Kraken by China Miéville

"Now, Mr. Harrow," Baron said. He shook his head, friendly. "I told you. All those whys is not a helpful way of looking at things. And blimey, there's plenty of stuff you've not even seen yet. How could you possibly understand what's going on? If you even wanted to. Which, as I say, dot dot dot.

"So. Rather than trying to get to grips with things you can't possibly, I'd just say wait. Wait and see. Because you will see. There's more to come. Good-bye now."

-Kraken

A few months ago I went to the Museum of Natural History in New York, which is home to Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. One of the most dramatic dioramas in the hall portrays a struggle between a giant squid and a sperm whale. That so little is known about the giant squid certainly makes it more compelling, and I would guess that this diorama has captured the imagination of many an impressionable visitor.

In Kraken, China Miéville takes the mystery of the giant squid a step further: what if it were worshiped as a god? What if a giant squid, something holy to its worshipers, were pickled and put on display at a natural history museum? And what if one day it just...disappeared?

Such is the mystery faced by Billy Harrow, a curator at London's Natural History Museum. Billy is the man who worked most closely on the preservation of the squid, and he is the one who finds it missing. It's not as if a giant squid in a tank can up and vanish, leaving behind not a shred of evidence—except that's exactly what this one did.

Billy is soon embroiled in events that involve a number of players from a magical side of London hitherto unknown to him. There's the krakenists, of course, those devout worshipers of Architeuthis dux. The FSRC, a police force dedicated to crimes that are out of the ordinary. The Londonmancers, able to tap into the magic of London and—more interestingly to some—to predict the future. The Tattoo, who is as dangerous as he sounds; Goss and Subby, who are far, far worse.

It's a scary, complicated world out there, and Billy has a steep learning curve. With all of those factions and their various, often inscrutable, motivations, it can be difficult to keep up. Miéville, as I learned when reading his novel Un Lun Dun, is fantastically creative. Kraken, if anything, is packed with too many characters and ideas. Good characters and ideas, all of them, but there are just so many that the story became slightly overstuffed. I have to flat-out admit that I'm not sure I understand everything that happened. I do appreciate a story in which not everything is laid out for you, but it can be a fine line. On the plus side, I do look forward to discussing Kraken...once I've found someone else who's read it. I'm also planning on delving further in Miéville's back catalog, as he is certainly one of the most interesting authors I've become familiar with in the last few years.

Up next: A Touch of Dead, the collection of Sookie Stackhouse stories, which I imagine I'll race through pretty quickly.