The Kraken Wakes
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| Massmarket Paperback Cover | |
| Author | John Wyndham |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph |
| Released | July 1953 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-14-001075-0 |
The Kraken Wakes is an apocalyptic science fiction novel by John Wyndham, originally published by Michael Joseph in the UK in 1953 and first published in the US in the same year by Ballantine Books under the title Out of the Deeps as a mass market paperback. The current publication of the book is a paperback published by Penguin on May 28 1970.
The title is a reference to Alfred Tennyson's sonnet The Kraken, which describes a Scandinavian sea monster.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel describes escalating phases of an alien invasion. In the first phase objects from outer space land in the oceans. The distribution of their landing points - always at ocean deeps, never on land - implies intelligence. Phase two starts with ships being attacked, causing havoc to world shipping. Shortly after, the aliens start 'harvesting' the land by sending up 'sea tanks' which capture humans from seaside settlements; this is presumed to be for investigation, although the humans always drown. However, humans manage to defeat this phase. Next, the aliens start melting the ice caps, causing sea levels to rise. London and other ports are gradually flooded, causing widespread social and political collapse.
The story follows Mike and Phyllis Watson, a married couple who are both journalists, as they try to survive and understand what is going on. At the end, humanity develops an underwater ultrasonic weapon that kills the aliens. However, the world population has been reduced to less than a fifth of its level before these events.
Throughout the book the aliens remain concealed; everything we know about them is inferred from their actions.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
The novel tells an entertaining Ruined Earth story and takes an ahead-of-its time look at biosphere engineering, curiously prescient of what many people fear might happen because of global warming. (One wonders if "aquaforming" might be a better description here than "terraforming".) It also pokes fun at the media and Cold War political mindsets.
The main criticism which has been made is that it is in places a re-hash of some ideas from Wyndham's first novel, The Day of the Triffids. The ending is considered weak as well, suggesting that the author was not sure how to conclude the novel.
Furthermore, it is undoubtedly the case that melting sea ice, as in the Arctic Ocean, would not cause a rise in sea levels. Rather, such increases could only be caused by melting ice on land, as in Antarctica or Greenland. The novel is not explicit about whether the ice being melted is on water or on land; however since Wyndham does not address this issue, and the aliens never leave the water, he probably was thinking about sea ice.
It also contains what is, in a way, Wyndham's starkest statement of his assumption that two intelligences must necessarily fight each other to the death, although he also implies this in The Chrysalids and The Midwich Cuckoos.
[edit] Bibliography
- Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes (London: Michael Joseph, 1953) —First edition.
- Wyndham, John. Out of the Deeps (New York: Ballantine, 1953) —First US edition.
- Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes (London: Penguin, 1955) —First Penguin edition.
- Wyndham, John. The Kraken Wakes (London: Penguin, 1970) ISBN 0-14-001075-0
| John Wyndham |
|---|
| Bibliography |
| Novels: |
| Foul Play Suspected · The Secret People · Stowaway To Mars · The Day of the Triffids · The Kraken Wakes · The Chrysalids · The Midwich Cuckoos · The Outward Urge · Trouble with Lichen · Chocky · Web |
| Collections: |
| Jizzle · The Seeds of Time · Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter · Consider Her Ways and Others · The Infinite Moment · Sleepers of Mars · The Best of John Wyndham · Wanderers of Time · Exiles on Asperus · No Place like Earth |
| Filmography |
| Feature films: The Day of the Triffids (1962 film) · Village of the Damned (1960 film) · Village of the Damned (1995 film) |
| Radio |
| Radio adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (radio) · The Chrysalids (radio) |
| Television |
| TV adaptations: The Day of the Triffids (TV series) · Chocky (TV series) · Random Quest |
