Hardcover, 464 pages
English language
Published June 29, 2010 by Del Rey.
Kraken is a fantasy novel by British author China Miéville. It is published in the UK by Macmillan, and in the US by Del Rey Books. The book bears the subtitle "An Anatomy" on the title page. It was the winner for the 2011 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. 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."
This was my first book by Mieville. His writing style was very flowery here, there were lots of references to literature and London geography (the story takes place in London). It was fun to read, but I was left feeling that I was missing a lot of the references. The plot was a little meandering, but the interesting characters made up for it. All-in-all, I'll give him another try.
