he's working at the Darwin Museum and a giant squid disappears. He's pulled into this world by those that think he is the Kraken Prophet and is dodging muliple factions of cults, henchmen, assassins, a paranormal division of the police, and Chaos Nazis. My summary does not do it justice. You have to read it.

John Lee narrated it and I think for the most part he did a fabulous job, the only place I feel he may have fell short was the character of Collingsworth, who is a paranormal, Amy Winehouse type, police woman. He doesn't do terrible with it but I could see if I was reading it, my internal interpretation may have been a bit different. For the wealth of particular characters I don't know anyone who could have done better.

I loved it and it will definitely go into the listen again pile because I am sure that on a second try I would pick up on even more of the pop culture references. I did notice some characterized this book as scary or horror and I tend to stay away from that genre because I can scare easy. I did not find it scary at all.