Kraken by China Miéville
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This month I am recommending a book that has been out for a year or so, China Mieville’s Kraken. No one writes books like China. Some have said this is a good thing because China’s prose is dense and complex and his language might require that you keep a dictionary close at hand. But this is a really wonderful, compelling story. It possesses elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror and myth, and it is impossible to describe here. But I will take a shot at it anyway. Kraken is an end of the world story centered around a stolen Kraken corpse, a Kraken worshipping cult, strange collections of magic wielders both good and bad, a paranormal police unit, a gaggle of odd heroes and a couple of really terrible villains. It reminded me of Stephen King, among others. You have to work at this book, but even given that I had to put some effort into reading it I could not put it down. It builds as it goes and thunders to a surprisingly satisfying ending. It made me envy China’s storytelling skills, and that doesn’t happen very often.
One response to “Terry Reviews: Kraken”
I enjoyed most of the suggestions so far. This does look interesting, so I’ll probably pick it up this week some time.