The Kraken Wakes: Amazon.co.uk: John Wyndham: Books

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Ships are sinking for no apparent reason, carrying hundreds to a dark underwater grave. Strange fireballs race through the sky above the deepest trenches of the oceans. Something is about to show itself, something terrible and alien, a force capable of causing global catastrophe.

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15 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
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3.7 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cracking slice of deep-sea unease., 23 April 2004

By	Brian Flange "qflestrin" (Penge.) - See all my reviews

Although “The Kraken Wakes” never got the same acclaim as Wyndham’s(justly) famous “The Day of the Triffids”, it isn’t just a pale ‘Triffids’rip-off either. Yes, the book’s ending is a bit of a damp squib and, yes,the narrator’s wife Phyllis might strike modern readers as a patronisingstereotype, but then again … “The Kraken Wakes” may be just about the bestalien invasion story since H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds”. Wyndhamis one of the few British S.F. writers who could match Wells for inventionand logical construction. He doesn’t go in for histrionics – theintroduction of the sub-aquatic aliens is very low-key and the screw oftension tightens slowly but inexorably as the book progresses. “TheKraken Wakes” cleverly combines a Wellsian war between very differentspecies with a Ballard-style environmental disaster. Gradually, controlof the high seas passes to the invaders. Strange objects rise out of thewaves and kidnap human samples. Finally, the polar ice melts, the oceansrise and the world suffers catastrophic floods. We never get to seeWyndham’s “Xenobath” aliens up-close – they remain tantalisinglyill-defined and all the more alarming as they gradually encroach on thedeep seas and luckless ships. In amongst the sometimes lamecharacterisation, there are passages of real nail-biting tension and somevery funny swipes at Cold War rivalries. Okay, so maybe the “Triffids” itain’t, but “The Kraken Wakes” is still one of Wyndham’s best stories and avery rewarding book in its own right.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't worry. It isn't going to be alright..., 21 Jun 2005

By	Charles Brewer (Westcott, Surrey United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wyndham's books have, for me, two contradictory, but oddly, not conflicting aspects. First, there is the disorientation which I tend to attribute to the post-Imperial, post-Austerity Britain of the 1950s. The role and the rule had pretty much gone - though there would have been enough in the news and on the radio about firefights and terrorist atrocities in various places whiuch were the remnants of the Empire. Second, however, there is the 'not fully informed' feel that must have gone with an age where technology was everywhere, but not working at full speed.

Whereas nowadays, we have film of natural disasters half way round the world within a couple of hours, in the 50s the output of a telegraph machine would be as much as we would get from remote spots for some days or weeks. It wasn't like the early 1800s where news took months, and it's not like now when it's colse to instantaneous. It was something in between, snippets and bits of garbled stuff.

That's why I find this the best of Wyndham's books. Information is mostly spotty, and uncertain. It's quite likely nothing is happening, just a few maritime losses here and there. Then there's a bit more information and we are introduced into a kind of semi-informed world, then we are at the end, and there is still no information. The book brilliantly combines the feeling of impotence of a world over which control has been lost (the post-Imperial weariness) and the lack of coherence to the threat, about which we never really learn very much, except that it is threatening, and it is malevolent.

In some ways, it might have made the ultimate Hitchcock film. Instead of a climax where everything works out, we just have a dissipation of tension without any loss of incipient disaster.

We end the book quietly knowing that everything is not going to work out fine.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You heard it here first !, 3 Feb 1999

By A Customer

Ever wondered what global warming will be like ? Or more importantly, what your neighbours might be like when global warming comes ? This is the extra terrestial side of Wyndham, keen to remind us of our own frailties, and of the idea that we might only be masters of all we survey by default. In some authors hands, this could oh so easily turn into a didactic horrorstory fit only to use as a nightcap. Instead, Wyndham's lightness of touch and satirical turn of mind turn this into almost a jape in places. Knowing when to switch off the lightness and bring us back to the harsh realities is another of Wyndham's real skills. Patient well written, well plotted and well researched, this is another of the books that deserves far greater recognition, and a seat alongside Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov as one of the great writers of future fiction.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars room for improvement
if you buy this only read the first 5-6 pages then go to just over halfway through the book and read from there, first half was tedious and not really central to the story, the... Read more

Published 18 months ago by A. D. Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars My 100-word book review
Fans of Frank Sch�tzing's novel The Swarm might be interested to know that the 2004 bestseller had a 1953 precursor in John Wyndham's The Kraken Wakes, another novel featuring... Read more

Published on 16 May 2007 by A. J. Cull

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a Wyndham Classic
Poor, considering its Wyndham. Can't help but compare to Chrysalids & Triffids (classics). Some political statements are very repetitive. Read more

Published on 28 April 2007 by Mr. C. M. Owen

5.0 out of 5 stars WYNDHAM FORSEES GLOBAL WARMING AND THE WORLD'S REACTION.
Of all his novels I think this is,perhaps unwittingly, Wyndham's most accurate prediction of a possible future.So far,anyway. Read more

Published on 16 Dec 2006 by Johnnybluetime

3.0 out of 5 stars Underwater Triffids
By today's standards, 'The Kraken Wakes' is dreadfully dated and moreover is really an undersea version of 'The Triffids'. Read more

Published on 6 May 2006 by Ben Science

4.0 out of 5 stars A slow starter but well worth sticking with!
In Short, Think Abyss but with nasty Aliens/Merpeople.

The other reviews are pretty much on the mark. Read more

Published on 29 Jun 2005 by J. Jackson

4.0 out of 5 stars What lies below the thunders of the upper deep?
John Wyndham's "The Kraken Wakes" is divided into three 'phases':

Phase one sees the arrival of lights - crafts of some sort - speeding through the skies and disappearing into... Read more

Published on 8 Jan 2005 by Sally-Anne

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage British sci-fi.
Before reading this I took on board what all the other reviewers on this page had written about it, and by and large their criticisms are valid, but I also think this is an... Read more

Published on 31 Jan 2004 by S. Hapgood

3.0 out of 5 stars Triffids in the sea
I agree with the other reviewer - this is just a re-working of The Day of the Triffids. Even the meteor shower at the beginning of the story that sets it all in motion is the... Read more

Published on 6 Jan 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars far from Day of the Triffids
where "Day of the Triffids" was exciting, new and adventorous, "Kraken wakes" is just the opposite. The plot is approximately the same as Triffids; strange lights in the sky,... Read more

Published on 6 Mar 2003

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	32% buy the item featured on this page: The Kraken Wakes 3.7 out of 5 stars (15)
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	15% buy The Midwich Cuckoos 4.3 out of 5 stars (21) �5.99


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