Kraken

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But, for readers who enjoy a complex setup and completely unexpected reveal, this may be the read for you. And he’s embracing the magic of London, in the vein of many other fantasy authors who have set their books in that city, picking up on the multi-faceted, multicultural history and the many rich layers of substance that makes London what it is. For readers who are drawn to fantasy precisely for those qualities, Kraken may seem like a handsome but empty cadaver missing its emotional heart. This is a roller-coaster into otherness just beyond perception and my captivation meter was pinned on lock down every single minute of the story. This is word-sensei writing and full-throttle imagination paired with hyper-threaded story-crafting on a scale that only Mieville himself has ever even come close to before.

Kraken was an enjoyable read, but I felt that almost every facet of the story, from character to plot to world building, didn’t quite add up. Unlike esoteric and hermeneutic magics, which are based upon knowledge, history, and the discovery of secrets, Mieville's system is built around free creation of meanings.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.

Now, here's what I loved - for the sake of the oreo-cookie effect here (yes, calamari squid talk DID make me hungry, so 'scuse me) - before breaking my heart with the less awesome parts: " In a city like London. Miéville's joy in crafting monstrous villains reaches new heights with the Tattoo, an occult gang boss manifest in illustrated form as ink-on-skin and leader of the Knuckleheads, men transformed into giant walking fists.Miéville takes this boilerplate idea and makes it something new with the unique cast of characters, types of magic, etc. While the themes of the three novels set in the Bas-Lag universe varied (as did their quality), they had such a distinctive voice that people essentially used them to define the “New Weird” subgenre. He’s leading a tour group when they discover the star attraction–a perfectly preserved specimen of a thirty-foot giant squid–has disappeared without a trace. He's chiefly a plot-mover, and there is an impressive amount of plot-moving to be done to keep a five-hundred page book steaming along at a clip.

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. It has been a while since I have been this impressed by the combo of prodigious imagination and the writing chops to get it all effectively on the vellum. Todo ello me llamaba mucho, tiene un estilo en honor al maestro Lovecraft, pero el estilo y agilidad de su autor, China Miéville, por mucho que tenga, y no lo discuto, una imaginación de la ostia, no es compatible conmigo.Despite being a fantasy thriller, Miéville manages to integrate some hard-hitting critiques of religion along with a philosophical critique of the teleportation thought experiment*. Like Neverwhere, the normal everyday guy protagonist finds himself pulled into a parallel London where the supernatural is commonplace.

Not perfect, but there's so much to enjoy that I was very willing to see it through and I'm very glad I did. I assume being Collingswood's lover goes something like this: I follow her around and shine her shoes, maybe wipe her ass, while I beg for her to simply look at me without something resembling utter contempt, and she barely tolerates my presence while occasionally spitting in my face, shoving dog shit in my mouth, and putting out her cigarette in my eyeball. On his latest tour, he walks into the room on which the centre’s giant squid specimen is displayed … only to find it missing, stolen. There are many books written by authors with incredible imaginations but unfortunately not all manage to remain within the necessary constraints and the resulting output is not always accessible, and often unreadable.After all, instead of being stuck with mere rhetoric and charisma, a would-be cult leader can in fact perform supernatural feats to convince people to sign up. Along similar lines, I thought the depiction of London was lacking, but my experience of the city is unfortunately limited to Heathrow airport, so scenes set by unexplained reference were lost on me. It looked like a great ending then this dude did this shit and talk about deus machina … and I don't even understand exactly what happened or how it worked. Those who have read and enjoyed Kraken may also enjoy Mark Charan Newton’s Nights of Villjamur, Adam Nevill’s Apartment 16 and NK Jemisin’s A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. here: the Sea, the motif of the ink, the angels, the museum, the ramifications of a disappearing skill, the smallest ode to Star Trek, and the squiddity of it all.