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Jun 08, 2011

Joel rated it:

Oh hey. An lolcat.That's new. But wait, because even though they are 1,000,000 years old in internet time, lolcats are only kittens in "offline" time, by which I mean the time by which your parents live their lives (go on, check your email right now: your dad just forwarded you a bunch of them. Hahaha Invisible Bike. I forgot about that one).

Moreover, judged by the molasses pace of the publishing industry, they're younger still. So I give props to China Miévill More...

14 comments like (79 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Stephen rated it:

Oops...in my excitement, I seem to have Mievilled all over myself. Pardon my gush.

So the ONLY reason this gatling blast of brainstorming outréness is not yet nesting on my all time favorite shelf along with Perdido Street Station and The City & The City is that my feeble grey matter is still trying to process what…the…French I just read. I grasped the big picture, though my neurons were white-knuckled and straining, but there were so, so, SO many reference gems, idea snippets, b More...

53 comments like (67 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Ian rated it:

Chapter 1: Wow, this is kind of cool. Everybody says China Miéville is the shit. He owns the GR comment boards. He can kick ass in any genre, or no genre, or bend genres to fit his will. Not to mention his good looks, right? I mean, the dude is hawt with a capital H. Hubba-Fuckin-Hubba. At least, that's what I've been told; personally I think he looks like a rude, low-class French waiter who hasn't bathed and has been relegated to peeling potatoes in the back alley where he can't scare off More...

16 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Whitaker rated it:

Many other writers have done urban fantasy, re-envisioning modern metropolises hiding a magical underbelly co-existing alongside the modern technological veneer: JK Rowling and the Harry Potter novels, Neil Gaiman and American Gods, Charles de Lint and his Newford novels. All of that is like Campari next to Miéville’s hard 100-year old whiskey. He ratchets up the weirdness, twists it and integrates it into modernity in a way that’s well… let’s just say that if Kraken were to get into a celebrit More...

9 comments like (15 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2011

Dan rated it:

A preserved giant squid is stolen from London's Natural History museum and curator Billy Harrow is at the top of everyone's list for answers. But who stole the Kraken and why? Was it the Londonmancers? Or minions of the Tattoo? Or the Church of the God Kraken? Or someone else all together? That's what Billy Harrow and Dane Parnell, a renegade from the Church, aim to find out. But can they recover the Kraken before it's used to trigger Armageddon?

China Mieville appears to have More...

16 comments like (26 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

China Mieville is a British author who is probably best known for his vast Peake-esque Bas Lag books, for which he has received an array of accolades. When describing a Mieville novel, two things that inevitably crop up are nods to Mieville’s in-depth world-building, and his idiosyncratic use of language, both of which are evident throughout his entire oeuvre, and even those pieces of work that depart substantially from the loosely linked Bas Lag trilogy.

Kraken, Mieville’s newest off More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Paul added it

Kraken gave me a severe case of goodreaditus, an unpleasant condition whereby as you are reading a book you are constantly thinking not about the book itself but how you are going to review it. For example I thought maybe I could borrow the voice of Cher Horowitz from Clueless

Here's the four-one-one on Billy Harrow. He's like a squid janitor, he's single, he's 24 or something, quite old, and he earns minor duckets for a thankless job. What that man needs is a good healthy boinkfest. More...

4 comments like (14 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2011

Jasmine added it

review reconsidered see: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/158...

~~Okay my goal to day was to be like Greg and to finish a book, given I didn't actually have that much of a book left but whatever.~~

This book has a lot of person problems that it is trying to work out, basically it is a bit of a hot mess.

~~It isn't as intelligent as mieville's other books, it worries me a bit that the blurb says this is him going back to perdido street station because I was intend~~ More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2010

Keely rated it:

Kraken marks a digression for Mieville from his familiar madcap style. Where before we had come to expect moody, slow-burn plots interrupted by sudden action, and just as suddenly back to introspection, we now get a story that is dramatic, unbroken, and streamlined in punchy chapters and theatrical quick-cuts.

His vibrant, poetical asides into mad science and techno-thaumaturgy have been toned down: no longer a virulent undercurrent, twisting and shaping his world, they have become cu More...

6 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Manny rated it:

"Now look," said Billy, in an uncertain approximation of his reasonable voice. "What's all this about? Can't someone tell me?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," replied Collingwood in disgust. "Someone's been trying to tell you for most of your sodding life. You just won't listen, will you? But if you want something more explicit, there's always Goodreads."

She opened a grubby-looking Apple Powerbook with a Hello Kitty sticker on the lid and beg More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jun 22, 2010

Mike rated it:

There are already some strong reviews on this site, and some giving the book qualified props for inducing lots of readerly pleasure while seeming a bit light. Thin. Shallow. (See, e.g., Keely's pretty thoughtful review.) Ironic, maybe, as the Kraken is a creature of the depths, inhabits the the abyssal dark, and is awfully heavy. Yet this book floats like a butterfly fish, and sings with silly abandon. This novel is no doubt a gas.

So I guess it's understandable that you might ma More...

11 comments like (27 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Jonathan rated it:

To me this book only went downhill from the sluggish start. In fact I was forced to skim read the book in order to actually finish.

The book tried so very hard to be dark and gritty and really only came across as trying. It was an awkward book, a mutated beast with bludgeoned tentacles. of course that was simply my experience with the book sadly after reading some rave reviews here on Goodreads. This book even won some award I discovered.

It failed in my opinion, it didn't More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

Brad rated it:

WARNING: This "review" (if you can call it that) contains some veiled but serious spoilers. Only read this review if you've read Kraken or aren't planning to read it for some time.

Miéville's Brain*

Star Trekiteuthis: The Original Series
Episode: TOS 061 - Spock's Brain
Season 3 Ep. 1
Air Date: 09/20/1968
Stardate: 5431.4

The U.S.S. Architeuthis is on a routine mission in its preservative bottle when a riffling, ink stained, paper t More...

12 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

Kraken begins when a preserved giant squid is stolen from the Darwin Centre in London. The theft is discovered by Billy Harrow, an employee of the Darwin Centre and an expert in Molluscs. When the squid (giant container and all) disappears without a trace, people come knocking on his door, including an unusual group of police officers who make up the cult investigation squad. Billy then gets pulled into the world of secret London.

Billy Harrow spends most of the novel on the run as war More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Seak (Bryce L.) rated it:

First off, a book with the title Kraken is required to have a sinking ship attacked by a Kraken or at least have the line "release the Kraken" make sense. Sorry, it's in the rules...This did not have any.

If that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere, although if you know anything about Mieville (I'm told), you should know that you never really get what you expect from his novels.

Kraken [US] [UK] was my first crack (or should I say krak) at China Mieville out More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2010

Chris rated it:

I was going to write a review but Damian Walker in the Guardian Saturday 15 May 2010 says it much better

"But while Miéville scores a palpable hit against the body of urban fantasy, he fails to skewer its heart. The exuberant energy and ambition of Kraken make for a complex novel packed with fascinating and original concepts. Miéville powers through that conceptual density with an action-filled plot, a technique that has served him well in earlier novels. But here the combined we More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2011

Mat rated it:

There's something agonisingly frustrating about throwing a China Miéville novel across the room.

The problem, I think, is in convincing myself that it actually deserves to be thrown. Because a Miéville novel should be brilliant. Both Kraken and the other Miéville I've read, The City & The City, are built on fascinating conceits. Like City's politically schizoid metropolis, the hidden London into which a museum curator is drawn after theft of a giant squid promises a wild, intelligentl More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Ken rated it:

I'll start off by saying that China Mieville sure knows his stuff. Kraken is a well researched book, blending religion, cults, mysticism and the weird together into a story. It has an interesting premise, a giant squid disappears from the Natural History Museum and this seemingly nobody is suddenly thrust into this world where magic exists and must help recover the squid before the prophesied end of the world comes.

This book had so much going for it. I enjoyed the way Mieville descri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 20, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Packed with fantastic ideas and thought-provoking elements. There were moments I wanted more description (I felt the same reading perdido street station) and wondered where the story was heading but I am in awe of Mieville's imagination, I love it, he makes me want more from him. His style of writing with new or unused words is always refreshing and challenging which I totally enjoy.

Loved the idea of Wati's character, Collingswood's chavy style did irritate me at times although I enj More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2010

Donna rated it:

When the giant squid that's a well-known attraction at the Darwin Centre disappears, Billy Harrow, the curator who both preserved it and found it missing, gets pulled into a secret London of strange magic and even stranger religion. In an adventure involving squid cultists, a familiar's union, and a living tattoo, Billy has to find the stolen squid in order to save both his life and the world.

This one took me a long time to read. A little of that was because I had to look up more wor More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

M— rated it:

Beach Vacation Read #3: Thank god is all I say for having an ereader at all. I complained about the state of the library in last year's beach house? HA. This year's house has a library less than a fifth the size and includes the bible and a mass market so battered I designated it tinder for our beach bonfires, and none of the books are ones that even remotely snag my interest. But I have 70 books on my ereader. Thank god.

Kraken should have been perfect for this trip. I'm at a beach. I' More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2012

Justin rated it:

This is my first try with Mieville. Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me, which is sad because I had heard a lot of great things.

For me the problem just came down to the writers voice, nothing against China Mieville, I just didn't like the way the words came off the page. It didn't feel natural to me, it felt stoppy-starty and robotic. The book never took to it's own gravity. It was a constant effort to read it, like swimming upstream.

Since the problem I had with this b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Tony rated it:

Cala-ma-a-a-a-riiiii,
I know you're a squid.
But I like you deep-fried
And so do my kids!

Cala-ma-a-a-a-a-riiiii,
I'd rather you're fried.
Because then I'm certain
That my squid has died.

Cala-ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-riiiii.......

Oops. Sorry. I was moved to operatic excess.

I'm not really a sci-fi kind of guy. Someone stole a giant squid that apparently is thought to be a god and everyone wants to kill Billy.

Okay. So much for my More...

9 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2011

Lyle Kimo rated it:

“Kraken” is madness. A whirlwind, urban, religious and humorous madness. China Miéville crafts a strange story that leads the reader within a secret London, one that is full of cults and magic and that works according to its own laws. Getting involved with the story doesn’t come easy, the start of the story is a bit difficult, the plot and the language are dense, the dialogues seem misplaced, everything requiring the full attention of the reader every step of the way. Once the story advances an More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2010

Mark rated it:

Oh, for the days when the mere announcement of a new Mieville novel made your whole being ache in anticipation of a new, impossible world in which to get lost. Of course it was always about the politics and religion and classism and feminism, but you didn't have to care if you didn't want to. Now we are asked to endure modern day London with modern day references (Amy Winehouse, and Star Trek, for heaven's sakes?), IPods, cell phones, unintelligible local dialects and accents, Scotland Yard.... More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 04, 2010

Matt rated it:

It’s taken me the best part of a month to get through this - I found every excuse under the sun to put it down after reading each few pages/chapters...

If it hadn't been by one of my favourite authors I’d have abandoned it unfinished.

My problem with this book was that the way the world and its magic worked was so unexplained that anything could happen, without foreshadowing or apparent reason. And it did.

The result of this structure being that the plot felt l More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2011

Gregor rated it:

This had some great writing and great inventions (intentions). But, ultimately, it was very hard to get through. I found the dialog clunky. And the magic in this book has no rules, which is OK for Wonderland (or UnLunDun), but doesn't work for modern day London. There was no suspense, no urgency, as the characters could just magic their way ouf of any given situation. This book also had the bad luck to follow "The City & The City" which was, perhaps, Mieville's best book to date. I gre More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 12, 2011

Sam rated it:

Mieville's ideas and imagination are great and I love the linguistic depth breadth and playfulness of his language and all of these positives are here. The Tattoo is a fantastic image and symbol of the power of ink, of language... but somehow a rather disappointing villain who after a great introduction was far too easily disposed of.

I found it a rather heavy going overall and felt that there were too few characters that I actually cared about. There was a small part of me that wanted More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2011

figura4 rated it:

Un Mièville atipico. Soprattutto nei toni, che qui sconfinano spesso e volentieri nella commedia.
Il punto di partenza è interessante: un calamaro gigante scompare dal museo di scienze naturali di Londra. Pare che dietro il fattaccio vi sia una setta di adoratori del dio calamaro. Se questo non stuzzica la curiosità del lettore, non so cosa possa farlo.
La trama si dipana ad un ritmo piuttosto lento, infarcita dalle tipiche bizzarrie che solo la fantasia sfrenata di Mièville può partorire, sebbe More...

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