Kraken

an anatomy

Hardcover, 464 pages

English language

Published June 29, 2010 by Del Rey.

ISBN:
978-0-345-49749-9
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
436030063

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (81 reviews)

Kraken is a fantasy novel by British author China Miéville. It is published in the UK by Macmillan, and in the US by Del Rey Books. The book bears the subtitle "An Anatomy" on the title page. It was the winner for the 2011 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Miéville has described the book as "a dark comedy about a squid-worshipping cult and the end of the world. It takes the idea of the squid cult very seriously. Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they’re not absurd."

8 editions

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I loved Miéville' s "The City and the City" so when I saw he'd written a book with the protagonist being a mild mannered cephalopod biologist, of course I had to pick it up! Set in London, the book follows Billy, the aforementioned, and the furor that ensues when the preserved remains of a giant squid go missing from the museum where he works. The squid is so huge that nobody could possible have removed it without any trace, and yet, that is what's happened. Adding to the confusion, the dead body of a man is discovered in the museum's basement, stuffed intact into a preserving jar into which there is physically no way he could possibly have fit.

Billy tries to make sense of events, but events simply get stranger and stranger. In a fantastical version of London where magic exists, where gods of all sorts are worshipped on …

Review of 'Kraken' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

Not a terrible yarn, but it seems to wander for a good chunk of the book. The more stream of consciousness writing it hard to get through. It only seems to illustrate that something strange is going on here, which would be fine if it wasn't surrounded by tons of weird stuff going on. Will look out for shorter ones by this author, rather than longer.

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

By far one of the WEIRDEST books I've ever read. A lot of talk about the end of the world, and religions with krakens as gods...it was just very odd. I felt like I was reading a different language half the time. Granted some of that comes from my unfamiliarity with British slang, but really the whole vocabulary surrounding the people who could do "magic" confused me to no end. I obviously liked it well enough to finish it, but I'm not sure if I'll read another of his soon. Goss and Subby were the creepiest, most disturbing villains I've read in a while. The description of how they killed the guy in the jail cell...still gives me the shivers.

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

I had a little difficulty wading through this one. It's quite different than Mieville's previous works, though it's not difficult to see how this evolved from them. Characterization is very strong, with characters that strengthen and evolve logically throughout the narrative. The plot and magical system mesh precisely: both are constructed out of thickly layered and highly detailed metaphor.
Absolutely a book where every little detail is important, will likely come back to effect the plot at some later point.
The missing star in this review is really only to do with the slightly disjointed transition between events, which was rather annoying to me in a few instances. Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book.
The magic system in this book is so incredibly brilliant, that I keep coming back to it. I really hope to see Mieville use it again.

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

You've all heard the anecdotes about the guy who sits down in a restaurant, plops a chunk of money on the table and says, "this is the tip; I'll be making deductions for every misstep!" What a jerk.

Well, it's a bit how I approach novels. At page one, everyone has five stars (assuming the first line isn't "It was a dark and stormy night.")

The Kraken lost one star a couple of chapters in when I thought "who does this guy think he is: Neil Gaiman?" Think of every derivative work slightly tweaking The Lord of the Rings and I think that's where we're headed with Gaiman's style. Mieville might be the start of it or just the first I've read.

The Kraken lost its second star when I realized that Mieville is no Neil Gaiman. For all its quirk and dark oddity (Mieville might have an edge on …

Review of 'Kraken' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

In a book that features squid-worshippers, talking tattoos, thugs with fists instead of heads, and even a tribble, you would think that all this ridiculousness might run wild, but that is not the case with Kraken. Even though the world of the novel is a version of London where multiple gods roam and many of the residents have some affinity for magic, the novel never fully descends into outright absurdity. The villains of the story--a Dickensian pair of personified malevolence, one of whom speaks entirely in a hodgepodge of mixed metaphors, awful analogies, and Cockney nonsense--ground the narrative in a violent reality. Even though the characters have magic at their disposal, the villains have powers far greater and far more sinister, so there is actual drama and conflict, not merely a series of events ending in someone pulling a rabbit out of the hat and then watching as the rabbit …

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Subjects

  • Science Fiction & Fantasy -- Fantasy -- Epic