Penguin Books, 2008 - Cover Illustration by Brian Cronin
BOOKS READ 26: THE KRAKEN WAKES BY JOHN WYNDMHAM
So. Boring.
The book is about these mysterious fireballs falling down onto earth into the ocean, then all of the sudden these big ginormous tanks come on to the shores and release jellyfish-like tentacles, grab and rip people apart, and then the aliens (or whoever is in these tanks) start forming icebergs and make the sea level rise to screw the humans over even further.
Smart aliens yah?
The only parts that I really got into and enjoyed was when all this weird alien/apocalyptic shit was happening, and those parts were so short and didn’t go into much depth.
I like that kind of stuff because it’s interesting to see what people are really made of.
The book was trying to get at how the destruction of human race would be a gradual effect and all the while there would be a frustratingly blind optimism running through everyone that would only ensure their demise. But when all seems lost and optimism has run out, those who are left (a small few, some lucky, others who had accepted the coming threat and took steps to ensure survival) are motivated by the terrible odds against them and go ahead and start all over again.
And that kind of stuff is nice to read and to be reassured of, but the book just got to it in the most drawn out and boring way. Over intellectualized. I really liked with Wyndham’s, “Day of the Triffids”, the destruction of human civilization was so rapid and the reactions to it were rapid as well, making it a much more entertaining and engaging read. I think it might have to do with what was destroying the human civilization (human-eating ginormous plants, yes, funny, but also terrifying), because with this book, it is more “intelligent” life forms destroying humans, so it is done in a much more methodical way, and thus written in a more intellectualized way.
Doesn’t have to be so boring though.
