[books 2012] China Miéville

[inulro]

36. Kraken by China Miéville

I'd been putting this one off because I heard it wasn't very good.

I then made the mistake of taking it as holiday reading, on a holiday where I was exhausted all the time.  Which means there's tons in there, especially about the nature of belief, that I'm sure I missed.  But it's about religious nutcases using magic to kidnap a specimen of a giant squid from the Natural History Museum, so I figured how intellectual can it be?

This is Miéville, so the answer is, well, pretty intellectual.  There was a lot more to it than I expected, and while there were bits I didn't like, I thought it was pretty damn nifty overall, and think it deserves a re-read some time when I'm more with it.

Comments

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

This is on my 'to read' pile, probably to take on holiday.

Both of the China books I've read* have had bits I didn't like - I'm not entirely sure I get on with him as an author, IYSWIM. I think this one might be the decider as to whether I read any of his other books.


Un Lun Dun and Perdido Street Station

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Perdido Street Station is one of my favourite books despite its flaws, but I almost didn't finish Un Lun Dun. I could see what he was doing, but it didn't work for me at all.