Kraken

De: China Miéville

Narrado por: 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.

There is the Congregation of God Kraken, a sect of squid worshippers whose roots go back to the dawn of humanity—and beyond. There is the criminal mastermind known as the Tattoo, a merciless maniac inked onto the flesh of a hapless victim. There is the FSRC—the Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crime Unit—a branch of London’s finest that fights sorcery

with sorcery. There is Wati, a spirit from ancient Egypt who leads a ragtag union of magical familiars. There are the Londonmancers, who read the future in the city’s entrails. There is Grisamentum, London’s greatest wizard, whose shadow lingers long after his death. And then there is Goss and Subby, an ageless old man and a cretinous boy who, together, constitute a terrifying—yet darkly charismatic—demonic duo.

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.

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.