Kraken (novel)
ISBN 0-333-98950-3 | |
Kraken is a 2010
Miéville has described the book as "a dark comedy about a squid-worshipping cult and the end of the world. It takes the idea of the squid cult very seriously. Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they’re not absurd."[1]
Plot
An inexplicable event has occurred at the
Characters
- Billy Harrow, an employee at the Darwin Centre at the British Museum of Natural History. Billy discovers the kraken missing beginning his adventure into a world of magic, squid cults, and sentient tattoos.
- Dane Parnell, a security guard at the museum and a member of the Church of God Kraken who seeks to protect Billy.
- Chief Inspector Baron, head of the FSRC (Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crimes Unit) of the Metropolitan Police Service.
- WPC Kath Collingswood, a police officer of the FSRC who is aided in her investigations by an "aetherial animal companion." (Woman Police Constable was an anachronistic police rank at the time of the novel's publication.)
- Patrick Vardy, Ph.D., a psychologist who consults the FSRC as a "cult profiler."
- Marge Tilley, a young woman in search of her missing boyfriend.
- The Tattoo, a former member of the Kray twins' criminal organization who was transformed into a nameless, sentient tattoo during his rise to power as a gangleader.
- Goss and Subby, unstoppable centuries-old assassins in the employ of The Tattoo.
- The Chaos Nazis, thugs in the employ of The Tattoo.
- Grisamentum, a dead magician who was chief rival to The Tattoo, whose former associates are forming new alliances.
- The Londonmancers, neutral prognosticators and protectors of the City of London.
- Wati, a living Egyptian afterlife familiar who heads the UMA, the Union of Magicked Assistants, on strike.
Reception
Kraken won the 2011 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.[2]
In a review for
References
- Metro. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
- ^ Locus Awards 2011 Winners, at Locus; published June 25, 2011; retrieved December 6, 2017
- ^ Walter, Damien G (15 May 2010). "Kraken by China Miéville". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
- ^ Bradley, James (2 October 2010). "Kraken by China Miéville". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
External links
- Kraken title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database