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)

mystery or mythical

really good story lot of twists like magic go for it. or if you like London stoys

A Literary Chimera

What did you love best about Kraken?

I liked Mieville's deft use of humor and absurdity. The story, while completely original, was assembled from tropes of multiple genre's. From sci-fi to fantasy and from whodunit to horror, he kept the listener wondering what literary DNA he would splice in next. The story and plot were top notch, never slowing and very tight, the characters had a surprising depth, and most importantly it all held together for something very rare indeed: the satisfying ending.

What other book might you compare Kraken to and why?

Anything by Douglas Adams or Neil Gaiman but that's pretty much expected. More violent than either of them but certainly of their ilk.

What about John Lee???s performance did you like?

John Lee was perfect. His range of characters was impressive and his voice was incredible.

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

No spoilers here but there is a bit about Star Trek matter transportation technology that was quite poignant.

A rambling ride

I would call this urban fantasy, except I think it would be an insult to put it on the same shelf as werewolves and vampires in skintight jeans. But it is Urban, yes indeed. And there is a fantasy element here, an element of Gaiman. Anyway, this book is confusing, chaotic, totally weird at times and ostentatiously British. It is so goddamn British that it invents slang on the spot; plausible British slang. It also has one of the best villain duos I???ve read of in some time. Guss and Subby are totally evil, utterly cruel and disagreeable, yet somehow quite charming. This is Peredido Street Station brought back to London. This is the Rat King, only bigger, nastier and all grown up. And John Lee makes it all come alive. So if you can get past the total unwillingness of everyone, including the author to actually come out and clarify anything, the almost obnoxious rambling mysteriousness, then I think you???ll quite enjoy it. I did.

A new favorite

I was skeptical about this book from the mixed reviews it got. But being a fan of this "type" of book and seeing all the comparisons with one of my favorite authors Neal Gaimon I took the plunge. I am glad I did. This is an excellent story. This often funny, fast paced, and keep you guessing adventure kept me listening far later than I should have. I can see why this book has been compared to some of Neil
Gaimon's and it felt more like Neverwhere than American Gods to me. Though that being said this author has a style all his own. It should come as no surprise to fans of Jon Lee that he gives a pitch perfect performance that's easy to listen to and that he does a superb job in giving each character their own voice. Those who are easily offended will likely find something about which to find offence in this book. Mieville does use adult language and his characters say unflattering things about religion at times so be aware before you plunge in. This is not a children???s book nor is it for the faint of heart. Personally, I wish more people would be so creatively profane and was impressed by many a turn of phrase heard in this book. This book is now on my short list of books that will be listened to many times. Definitely a new favorite.

Hybrid Romp through Magic, Science, Faith & London

When the giant squid star of the Museum of Natural History's collection of preserved specimens goes missing, mild-mannered curator Billy Harrow finds himself mixed up with magical gangsters, bizarre cults, occult bounty hunters, a fiendish father and son hitman team, and the stunningly ineffectual though intrepid FSRC (Fundamentalist Sect-Related Crime Unit) in an apocalyptic competition through the surreal underworld palimpsested onto London to find the missing kraken. Who took the embalmed critter and why and where are they keeping it and why is its fate wrapped up with impending Armageddon?

Billy has to navigate a fermenting sea of dissident gods, millennial churches of biology, and specimen jar angels of memory; unionized familiars, gunfarmers, Chaos Nazis, and rabbi exorcists; pyromancers, necromancers, and Londonmancers; sentient seas and cities; and myriad cultural references, among them Moby-Dick, Barbie, Teletubbies, Amy Winehouse, Virginia Woolf, Buffy, Galactica, Cthulhu, Clint Eastwood, Captain Kirk, and the ghastly truth behind the Star Trek beam-me-up procedure.

And that list barely scratches the surface of the mad fertility of Kraken. At times the myriad references and ideas risk swamping the reader/listener into numb fatigue, and at times the novel threatens to become a frustrating police procedural with various characters asking similar questions and getting similarly incomplete answers, but at its best, Kraken crackles along with ebullient imaginative energy, its climax is cool, and the whole work has more unpredictable twists, original plays on cultural artifacts and genre tropes, and interesting ideas about faith, science, and city-life than most genre novels dream of mustering.

And John Lee does his usual fine job, managing to keep it professional even while enjoying himself reading lines like:
"Keep something in your pocket for me to get into. So I can get to you quick."
"How'd you feel about a Bratz doll?" Dane said.
"I've been in worse."

Excellent horror-comedy

This novel could be seen as a parody of Harry Potter, but for grownups. The hero enters a world in which every supernatural fable in the popular canon is in play--including Star Trek! More smoothly plotted than some of Mieville's other work, it's a very fun listen/read, especially since the narrator serves up all manner of London accents.

So ungodly weird.

Bottles! Science! Squid! Dolls! Semiotics! More squid! More science! False prophets! Warrior writers! Cell phones! Raaaaaaawr!!!!

Not Mieville's best

Though I'm excited to see Mieville's launch away from the world he created in Perdido Street Station, I found this one to be pretty mundane.

A great book

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

the story was great. the Narrator did a good job voicing the characters. the way Mieville weaves everyday London with magical London is totally believable.

What other book might you compare Kraken to and why?

If I compared it to another Mieville book it would be Perdido Street Station. Not because the stories are similar but because Mieville does such a great job of creating a new worlds.
It also reminded me of Stephen Kings books because there is the everyday world and another world just underneath waiting to be discovered or intrude on someone's life.

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

I have not listened to John Lee before....I think...

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

When a character realizes that there is a whole part of London she knows nothing about and must decide if she is going to go further into that world. It is a tough decision and it will change her life and she knows it.

Any additional comments?

It was really fun to be back in Mieville's worlds again. This was a fun rollercoaster ride.

A great funny Romp through London

Let me be perfectly clear, this is a high-paced urban fantasy that avoids falling into tropes. The high pace and many characters and the ‘newness’ of things, might make it a little hard to follow along sometimes. But it’s really really worth it on the big whole, Id say.