
Kraken
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Narrated by:
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John Lee
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By:
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China Mieville
About this listen
With this outrageous new novel, China Miéville has written one of the strangest, funniest, and flat-out scariest books you will read this—or any other—year. 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.
In the Darwin Centre at London’s Natural History Museum, Billy Harrow, a cephalopod specialist, is conducting a tour whose climax is meant to be the Centre’s prize specimen of a rare Architeuthis dux—better known as the Giant Squid. But Billy’s tour takes an unexpected turn when the squid suddenly and impossibly vanishes into thin air.
As Billy soon discovers, this is the precipitating act in a struggle to the death between mysterious but powerful forces in a London whose existence he has been blissfully ignorant of until now, a city whose denizens—human and otherwise—are adept in magic and murder.
All of them—and others—are in pursuit of Billy, who inadvertently holds the key to the missing squid, an embryonic god whose powers, properly harnessed, can destroy all that is, was, and ever shall be.
©2010 China Mieville (P)2010 Random HouseListeners also enjoyed...
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Confusing at first but quite amazing
- By Brett on 07-27-24
By: Keanu Reeves, and others
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A Spectre, Haunting
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: China Miéville
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1848, The Communist Manifesto was published by two émigrés from Germany. Marx and Engels' apocalyptic vision of an insatiable system that penetrates every corner of the world reduces every relationship to that of profit, and burst asunder the old forms of production and of politics. It is still a recognisable picture of our world—the vampiric energy of the system being once again highly contentious. This is a strikingly imaginative take on Marx and what his most haunting book has to say to us today.
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A great follow up to October
- By Amazon Customer on 01-18-23
By: China Miéville
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Un Lun Dun
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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What is Un Lun Dun? It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up...and some of its lost and broken people, too. When 12-year-old Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entrance leading out of London and into this strange city, it seems that the ancient prophecy is coming true at last. But then things begin to go shockingly wrong.
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Great read for all ages
- By lettielikesbooks on 12-06-21
By: China Miéville
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The Last Days of New Paris
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer - and occult disciple - Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including surrealist theorist André Breton. In the strange games of the dissident diplomats, exiled revolutionaries, and avant-garde artists, Parsons finds and channels hope. But what he unwittingly unleashes is the power of dreams and nightmares, changing the war and the world forever.
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Can living artwork die?
- By Darwin8u on 08-15-16
By: China Miéville
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Out of the Ruins
- By: Preston Grassmann, China Miéville, Emily St. John Mandel, and others
- Narrated by: Alex Boyles, Chelsea Stephens, Heath Miller, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A fresh post-apocalyptic anthology: the end of the world seen through the salvage and ruins, featuring Emily St. John Mandel, Carmen Maria Machado, and more.
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More misses than hits.
- By Jimmyjoejangles on 04-30-22
By: Preston Grassmann, and others
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This Census-Taker
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: Matthew Frow
- Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries - and fails - to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape. When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over. But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?
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Only Feeding the Darkness
- By Darwin8u on 01-14-16
By: China Miéville
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Looking for Jake
- Stories
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley, Enn Reitel, Gildart Jackson, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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What William Gibson did for science fiction, China Miéville has done for fantasy, shattering old paradigms with fiercely imaginative works of startling, often shocking, intensity. Now from this brilliant writer comes a groundbreaking collection of stories, many of them previously unavailable in the United States, and including four never-before-published tales - one set in Miéville’s signature fantasy world of New Crobuzon.
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Graze Into It
- By Tim on 07-06-13
By: China Miéville
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American Elsewhere
- By: Robert Jackson Bennett
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
- Length: 22 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....
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You are entering the twighlight zone
- By Lisa on 07-29-13
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A Spectre, Haunting
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: China Miéville
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1848, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO was published by two émigrés from Germany. Marx and Engels' apocalyptic vision of an insatiable system that penetrates every corner of the world reduces every relationship to that of profit, and burst asunder the old forms of production and of politics. It is still a recognisable picture of our world–the vampiric energy of the system being once again highly contentious.
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Brilliant analysis
- By Richard Gilbert on 06-22-23
By: China Miéville
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Three Moments of an Explosion
- Stories
- By: China Miéville
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith, Bruce Mann, Hillary Huber, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse’s bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?
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Reading Miéville is both Delicious AND Disturbing
- By Darwin8u on 08-13-15
By: China Miéville
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City of Last Chances
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.
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Occupied Paris during WW2 In Fantasy World?
- By caleb on 06-19-23
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Anathem
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris, and others
- Length: 32 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Fraa Erasmus is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the "Saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities, and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs, bloody violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community.
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I love Neal, but Good lord... ugh!
- By SpiderGrrl on 10-08-19
By: Neal Stephenson
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The Mountain in the Sea
- A Novel
- By: Ray Nayler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.
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Enjoyable and interesting
- By AudioReader on 10-10-22
By: Ray Nayler
What listeners say about Kraken
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cynthia
- 11-20-11
Fascinating, but difficult for an audio book
I absolutely love China Mieville. Perdido Street Station is one of my favorite books. I loved the story with Kraken but the plot is so complicated and there are so many characters that this is a real challenge as an audio book. I found I tended to get confused a lot about who, what, when, where. It definitely requires your full attention. Since I already have it in audio I will listen to it again, but I think it would probably be better enjoyed in regular book format.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Michael G Kurilla
- 07-08-17
Squidelicious magical fantasy set in London
Kraken by China Mieville is a little bit of a modern, adult Harry Potter in that the main character begins with no conception of the alternate magical realm that co-exists with the City of London, but ends up playing a central role in preventing a world ending catastrophe. Billy is a low level curator at the Darwin museum which has as the big draw a preserved giant squid. The squid (and its large case) goes missing without leaving any clues as to how or who. Billy is quickly drawn into a bizarre world that includes "Kraken worshipers, a crime boss tattooed onto a hapless victim, London-mancers who whisper to city structures, as well as the ocean itself, a dead inky criminal, and the presence of Star Trek magic. Following along with Billy is a special police unit that is somewhat aware of all this stuff as well as the girlfriend of Billy's best friend.
While the overall theme of the story is magic, this is not the classical magic of warty-nosed witches with boiling cauldrons of eye of newt. Rather this is modern, hip magic with a wide range of creative and unique features, such as an iPod "nacked" for protection providing the right playlists are synced or the magical creation of a Star Trek like phaser weapon to entice a Trekkie to use his "beaming" magic. The sleuthing to discover the ultimate culprit is quite detailed and as each false lead is played out, the crowd after the squid continues to grow. The ultimate purpose of the crime is plot twisted many times, but the ending is refreshingly original.
Th narration is superb with a wide range of standard London accents and good gender distinction.
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2 people found this helpful
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- C. E.
- 04-19-21
Mieville's urban fantasy is great fun.
It was great! More words for the min. submission one two three four five done.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-15-21
Should have read rather than listened
Great story, but struggled with the narrator... Feels like he's doing the voiceover for a World War II documentary
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- Austin Bow
- 03-27-23
Another Great Story by Mieville
Another great story by China Mieville and solid narration by Lee! always hard to match the New Chobuzon collection but this work does a great job highlighting what makes Mieville's stories so interesting by engaging the reader in an impossible and fantastical adventure.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-30-21
Great set up some falling off
The characters have some abrupt endings and I feel as though a large portion is spent on the beginning and middle while the ending is rushed.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Robert
- 06-25-12
Imaginative romp through London underground
What made the experience of listening to Kraken the most enjoyable?
The twists and turns as the author continuously invented new worlds within worlds to keep the reader reeling.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Many of the characters developed - up and down - through out the book and it would be hard to pick one overall favorite. I kind of liked some of the bad guys more than the good guys even though I was rooting for the world not to end.
What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
His mastery of different London accents is more that I could do for myself.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I wouldn't say moved, but about halfway through the book I realized that this was not going to be like any other book I had read and I was excited to keep going.
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- Anarchatalyst
- 05-25-15
Good but not amazing
Great story that owes a lot to Adams, Pratchett, and Gaiman. The ending is a bit too tidy for my taste. Good characters -- although the female characters are relatively flat and stereotypical. The reading was good enough. Character voices were somewhat inconsistent, but not annoyingly so. Some were excellent. Worth downloading and listening to -- especially if you have run out of Discworld and Adams.
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- amsilvr
- 01-27-23
Great Performance, Ripping Yarn
I have to admit that half the time I had no idea what was happening, but I still managed to truly enjoy the story and the performance.
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- Quanked Scribe
- 12-15-15
Fantastic Book
Would you listen to Kraken again? Why?
The story was nicely complex -- there was much I missed the first time through. The second and third time I picked up on things I missed and found new parts to be thought provoking.
What other book might you compare Kraken to and why?
Neverwhere (or anything by Gaiman) It's the same mind bending twists that happen in "our" world, but just around the corner just ahead of us or behind us. Like, what happens in the fridge when you close the door sort of thinking.
What about John Lee’s performance did you like?
It was quite mesmerizing -- But I love John Lee, which is partially brought me to this book in the first place.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It was quite thought provoking.
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1 person found this helpful