The Kraken Wakes

Dec 16, 2009 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: early-sf

Also known as The Kraken Wakes.

I'm a fan of John Wyndham and his 50's brand of horror sf. Out of the Deeps surpassed my expectations. It has all the makings of a summer blockbuster, probably starring Will Smith. It has a husband and wife team of reporters as the protagonists, a scientist that no one believes, and tentacled aliens that rise from the deep in sea tanks to terrorize the surface dwellers. Let Will do the theme song and you've got a license to print money.

I'll rank Out of the Deeps ri...more

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Apr 19, 2013 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wyndham's prose style is very dry and journalistic. With the exception of a few passages, Wyndham seems determined to avoid thrilling action sequences--and this in a novel of alien invasion. What is more, no one could ever accuse "The Kraken Wakes" of poor characterization. There would have to be some characterization for it to be poor. So why did I like this book?

First, it's got an interesting premise. The aliens who invade Earth in this novel are most at home in the deepest parts of the ocean...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Erik rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: has-good-review, scififantasy

The Kraken Wakes, despite its really cool cover, has nothing to do with giant squids. Seriously, I picked that up and read all the way to the end, just WAITING for the appearance of the giant squid promised on the cover. There was no giant squid.

Who does that? Who promises giant squids and then reneges on that deal? It's like handing a plastic ice cream cone to a child. He'll be like, OH YEAH ICE CREAM. Until he tries to bite it and discovers that, nope, it's just plastic.

BUT ANYWAY.

This book wa...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Sarah Sammis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2006, pc

Giant squids have been inspiring horror stories for as long as man has taken to the seas. Since the development of science fiction, the kraken has moved from threat of the deep to threat from the skies. The Kraken Wakes begins a visitation from space but sinks to the deepest oceans where a threat lingers misunderstood and ready claim the seas and the shoreline from mankind.

It sounds like a great premise but the story is rather too ponderous. It takes forever for things to get moving. The main ch...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Andrew Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

John Wyndham must have enjoyed writing about global menaces. In his best-known novel, Day of the Triffids (p. 1951), it was mobile, sentient, meat-eating plants terrorizing a vulnerable human race. In The Kraken Wakes, Wyndham chronicles an alien invasion of earth, but with a clever twist. While Day of the Triffids takes hold of the reader from the beginning (the protagonist awakens in a hospital, discovering that most people have been blinded by a mysterious celestial phenomenon and that the Tr...more John Wyndham must have enjoyed writing about global menaces. In his best-known novel, Day of the Triffids (p. 1951), it was mobile, sentient, meat-eating plants terrorizing a vulnerable human race. In The Kraken Wakes, Wyndham chronicles an alien invasion of earth, but with a clever twist. While Day of the Triffids takes hold of the reader from the beginning (the protagonist awakens in a hospital, discovering that most people have been blinded by a mysterious celestial phenomenon and that the Triffids of the title are already stalking man), the The Kraken Wakes takes a while to build momentum. Yet the gradual increase in tension (and fear) serves the story well. Though the alien invasion theme can immobilize a story in a web of cliches, Wyndham avoids this trap through the creativity of his approach. The result is an entertaining, thoughtful, and spectacularly imaginative exploration of two intelligent but wildly different species at war.

The Kraken Wakes begins with an ominous prologue; the narrator describes the precarious condition of human civilization. The book then proceeds as a pseudo-memoir, with the protagonist (a journalist named Michael Watson) recounting the events that have brought mankind to near-extinction. As in Day of the Triffids, the main character/narrator of The Kraken Wakes is non-descript and weakly characterized. Perhaps this is deliberate. Both novels are written from the perspective of a sort of "everyman", and this may make his tale resonate more with the reader. The narration is in the first person, and Wyndham seems to invite us to live these horrible experiences by proxy. In any case, the lack of a memorable protagonist detracts little from the enjoyment of the book. The Kraken Wakes benefits from a rich portrait of Michael Watson's wife, Phyllis. She is a sympathetic character who suffers terribly throughout the book, but displays great strength and resilience, as well.

Still, this book is not really about the characters. It's about what happens when an alien race attacks humanity from an unexpected quarter. It is a neat inversion of humanity's conquest of other realms and species. What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted? Or perhaps it is more accurate to ask what happens when the fisherman becomes the fish. Wyndham's aliens are among the most cleverly imagined and deeply alien that I have encountered in science fiction. These aren't remotely humanoid. Indeed, the reader never really discovers much about what, exactly, they are. How do they think? What are their purposes? The incomprehensible character of the aliens is crucial to the atmosphere of menace that pervades the whole book.

Wyndham also explores (from a cause unrelated to CO2 emissions) the calamitous effects of rising seas and melting polar ice. The book will resonate with anyone who has pondered the implications of global warming. Even if you haven't, you'll find Wyndham's account of the flooding of London engaging and haunting. Human beings don't experience global events. We experience particular events that may be a part of a global event. I don't usually quote Josef Stalin for his wisdom, but when he allegedly said, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic," he was not just being callous. Wyndham has a knack for describing details of a massive catastrophe that make it both personal and haunting. As Michael and Phyllis walk through half-immersed London, Michael notes that the ocean's waters cover half of Trafalgar square, and wonders, with both humor and sadness, what Lord Nelson would think of the new view afforded from his perch atop the pillar that memorializes him. It is poignant. Throughout the book, Wyndham writes with great humor and irony.

Some elements of the book have not aged well. The book was written near the start of the cold war, and the new potential for global nuclear war; thus, the author dwells occasionally on the influence of the Soviet menace on the human response to the invasion. The narrator's condescending attitude toward nations of the developing world is also of the period (though the narrator shows an awareness of these biases--and apologizes for them), and may offend some readers. But these are minor problems.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Kraken Wakes. This engaging and memorable novel supports Wyndham's reputation as one of the most accomplished and admired science fiction writers of the 20th century. Highly recommended.(less)

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Jul 19, 2012 David Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars

I’m discovering new authors all the time, whether they’re recent or going back many decades. Over the years I have accumulated a worrying amount of books and reached the stage where I can’t remember what I own. From a select pile of books on my bedside table I plucked John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes that Mrs B assured me would be a good read. It sounded interesting from the summary on the back but how did the novel fare?

Comparable to Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World, Wyndham’s novel, th...more I’m discovering new authors all the time, whether they’re recent or going back many decades. Over the years I have accumulated a worrying amount of books and reached the stage where I can’t remember what I own. From a select pile of books on my bedside table I plucked John Wyndham’s The Kraken Wakes that Mrs B assured me would be a good read. It sounded interesting from the summary on the back but how did the novel fare?

Comparable to Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World, Wyndham’s novel, though partly science fiction, conveys a vision of the world which still resonates in the present. The central characters are two journalists, Mike and Phyllis Watson, who are among the first witnesses of fireballs descending from the sky and striking the ocean while they’re on a honeymoon cruise. What follows is years of uncertainty as the world faces new threat to its existence, ones they must fight for survival, if only they can stop fighting amongst themselves.

The Kraken Wakes is divided into three phases and told from the perspective of Mike Watson though his wife, Phyllis, is always nearby. The fireballs that begin the world crisis cause much confusion and speculation amongst the world’s nations. Published in 1953, Wyndham would have been writing the novel at the time of the Cold War (1947 – 1991) and the novel’s depiction of a strained relationship between the West and Russia is highly appropriate. Rather than question whether the frequent fireballs are a phenomenon from outer space, the rival nations accuse each other of causing the fiery downpour. It soon becomes apparent that something very strange is going on in The Kraken Wakes. After the fireballs land in seemingly strategic points in the ocean – in the deepest trenches beyond easy reach – a new event rocks the world. Ships start to disappear, quickly dragged beneath the waves and never seen again. Few of their crew live to tell the tale and those that do are unable to explain what became of their vessels. The ocean becomes a forbidden zone for mankind with ships remaining close to shore rather than trying to cross long stretches, particularly the deep trenches.

With mastery of the sea seemingly taken away, mankind face an even bigger threat from the water. Beginning on an isolated island, sea tanks emerge from the waters and begin abducting people, leaving a trail of vile slime in their wake. Once again the tanks are believed to be technology originating in Russia and only the outspoken Bocker, a regular character in the novel, seems to be the one trying to logically explain what is going on, though his ideas are dismissed as folly. Though fireballs had me intrigued from the start the novel improves greatly with the disappearing ships and the mysterious appearance of the sea tanks. Seemingly impossible to stop, they abduct people without mercy before disappearing quickly beneath the waves. They are never described in great detail so the mystery of what they are and where they come from continues into the latter stages of the novel. The concluding segment is the best of all with the sea tank assaults becoming less frequent but in their place the ocean rises and wipes out the majority of the world population. The idea of the government in Westminster having to relocate to Harrogate, Yorkshire, made me smile but this section also reflects the brutality of a population on the brink of death and fighting one another for the last scraps of food.

Though The Kraken Wakes does delve into science fiction the idea of the ocean rising and putting the world population under threat is not farfetched. The pressure on the Ice Caps, flooding in recent years in the likes of New Orleans, and the ongoing debate about global warming made the latter stages of Wyndham’s book a frightening prospect indeed. The ending feels a bit rushed and the conclusion more a passing reference than a detailed explanation but it still works well, particularly in leaving the final outcome for the world on a knife edge.

Mrs B is a good judge of books and I’m pleased to say she was not wrong in recommending The Kraken Wakes. It builds slowly during phase one but once the sea tanks emerge from the ocean it becomes a gripping read. The final moments where the world has flooded is hard-hitting but completely apt when faced with our own reality. Written over 50 years ago, The Kraken Wakes is a brilliant depiction of a world crisis and the impractical way mankind responds to such a threat.
(less)

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Mar 06, 2012 D.M. Dutcher rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, yard-sale-sf

Fireballs streak to earth, landing in the deepest parts of the ocean. Soon, ships start disappearing, and worse. It's apparent we are being invaded, as witnessed by the eyes of a husband and wife who work for the English Broadcasting Channel.

Unfortunately due to the nature of the aliens (who live in the deepest trenches in the sea) it's just too abstract to be interesting. You see a lot of what the aliens do, but there is precious little explanation, no contact except with their war machines in...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Steve Merrick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Little boys who live by the sea should not be allowed near this book as it will involve massive flooded fantasies of a submerged Sydney and it also makes them smile at this.

I have always loved Wyndham, but the Kraken wakes holds a very special place for me. The aliens arrive almost unnoticed and the start living in the deep sea trenches, (So far so good!) time passes and wham they start raiding random islands and stealing the locals.

You will not believe what you are reading as humanity almost b...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, future-history, sci-fi, thriller, weather, dystopian

This is yet another reread of The Kraken Wakes, and yet again I am surprised by how utterly modern the themes of the book are despite the fact it was written (and is set in) the early 1950s.

This is not a "shoot 'em up" book, there are few violent incidents, but the creeping horror is insidious and terrifying. I would say the description of the Bathies' sea-tank attack on Escondida in the Caribbean where they begin "harvesting" humans is incredibly disturbing; it's what isn't said rather than wha...more

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Jun 29, 2011 mstan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british, sf, src-summer-2011

This is such a wonderful premise: some extraterrestrial creatures plummet to various deep parts of the oceans on Earth, and cause havoc, and the Russians are suspected of having caused everything. The radio journalists Mike and Phyllis (husband and wife) become involved in this affair, and find themselves in submarines and even face-to-face with the variously named creatures (sea-tanks, bathies, etc.).

Wyndham has some great ideas. However, I have to admit that this novel was quite trying to read...more

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Jul 29, 2008 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars

Once again, a lesson in down-beat sci-fi writing. Something lands on Earth from space, crashing into the depths of the oceans and 'doing something we can't see' but can only imagine.

We drop nukes on them and they come up to take us, bit by bit. The sea-levels rise...and we're probably doomed!

Sound familiar?

WAR OF THE WORLDS meets AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH...and its 50+ years old.

Corking and grown-up. My favourite Wyndham novel, but only by a tickle over DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS

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Sep 29, 2012 Khrystyna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy, british-author, 2012-reads

This was quite a change from "The Day of The Triffids". Although the two books are very similar in the ways that they share identical themes, for example post-apocalyptic survival, alien agents which threaten human survival, human naivety (in both books it partly contributes to the disastrous swelling of the scale of the apocalypse-the nuclear bombs which did not go off standing by the satellite radiation) and of course the Cold War, I enjoyed the "Kraken Wakes" much more because of its more rat...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Helen Kitson added it

Shelves: fiction

This one is a slow-burner, not as immediately gripping as 'The Day of the Triffids', or as eerie as 'The Midwich Cuckoos'. It also seems dated in its descriptions of a 1950s post-Imperialist Britain, with its paranoid distrust of Russia (who are first blamed for the mysterious events in the sea).

The story can seem rather slow to get going, but I think that accurately mirrors the news dissemination in a pre-Internet, pre-24-hour-news world. In those days it was possible to 'bury bad news' or not...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Vj Krishnan rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Mar 09, 2013 Sean Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been having a really busy week so my reading has suffered. It made this book feel a little more disjointed than other Wyndham novels, even though I still love it. I think its major flaw is that there is a huge gap in the timeline between 'Phase Two' and 'Phase Three'. Although the narrative gap is filled in, it still feels like a huge jump in the plot - as if Wyndham didn't even want to devote the time to telling the whole story.

But what sells it is the descriptive language, and the intense...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Brendan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, adventure-thriller, classics, fiction, horror, scifi

Another winner from British SF master John Wyndam. The Kraken Wakes imagines an invasion of the Deep parts of our ocean by a malevolent force from the outer solar system (Neptune? Jupiter? I can't remember). After they settle in and start mucking around down there, they show that they were up to no good by destroying our sea lanes and ships, melting the ice caps, murdering people who live on the coast, and generally trying to extinguish us. It's a dark story, but pretty good. A few thoughts:

- A...more Another winner from British SF master John Wyndam. The Kraken Wakes imagines an invasion of the Deep parts of our ocean by a malevolent force from the outer solar system (Neptune? Jupiter? I can't remember). After they settle in and start mucking around down there, they show that they were up to no good by destroying our sea lanes and ships, melting the ice caps, murdering people who live on the coast, and generally trying to extinguish us. It's a dark story, but pretty good. A few thoughts:

- As in Day of the Triffids, Wyndam focuses as much on the stupidity and terrible choices humans make in the face of bad events. The slow burn of Kraken lets Wyndam explore how governments fail to respond to real problems, how we hand-wave and avoid the truth of the thing until it's too late to stop. If this book weren't written in 1953, I would suggest it's a parable about Global Warming. Hell, you should read it that way just 'cuz.

- There's truly horrifying and awesome moment in the book when the creatures have begun invading the land, driving up in egg-shaped "tanks" and deploying sticky tentacles that collect organic matter into compressed, writhing, screaming balls. These then roll into the ocean and, presumably, down to the deeps. One character suggests that it's the monstrous equivalent of shrimping. I was particularly horrified until I thought of Katamari Damancy and its rolled-up balls of stuff. When you roll a person into the ball in that game, they wiggle and scream--and it's funny. Poor bastards.

- My favorite part of the book is the poor scientist who sees it all coming. Each time he suggests that something is happening, people call him a fool and ignore his advice. Then, when the thing he predicted has come to pass and they're trying to deal with it, he suggests something else and they call him a fool again. He compares himself to Cassandra, and is right.

A little slow at parts -- not the cracking thriller that Day of the Triffids is--but a good book nonetheless.(less)

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Feb 28, 2013 David Sarkies rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

Have you ever read a couple of books by an author that are simply so brilliant that whenever you see a book written by that author you grab it expecting that it will be brilliant as well, and then when you read it it just gets nowhere near your expectations? That happened to me with this book. It is not that it is a bad book, by no means, but after reading Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids, I had such a high expectation with John Wyndhams other books that they could not possibly achieve th...more Have you ever read a couple of books by an author that are simply so brilliant that whenever you see a book written by that author you grab it expecting that it will be brilliant as well, and then when you read it it just gets nowhere near your expectations? That happened to me with this book. It is not that it is a bad book, by no means, but after reading Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids, I had such a high expectation with John Wyndhams other books that they could not possibly achieve those expectations. I should have learnt my lessons from movies where I really want to see a movie and have such a high expectation of the movie that when I see it it simply fails to meet that expectation, though when I watch it later I discover that it actually is a good movie (Last Kiss Goodnight and Pulp Fiction fall into those categories).
The Kraken Awakes is about an alien invasion of Earth though you never actually get to truly meet the aliens. The way that Wyndham sets the whole thing up is what you would typically expect of him. The aliens arrive as balls of fire that crash into the deepest parts of the sea, and while some of them are shot out of the sky, they always remain as mysterious visitors. Remember at the time that this book was written the ability to explore the deepest parts of the sea were not as advanced as they are now, and even now it is not significantly advanced that we would be able to succeed where humanity in this book failed.
Whenever they attempt to get at the aliens in their home environment they seem to always fail. They send bathscopes and cameras down into the sea and they are ultimately always destroyed. In fact the aliens manage to maneuver themselves as to deny humanity access to the oceans. They begin by destroying warships but quickly begin to target any ships that cross their domain. However, being told from the point of view of a human (meaning that we only ever know what this particular human knows, despite him telling the story from a future point in time, the mystery is still as mysterious as ever) looking back, there is a lot we don't know and don't ever know.
This book was also written during one of the high points of the cold war, which means that there is a large section of Earth, namely the Communist bloc, that we don't know what is going on there as well. While the writer does accept that the invaders are of otherworldly origin (namely because he is writing from the future) we still don't know what is going on in the Soviet Union or how the Soviet Union is responding to the threat. Obviously, and believably, the superpowers are blaming each other for these mysterious incursions, and it is interesting how this is played out. Because everything was so secretive back in those days, and the idea of a cloak and dagger Cold War was dominating the world, anything thing that happened that was mysterious and strange would be the actions of the enemy (though I suspect that happens any time there is a cold, or even a hot, war).
The book is divided into three sections which correspond to the three phases of the invasions. The first is the arrival of the aliens, the second is where the aliens establish themselves, and the third is where they make their move. However I don't want to go into too much details about what they do because the how aspect of the book is based pretty much around what you do not know. In fact, the lack of knowledge is that main thing that drives this book, and it is not that as the book progresses that things are revealed, they aren't. The other aspect that comes out is an aspect of powerlessness, how, despite all of our knowledge and technology we are still very much powerless against certain threats. Take for instance the volcanoes that errupted in recent years that pretty much brought air travel to a halt. In years past, if that were to happen nobody would care, but now we are so reliant upon air travel, if a volcano errupts, we are stuffed (and don't you see a hint on Rousseau in that?).
Look, this is a good book, there is no denying that. While I would not put it in the category of horror (though some have suggested that it should go there) there are still horrific elements too it. As mentioned, there is the horror of the lack of knowledge and the inability to find out what is going on, and there is also the horror of powerlessness. Even though our technology have advanced substantially since Wyndham wrote this book, there is still a lot that we do not know, and what he is showing here is that, despite all of our technology, there are still limits to what we know and what we can do, and if something assaults us from beyond those limits, then we are pretty powerless to respond.(less)

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Nov 16, 2012 Circa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

John Wyndham was awesome with 'Day of the Triffids' and I love sea monsters but somehow these two did not come together well. The plot overall was rushed, anti-climatic, and felt generally like a bunch of half developed ideas thrown together with hollow characters. The best part of the book was Bocker, the misunderstood scientific prophet that was always one step ahead of society. His quotes in the book were insightful, sarcastic, and clever. I also felt for him as he was bashed for his radical...more John Wyndham was awesome with 'Day of the Triffids' and I love sea monsters but somehow these two did not come together well. The plot overall was rushed, anti-climatic, and felt generally like a bunch of half developed ideas thrown together with hollow characters. The best part of the book was Bocker, the misunderstood scientific prophet that was always one step ahead of society. His quotes in the book were insightful, sarcastic, and clever. I also felt for him as he was bashed for his radical ideas despite his sincerely good intentions to preserve humanity and respect the intelligence of the alien species.

What sucked and ultimately ruined the book for me was the abrupt, ambiguous ending. About 3/4 of humanity has been wiped out by pneumonia from the icecaps melting and its only suggested that the Japanese might have a weapon that can take out the 'deeps'. This isn't a victory for either side! The reader never gets to experience the actual members of the 'deeps', only their stupid sea tanks. I went into this mess hoping the Kraken would show up eventually. Seeing as how the book is titled "The Kraken Wakes" and typically shows a giant ass octopus taking down a ship, I expected some follow through! I honestly think John Wyndham got burned out on the initial concept of this novel, lost interest, and decided to rush an ending and get some cash out of it. It certainly feels that way.

On the subject of Phyllis, the main character's wife, there seems to be some mixed opinions on whether she is a likable, feministic ideal or a patronizing headache. I find myself feeling she's a mixture of the two depending on the moment. She had some really bad-ass moments where she refused to allow danger to keep her from getting a job done and in many ways held more of a 'man card' than the main dude (can't even remember his name- he's that forgettable!) But there were other times where she seemed a bit controlling and bitchy. There were like a million different times where she would just cut off her husband's sentence and tell him to shut up. At first it was amusing but then it became a little over the top. I get that most of his questions or comments were redundant or off topic but does he deserve no say in anything?! (less)

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Jan 28, 2012 Ape rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternatives-and-end-of-the-world

I love John Wyndham's books, this was the fourth I've read, and if I'm honest, it wasn't my favourite. Although it's brilliant and understated in the way it's told, it also makes it a little dry and slow, and in some ways, distanced as all we ever two is observe in the way the two main characters observe (they're journalists of a kind) rather than ever experience.

In a way, he is science fiction for people who don't normally read science fiction, because it is understated and very realistic in fe...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Simon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: almost-never-read, whisked-me-away

This book was interesting and creepy. It had that sense of foreboding running along every word and kept me keen to know what was going on. right from the beginning I knew there had to be an explanation behind these mysteries, regardless of how probable in comparison to real life.

The characters were quite fun in their accented English and pretty much the way they went about themselves and their daily lives. I was quite impressed with the strong wit and will of the main female characters.

It was an...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Matti Karjalainen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Richard Mathesonin "Olen legendasta" pitäneille

Shelves: kotikirjasto, scifi, aikuiset, 1940-1969, gbr-kans, englanti

Häämatkallaan oleva toimittajapariskunta havaitsee risteilyaluksensa kannelta, kuinka oudot punaiset valoilmiöt valaisevat hetken aikaa taivaanrantaa, jonka jälkeen ne syöksyvät keskelle valtamerta. Vastaavanlaisia havaintoja tehdään kiihtyvällä tahdilla eri puolilla maailmaa, etupäässä kaikkein jyrkimpien merensyvänteiden lähettyvillä, eikä kukaan ole oikein tietoinen mistä kaikesta on kyse. Joitakin lentävistä esineistä saadaan tuhottua, mutta niistä ei jää mitään jäljelle, ja asiantuntijat ov...more Häämatkallaan oleva toimittajapariskunta havaitsee risteilyaluksensa kannelta, kuinka oudot punaiset valoilmiöt valaisevat hetken aikaa taivaanrantaa, jonka jälkeen ne syöksyvät keskelle valtamerta. Vastaavanlaisia havaintoja tehdään kiihtyvällä tahdilla eri puolilla maailmaa, etupäässä kaikkein jyrkimpien merensyvänteiden lähettyvillä, eikä kukaan ole oikein tietoinen mistä kaikesta on kyse. Joitakin lentävistä esineistä saadaan tuhottua, mutta niistä ei jää mitään jäljelle, ja asiantuntijat ovat ymmällään. Pian tämän jälkeen alkaa laivoja salaperäisesti kadota matkustajineen päivineen - ja se on vasta alkua, sillä pian rannikkokylien edustalla alkaa tapahtua hirveitä. Onko ihmiskunnan loppu koittanut?

John Wyndhamin "Uhka syvyydestä" kuvaa edellämainittuja tapahtumia Michael ja Phyllis Watsonin, EBC-yhtiön palveluksessa työskentelevän toimittajapariskunnan, näkökulmasta. Kaksikko ei useinkaan ole tapahtumien polttopisteessä, vaan he raportoivat tapahtumista lukijalle sitä mukaa kun niistä saavat itsekin selvää. Vaikka tapahtumat ovat dramaattisia ja kauheita, on kerrontatyyli on kohtalaisen rauhallinen, suoraa toimintaa kartteleva, ja lisää osaltaan kirjan viehätystä, ja ennen kaikkea tekevät siitä hyvin realistisen tuntuisen.

Vuonna 1953 alun perin ilmestynyt "Uhka syvyydestä" on onnistunut science fiction -romaani (olkoonkin, että kirjailija taisi itse inhota kyseistä ilmausta), ja tänäkin päivänä merenpinnan kohoamisen kaltaiset teemat tuntuvat ehkä vieläkin pelottavimmilta kuin kirjoitushetkellä. Lisäksi kirjailijan näkemykset siitä, miten ihmiset suhtautuvat kaikkeen tuntemattomaan ja uhkaavaksi oletettuun, tuntuvat varsin osuvilta. Wyndhamin tekstiä värittää myös kuiva huumori, joka kohdistuu muun muassa kylmän sodan aikaiseen suurvaltapeliin ja englantilaiseen mediaan.

Loppuratkaisu ei ollut aivan minun mieleeni, vaikkakin sitä voi pitää omalla tavallaan perinteikkäänä ja sinänsä ihan yhtä hyväksyttävänä kuin toisenlaistakin kirjan päätöstä. Kaikesta huolimatta "Uhka syvyydestä" oli hyvin miellyttävä lukukokemus, ja luullakseni Wyndhamin tuotantoon on perehdyttävä tulevaisuudessa tarkemminkin.(less)

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Apr 07, 2011 pinknantucket rated it 4 of 5 stars

Haven't read any John Wyndham for years! Classic sci-fi...and interesting to read now as it is of such a different style and pace than modern novels. The events described take place over the course of years, rather than hours. There is space to explore some of the nuances of the main characters' relationships. There is no bleeding from orifices due to disease or dismembering of flesh due to alien attack. It is told as a kind of memoir or "reporting of the facts" by the narrator, which reminded m...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Procrastination and ineptitude has from the beginning marked the attitude of the Authorities......"

Many years ago I read and enjoyed Wyndham's more celebrated book 'Day of the Triffids' so when I spotted this book I could not resist giving it a go.

Could a book first published in 1953 about an alien invasion still have any relevance today? Certainly some parts are symptons of their time, there is the old Cold War frictions and people rely on telegraph and radio for their news rather than instan...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Vheissu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-horror

WARNING! THIS REVIEW MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!

John Wyndham’s “The Kraken Wakes” is a well-written, rip-roaring monster story that is both prescient and remarkably relevant to the present world situation, nearly sixty years after its publication.

I have been keenly fond of the filmed adaptation of “The Day of the Triffids” since its original theatrical release. Only years later did I realize it was based on a Wyndham novel; it is next on my “to read” list. I was even less aware of “The Kraken Wakes”

...more WARNING! THIS REVIEW MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!

John Wyndham’s “The Kraken Wakes” is a well-written, rip-roaring monster story that is both prescient and remarkably relevant to the present world situation, nearly sixty years after its publication.

I have been keenly fond of the filmed adaptation of “The Day of the Triffids” since its original theatrical release. Only years later did I realize it was based on a Wyndham novel; it is next on my “to read” list. I was even less aware of “The Kraken Wakes” until “Ted Brautigan” recommends the novel to “Bobby Garfield” in Stephen King’s “Hearts in Atlantis,” another wonderful King story. I admire Stephen King greatly and respect his opinion about books, so I decided to read the two Wyndham novels myself. To say that I was wonderfully surprised by the “The Kraken Wakes” is a gross understatement.

Ostensibly an “end of the world, invasion from outer space” story, the novel is a parable of catastrophic climate change, the inability of the world community to grasp and deal with the problem, and the ultimate disintegration of human communities into vengeful, hate-filled enclaves.

Like carbon dioxide, the cause of the ocean’s rise in “The Kraken Wakes” is invisible to the human eye; like the climate change debate today, there are disagreements about the extent to which mankind itself is exacerbating or even primarily to blame for the problem. Politicians, the masses, and the news media contest the credibility of scientific warnings until the matter becomes acute. Countries and governments dither over international cooperation and fear that one or another will gain a military or political advantage from the problem. The vengeful masses begin to demand “indiscriminate bombing” of the supposed enemy and become weary of the seeming incompetence of authorities.

The collapse of international cooperation is mirrored by the disintegration of local government. In one scene that prefigures Katrina, Wyndham writes:

“…the surrounding districts had somehow formed themselves into miniature independent states and forbidden entry after driving out many who had come there as refugees; … those who did try to cross the border into one of these communities were fired upon without questions.” (p.227)

The massacre on the Danziger Bridge in 2005 cannot be better described. In another scene, Wyndham’s characters debate Britain’s ban on gun ownership:

"Doesn’t it sometimes strike you as odd that all governments who loudly claim to rule by the will of the people are willing to run almost any risk rather than let their people have arms? Isn’t it almost a principle that a people should not be allowed to defend itself, but should be forced to defend its Government? The only people I know who are trusted by their Government are the Swiss, and being landlocked they don’t some into this [inundation of low areas by the rising oceans]” (p. 161)

“The Kraken Wakes” is also a rip-roaring adventure tale. The “Escondida Incident” was one of the most original and terrifying scenes I have ever read, and that includes a great many Stephen King stories. Take it from King and me, “The Kraken Wakes” is remarkably well done and likely to be enjoyed by horror and adventure readers for years to come.

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Mar 12, 2013 Barbara Murphy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I changed my opinion on this book as I was reading it. It is written in three phases dealing with a mysterious invasion of our seas by 'aliens'. The 1st phase deals with the arrival, the second the takeover bid and the third the consequences for humanity.We never see the creatures only some of their army, tank like creatures with tentacles which come on land and gobble up anything in their way. We never learn why they arrive, where from or to what end.
Phase one of the book is quite slow.but the...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Scribe rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was pleasantly surprised by this. Depressingly not having read neither Day of the Triffids nor The War of the Worlds yet, but being a huge fan of black and white B-Movies, I was hoping this book would tap into that "quaint" view of science that often seems to come through in the "sci fi" of the 50s.

And in a way, it lived up to that expectation. But at the same time, it was also more than that - a fascinating slice into the mindset of the post-war world. An exploration of a time of uncertainty...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Lynne Norman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wyndham is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite authors, particularly when I'm in the mood for some thinking-person's sci-fi. I'd rate 'The Kraken Wakes' somewhere between 'Day of the Triffids' and 'The Chrysalids' (the latter now ranking among my favourite books of all time).

I love the fact that this is a very different take on the alien invasion storyline, taking its cue from the TS Eliot quote, "This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a whimper." - a quote used by the main c...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Steve Wales rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction-other, 2011, 1001-books

Fantastic stuff. I've started reading or-rereading Wyndham's novels this year (I recently read The Midwich Cuckoos ) and I'm struck by how low-key they seem. Not for Wyndham the heat-ray or giant mechanical monsters of H.G. Wells's prototypic alien invasion, instead there's more of the mystery and foreboding with the realisation that there is a threat to be dealt with only coming when it's far to late to do anything about it even if anything had been possible before.

The fact that we never know w...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Jayne Charles rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm still looking for life after Day of the Triffids. This was an apocalypse novel of sorts, but seemed to spend an awful lot of time in the early stages just ruminating about what might be going on, and introducing the narrator's spunky wife. Once it was established that there was something going on under the sea, and things started kicking off, the story became quite exciting and thought provoking. I had never thought previously about the reliance we place on being able to use waterborne trans...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: sci-fi fans, Wyndham fans

Despite there being a lack of what I would consider "action" in the novel, it was a very intriguing sci-fi. There were two major factors that made it enjoyable: the alien concept and the characters. The fact that the creatures are never fully explained and hardly ever seen is actually a strength in this novel. Today, with all the special effects and whatnot, it's hard to be truly shocked or impressed by an alien, so the mystery surrounding the creatures allows for more reader-speculation. The tw...more

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