Friday, March 1, 2013
Wait, What About Book Number Three?
Book Number Three was "World War Z," and while it was interesting and fun, I didn't think I had much else to say about it that hasn't already been said approximately 100,000 times, so I didn't write a review.
Book Number Four!
I finally finished my fourth book of the year!
It was a dense one: "Kraken" by China Mieville.
I've read several of his books before, and only disliked one ("The City and the City",) so this was a safe bet and I knew what I was getting into. Mieville's writing is quite dense, filled with British slang (both real and invented,) and almost in a stream-of-consciousness style. This means that while 500 pages would normally take me 8 hours or less to read, Mieville's pages can take more than twice as long. He puts in such wonderful detail and creates such vivid worlds that it's worth the extra time.
In "Kraken," Mieville has, again, created a new yet familiar world with rules different from our own. There's a secret world within London filled with knackers, familiars, and gods, and all know -- feel that something ig is about to go down. It's the end of the world, and no one knows where it's coming from or how to stop it. Since Mieville doesn't reuse worlds from book to book, it's not clear until the last couple of pages whether or not the apocalypse really will arrive or not.
The philosophies and creatures and physics that create the world of "Kraken," are disturbing and delightful and will haunt my thoughts for a long time to come.
If you've never read a Mieville book, I wouldn't start with this one. I might choose "King Rat" or "Perdido Street Station" to begin with, but that doesn't mean that this one isn't a jewel.
It was a dense one: "Kraken" by China Mieville.
I've read several of his books before, and only disliked one ("The City and the City",) so this was a safe bet and I knew what I was getting into. Mieville's writing is quite dense, filled with British slang (both real and invented,) and almost in a stream-of-consciousness style. This means that while 500 pages would normally take me 8 hours or less to read, Mieville's pages can take more than twice as long. He puts in such wonderful detail and creates such vivid worlds that it's worth the extra time.
In "Kraken," Mieville has, again, created a new yet familiar world with rules different from our own. There's a secret world within London filled with knackers, familiars, and gods, and all know -- feel that something ig is about to go down. It's the end of the world, and no one knows where it's coming from or how to stop it. Since Mieville doesn't reuse worlds from book to book, it's not clear until the last couple of pages whether or not the apocalypse really will arrive or not.
The philosophies and creatures and physics that create the world of "Kraken," are disturbing and delightful and will haunt my thoughts for a long time to come.
If you've never read a Mieville book, I wouldn't start with this one. I might choose "King Rat" or "Perdido Street Station" to begin with, but that doesn't mean that this one isn't a jewel.
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