Kraken

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Miéville is a bit of an acquired taste, he assaults the reader with an unrelenting bombardment of ideas and thoughts which may result in some sinking under their weight. In interviews Miéville identifies as an atheist, and I guess to him believing in virgin birth or reincarnation is just as fanciful as his squid cult. I first read this about six years ago; I'm not a fan of Meiville generally, and actively dislike Perdido Street and the adjacent novels, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out that I really enjoyed Kraken. For this reason the novel misses the emotional resonance and mythic qualities of the greatest urban fantasies, such as Neil Gaiman's American Gods or Haruki Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Here, his setting is contemporary London that apparently has a secret supernatural side to it, which is still firmly ground in reality.

Like his magic, his world is overtly symbolic, and as his magic is an allegory for the act of writing. The truly great parts and concepts of "Kraken" dearly make me want to love the book, but sadly anger and regret over the unfullfilled promises, the rushed execution and lack of polish prevents that from happening. Recommended for Miéville’s existing fans and those looking for a gritty, darkly comic urban fantasy. While I originally rated this slightly lower, it grew on me the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to read it again.Like any classic movie monster, it works its fascinating magic only as long as we don't care to inspect the structure that supports the illusion, or questions its premises. He does use historical details, but since power comes from reputation, not lore, he need not delve too deeply.

He constantly wants to get word to Leon’s girlfriend who he barely knows, but doesn’t seem to think his family might want to know as well.

None really seemed sympathetic, and while I’m mentioning it, Billy was more than a bit Arthur Dentish in the beginning, wandering around and saying, “what? His entrance to the subgenre intives comparison to the giants who have come to inhabit it in its recent boom years. Original concept and original writing style, I think a very real writing style that sounds like me and my friends talking (only with various British accents and slang).

The characters are vibrant, interesting, and flawed, but not human, they are too perfectly constructed and unchanging. Of course, Perdido was fantasy stationed in an alien landscape that just happened to be modern-human flavored, while this one just happened to be dark-fantasy mythospunk plopped right into the heart of modern London.This is also why I changed my rating a f In particular, I love how Marge uses the Web, particularly forums, to navigate this world and educate herself about it.

Some more complications, twists and double-blinds and rather less obvious hints at the "last chapter surprise" villains and their goals would have been advisable too, because, at its very core, the plot of "Kraken" is . It’s such a topical, contemporary way to learn the lore and pick up those darker arts, and Miéville doesn’t make a big deal about it. JV: *taps forehead with pen* You know, Mieville, I kind of like the idea of basing our next books off of Mad Libs, but I can't help but feeling like this particular storyline is just unavoidably plain.I see people comparing this to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or American Gods, the works of Tim Powers, or even Mieville's own Un Lun Dun, but the book that it reminds me the most of is The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes. No había suspense ni rapidez alguna a la hora de que pasen cosas y no 100 páginas después, que ya ni me interesa. Revisionist history is something the conservatives and Fundamentalists are constantly attempting to promote, whether it be glorifying Vietnam, pretending that global warming isn’t happening, erasing the theft of an election by George W. Neverwhere‘s London Below was safely out of sight and its interactions with the mundane world were mediated by homeless people, whereas there’s no metaphysical division between Miéville’s two Londons.