The Kraken Wakes

Great original story - with some relevance to life today

The final grim phase

Yes - well read without overdoing the other character voices

no

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.

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.

One of the best

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

Mike, the narrator.

Global Warming via Deus ex Machina

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